Somatic 60s skimmer

squampton · Mar 21, 2018

I have had a Somatic 60s skimmer and overall I like it, but I am having trouble with tuning it. The skimmer comes with no directions, and I haven't found much online. I did contact the company but they just sent me a link to a video on how to assemble it, which as far as I can tell doesn't show how to adjust it.

I've not had an in sump skimmer before so I am not fully sure how to adjust it, when I think I have found the right spot it skims for a day or 2, then goes nuts and overflows filling the cup with water.

It's been up and running for about 5 weeks now, but not sure how long it takes to break in.

On the red tube that turns its marked 0, 50 and 100, I turn it in small increments and then wait a few days before touching it, and it does skim sometimes for several days, then starts the whole filling the cup with water and going nuts.

Anyone have experience with this skimmer? I have had skimmers before but only HOB varieties.

They say 6 to 9" for water level and I currently have it sitting just around 8".

AdamNC · Mar 21, 2018

Following this. I have one too but have yet to set it up. I looked online for info on it also but like you I found nil. Maybe search for just skimmer adjustment as it really just looks like a standard skimmer.

gcarroll · Mar 21, 2018

@Rakie might be of some help.

Rakie · Mar 21, 2018

@squampton -- Couple things.

Air Restriction Valve: I don't see mention of the little air valve. This little air valve is critical. I was unsuccessful with the Vertex 130 before, as were many others. Then Vertex (somatic) started releasing their skimmers with this little valve. This silly little valve is a complete game changer. I gave away my $320 skimmer for $100 because without that little valve, my experience was the same as yours.

If you DON'T have this little valve, Call vertex and get one. It is 100% essential.

Water Level: 7" or less. My friend had picked up a brand new Vertex 150, he had the same problems I had, which are the same problems you have. He solved it by putting his skimmer in 6" of water. Because of that, I recommend you have your skimmer in 7" of water or LESS.

The deeper your skimmer is, the more wet your skimmate will be (watery). The higher your skimmer is, the more dry the skimmate. Since Vertex seem to be slightly overpowered, I've seen most people do well with them in slightly shallower depths.

Did you clean it? New skimmers need to run in a bucket with clean water and vinegar to get oils off of their internal and external surfaces. These are a byproduct of manufacturing, and this is standard operating procedure for all new equipment. And I mean ALL new equipment. If you don't do this, you can have these same problems.

Water Level Downtube: Start around 40-50% closed and adjust the air valve from there (The first thing I mentioned). With the air valve all the way out you are getting a higher mixture of Air:Water, with it all the way closed you're getting very little Air. Use this valve for micro adjustments. A quarter turn can make a HUGE difference in skimmate quality.

squampton · Mar 22, 2018

@Rakie

Thanks for your assistance.

I did clean it, I ran it in RO water with vinegar for a little over 24 hours, then ran it in saltwater in a bucket for about 30 hours before putting into the sump.

I did have the valve but did not have it installed as the video the company told me to watch said it was optional but it appears that it really is needed, so I have installed that.

I have raised the skimmer to just around 6" and have the water level down tube at 50% and will adjust the air and try and find that sweet spot.

Thanks for your help. I really like this skimmer and it seems top notch quality wise, but I was becoming frustrated with it as I could find so little online about the thing.

Oh how I wish they would just include some directions on these things...lol

Thanks again for your help, I will see what happens and update.

Rakie · Mar 22, 2018

Sounds good @squampton -- I'm currently running my skimmer at 7", my buddy ran his at 6" but it's a different model. Honestly, just putting on the air valve would probably make the difference, but running it at 6 just means you'll be able to get a thick nasty skimmate. If you aren't producing skimmate, you will want it to be more wet. To do this, close the water level downtube a little more, this makes the water level in the skimmer rise as less water is escaping (since the tube is closing the hole water escapes from).

As for directions -- Don't be afraid to mess with it. Turn the tube, see what happens. Mess with the air valve, watch what changes. First hand experience makes it click. once you see turning the air valve makes the foam more/less dense, closing the downtube makes the foam level drop/rise, it'll all click, and you'll be able to look at your skimmate and say "that's too wet/dry, too low/high" and you'll know how to adjust it to suit your needs.

hart24601 · Mar 22, 2018

What is your bioload? My somatic pretty much was good to go the next day, but if you don't have much bioload and a powerful skimmer you typically experience what you did - which is you set it for "normal" then it overflows. Sometimes if you don't have enough bioload powerful skimmers will seem to no produce much then when enough organics build up they skim as expected. If adjusted to skim when they are really idling when organics build up they puke out the top.

Idk if that is happening here, but it's very common occurrence that I have experienced before.

squampton · Mar 26, 2018

It's been running a few days now with the above suggestions and has been working well, hasn't overflowed and is working pretty nicely. Thanks for all the suggestions and assistance.

Rakie · Mar 27, 2018

@hart24601 -- You're right. People often overlook that, or think a skimmer rated for 400g must be amazing for a 60 cube.

squampton said:
It's been running a few days now with the above suggestions and has been working well, hasn't overflowed and is working pretty nicely. Thanks for all the suggestions and assistance.

Amazing what a difference that little air valve makes huh? Hopefully it all keeps working well for you.

hatfielj · Jul 20, 2018

Rakie said:
@squampton -- Couple things.

Air Restriction Valve: I don't see mention of the little air valve. This little air valve is critical. I was unsuccessful with the Vertex 130 before, as were many others. Then Vertex (somatic) started releasing their skimmers with this little valve. This silly little valve is a complete game changer. I gave away my $320 skimmer for $100 because without that little valve, my experience was the same as yours.

If you DON'T have this little valve, Call vertex and get one. It is 100% essential.

Water Level: 7" or less. My friend had picked up a brand new Vertex 150, he had the same problems I had, which are the same problems you have. He solved it by putting his skimmer in 6" of water. Because of that, I recommend you have your skimmer in 7" of water or LESS.

The deeper your skimmer is, the more wet your skimmate will be (watery). The higher your skimmer is, the more dry the skimmate. Since Vertex seem to be slightly overpowered, I've seen most people do well with them in slightly shallower depths.

Did you clean it? New skimmers need to run in a bucket with clean water and vinegar to get oils off of their internal and external surfaces. These are a byproduct of manufacturing, and this is standard operating procedure for all new equipment. And I mean ALL new equipment. If you don't do this, you can have these same problems.

Water Level Downtube: Start around 40-50% closed and adjust the air valve from there (The first thing I mentioned). With the air valve all the way out you are getting a higher mixture of Air:Water, with it all the way closed you're getting very little Air. Use this valve for micro adjustments. A quarter turn can make a HUGE difference in skimmate quality.

THANK YOU for this helpful post. I am setting up a Somatic 60 on my QT system and I can not get it to stop overflowing. I wasn't sure what that little needle valve was for and I also wasn't sure if 7.5" water height was okay or not. Going to go adjust it all now! Thanks again

Rakie · Jul 20, 2018

hatfielj said:
THANK YOU for this helpful post. I am setting up a Somatic 60 on my QT system and I can not get it to stop overflowing. I wasn't sure what that little needle valve was for and I also wasn't sure if 7.5" water height was okay or not. Going to go adjust it all now! Thanks again

No problem!

As with all things in this hobby, a strength may easily become a weakness. The vertex being a little beefy/strong, getting a lot of air and water, and being adjustable by means of downtube, air valve, AND volute (the only skimmer with a volute under like $1,000 AFAIK) can all be a weakness when improperly used. They can all lead to unstead bubble production, and overflowing. It's like giving a new driver a ferrari, if they barely know how to drive things probably won't go well..

Once you're intimately familiar with their products, and how it works in your tank environment you can adjust it to be absolutely phenomenal. On par with the best of the best.

Again -- I gave away a Vertex 130 because I couldn't properly utilize it. I didn't have enough time and experience with it, and it kept overflowing like crazy. Once mildly flooding my bedroom floor (which smelled great, btw). Fast forward to today, and I know what I did wrong, and how I could fix it now.

If you have any issues PM me, sometimes threads don't pop up in the Alerts.

My last bit of advice for anybody reading this: Don't be afraid of it. Kids are often very quick to adapt to new technology because they aren't afraid to break it. Put it in shallow water and see what happens. Put it in deep water and see what happens. Turn all the knobs, pipes, volute, see what it does. Don't be afraid to play with it, you won't break it. Playing with it like this for an hour will give you a better understanding of your skimmer than using it for 6 months.

Just make sure to clean out the skimmer cup FIRST. Then play with it :D