Skimmer Q&A Thread

[reefk]

Is there any suggested DC upgrade pump for Reed Octopus NWB 200 skimmer? It's currently running aquatrance 3000s pump which comes stock with the skimmer

 

[Infern0]

Hi Guys! So I am having some trouble setting up my skimmer. I bought all of this pre-owned. When I purchased it I tore the skimmer apart and cleaned it thoroughly. Now, as I am setting it up I have almost no bubbles in my skimmer. Any ideas what could it be?

 

[reeftivo]

Hi Guys! So I am having some trouble setting up my skimmer. I bought all of this pre-owned. When I purchased it I tore the skimmer apart and cleaned it thoroughly. Now, as I am setting it up I have almost no bubbles in my skimmer. Any ideas what could it be?

Hi

is it sitting in salt water in those pics or fresh water?

 

[reeftivo]

also looks like the air adjustment screw is completely tightened down on the silencer. I'd loosen that up and run wide open while breaking in.

 

[Infern0]

Hi

is it sitting in salt water in those pics or fresh water?

Hi, It´s sitting in fresh water

 

[reeftivo]

you need to run it in salt.

 

[45bravo]

Hi, It´s sitting in fresh water

The skimmer wont work in fresh water.

 

[Infern0]

The skimmer wont work in fresh water.

Thanks man , I just wanted to try it, I had bought it online. I will post again once I have the salt .

 

[ChrisNH]

I have a vertex 130 I picked up used a few years ago. Just my luck they promptly go out of business. I am finally getting my reef tank up. I did a thorough cleaning in citric acid and replaced the silicone tubing. The air valve is one I put in for future tweaking. The tube into the silencer is from a small hole in the basement wall to outside thoughtfully provided to me by the previous cable company.

I started the skimmer up a few weeks ago. The problem is, with the stand pipe open all the way, foam overflows. I have it draining out the collection drain on the other side. No skimmate so no worries.

This is a new tank, the only organisms are the nitrifying bacteria I have been getting going with a fishless cycle. The nitrates are high, I will be doing a massive water change before my fish arrive in a few weeks.

The only time that I ever saw the skimmer behave like I expect, with a water line and reasonable lower foam level with the pipe wide open, is when I added a cup or two of salt (I cycled at low salinity and raised it over a week) for about 24 hr. Salinity is now 35ppt.

If I turn the air WAY down I can get the foam level lower but it seems like I should not have to do this with the stand pipe wide open. You can see how closed the air valve is in the pic below:

Can this behavior be a symptom of "new" tank with no organics?

Should I expect another break in period after a deep clean in citric acid, even with a new skimmer?

Thanks for your help. On the bright side, the post I originally was going to make about a noisy pump is not needed, the pump has settled down and is silent.

ed.: 8" of water. Maybe 8.25", the baffle is 8".

 

[mojo]

I have a vertex 130 I picked up used a few years ago. Just my luck they promptly go out of business. I am finally getting my reef tank up. I did a thorough cleaning in citric acid and replaced the silicone tubing. The air valve is one I put in for future tweaking. The tube into the silencer is from a small hole in the basement wall to outside thoughtfully provided to me by the previous cable company.

I started the skimmer up a few weeks ago. The problem is, with the stand pipe open all the way, foam overflows. I have it draining out the collection drain on the other side. No skimmate so no worries.

This is a new tank, the only organisms are the nitrifying bacteria I have been getting going with a fishless cycle. The nitrates are high, I will be doing a massive water change before my fish arrive in a few weeks.

The only time that I ever saw the skimmer behave like I expect, with a water line and reasonable lower foam level with the pipe wide open, is when I added a cup or two of salt (I cycled at low salinity and raised it over a week) for about 24 hr. Salinity is now 35ppt.

If I turn the air WAY down I can get the foam level lower but it seems like I should not have to do this with the stand pipe wide open. You can see how closed the air valve is in the pic below:

Can this behavior be a symptom of "new" tank with no organics?

Should I expect another break in period after a deep clean in citric acid, even with a new skimmer?

Thanks for your help. On the bright side, the post I originally was going to make about a noisy pump is not needed, the pump has settled down and is silent.

ed.: 8" of water. Maybe 8.25", the baffle is 8".

 

[mojo]

Id say the skimmer is too deep.. plus give it some time to settle in. Just pull it up an inch or two just to see how it runs. About 7 in water level if memory serves me correct.

 

[ChrisNH]

About 7 in water level

I don’t have an adjustable water level, pushing the skimmer up will be a bit of a thing. I will see what I can do. I had thought 8” was supposed to be good but it doesn’t seem that way.

 

[mojo]

Get some egg crate from lowes or home depot..just make a cheap platform the size that fits to see if that works. You can stack it and zip tie if need be. Shoukd be about .5 in per layer. Most skimmer work better around 7 inch for adjusting. But are more efficient if the can run deeper due to less head pressure. While its running. Pull it up an inch ir so. That will tell you if you are in the right path.

 

[ChrisNH]

Get some egg crate

I have some.

I added a carbon reactor, it was an unrelated project I just wanted to get done before I got fish. I had not planned to add carbon yet but I ended up needing to anyway to slow down flow (Had wrong size ball valve in kit) . This morning the skimmer is now looking like I expected. Maybe I had something in the water from putting up the tank? Time will tell. If the problem returns, as problems love to do, I will make a 1" double layer egg crate stand.

 

[ichthyoid]

Hi, It´s sitting in fresh water

Fwiw, if you want to run it in fresh water add a little plain white vinegar. Doesn’t take much to produce a foam. It will also help clean it.

 

[mojo]

New tank will do that a lot. But for sure. Some additives will cause Surface tension changes. Also carbon removes disolved organics as well. Bromine, iodine, flourine and chlorine as well.

 

[reeftivo]

I have some.

I added a carbon reactor, it was an unrelated project I just wanted to get done before I got fish. I had not planned to add carbon yet but I ended up needing to anyway to slow down flow (Had wrong size ball valve in kit) . This morning the skimmer is now looking like I expected. Maybe I had something in the water from putting up the tank? Time will tell. If the problem returns, as problems love to do, I will make a 1" double layer egg crate stand.

Doesn't that skimmer have an adjustable volute sleeve (white threaded end cap into the intake). many just use that to adjust the air intake. If you're getting air and using the valve on the airline then that insert must be backed off (open). it would probably be easier anyways to use the valve on the line so you dont have to keep putting hands in the sump water to adjust. Just raise it so the top edge of the white t-fitting is just barely out of the water. Like mentioned before, light diffuser is an easy platform for these. Ugly, but easy with some zip ties.

heres' a pic of a nicer one i made after i found the correct level using diffuser.

 

[ChrisNH]

Doesn't that skimmer have an adjustable volute sleeve (white threaded end cap into the intake). many just use that to adjust the air intake. If you're getting air and using the valve on the airline then that insert must be backed off (open).

This has been a little confusing to me. Right now the volute is screwed all the way against the pump. If I twist it "out" away from the pump does that let in more or less air?

using the air valve I put in seems to work but it makes a loud sucking noise if I restrict the air flow to reduce the foam level.

 

[reeftivo]

This has been a little confusing to me. Right now the volute is screwed all the way against the pump. If I twist it "out" away from the pump does that let in more or less air?

using the air valve I put in seems to work but it makes a loud sucking noise if I restrict the air flow to reduce the foam level.

loosening the white volute fitting should increase air flow, but make larger bubbles too. it's been a while since i've seen people tinkering with those, but i'm pretty sure that it will let air in regardless of whether it's closed or unscrewed. It's just the size and volume of bubbles that are adjusted when using that fitting. If it's closed and your mod appears to be working, then just let it run. the more it's closed the finer the bubble which is better for skimming.

 

[ChrisNH]

loosening the white volute fitting should increase air flow, but make larger bubbles too.

Thanks, the directions for the skimmer are rather vague about it.

Id say the skimmer is too deep.. plus give it some time to settle in. Just pull it up an inch or two just to see how it runs. About 7 in water level if memory serves me correct.

So while the carbon filter did improve things, it still was very touchy and I was having trouble keeping it from overflowing. I went back to your original advice.

It turns out my egg crate is 1/4" so I tie wrapped (using notches to keep it flat) two sheets together and lo and behold the skimmer is running great.

I looked more closely at the water level. The mistake I made was in assuming that an 8" baffle would create an 8" water line. That was only true when the water was still. When it is flowing through the sump it is 8.5".

Its more dramatic here because of the outflow from the skimmer, tight space. I actually have only 3x ish through.

If I could do it over I would have made the baffle 10" to give myself more water volume in the sump and gotten an adjustable stand. On the bright side, there is plenty of room for back-flow from the return so maybe it is just as well.

Anyway, thanks to both of you for helping me out. We can close this ticket