Trouble with maxspect sk200

[pardas]

ATTENTION EVERYONE HAVING PROBLEMS WITH THE SK200

This advice has completely fixed my skimmer. I have been struggling with the skimmer for 6 months and nothing was working at all it, it would always turn into a very wet thin skim not matter what. Since cleaning this section it has been working perfectly. Thank you mate, I was getting ready to throw it away.

Odd thing is I was having these problems even before the skimmer had properly become dirty so I’m not sure at what point this area got “clogged”, or maybe it just wasn’t seated properly from the start.

I was in the same boat, already looking for other options. Good old elbow grease! Glad it worked.

 

[Nino143]

I think I figured it out! It’s brand new too btw. I cleaned it nothing, took it apart nothing, raised water level in my sump and nothing! So I bought a protein skimmer stand and bam! It’s skimming! Instructions suck and it says the ideal level is between 6.6-7in but it’s definitely not! I can update as I go but seems fine for now.

What isthe ideal water level? I just bought SK200

 

[Dj City]

I just installed my brand new sk200 skimmer yesterday.
I thought i would love it but it's been the worst skimmer I've ever used so far.

Recommend water level is wrong. I had to raise the skimmer where the water level is just below the lowest recommended water depth.
I thought that fixed my problems but...
Boy was I wrong!

The skimmer won't skim! The problems I'm having are...

Water I'm inside the skimmer won't stay level.
I see the pump pumping, then it will stop drawing water and/or air for abreif moment, causing the water level inside the skimmer to drop. I see all the bubbles come out the inlet, then it resumes.

I get water level too high even with the gate all the way open and pump on level 1.
I raise skimmer but because I can't seem to get the pump to be consistent, If I can't get a steady water/air mix, i won't be able to get anything else right.

What's going on here?
I heard good things about this skimmer but that's not what I'm experiencing!
All I'm experiencing are problems!

 

[Nino143]

I just installed my brand new sk200 skimmer yesterday.
I thought i would love it but it's been the worst skimmer I've ever used so far.

Recommend water level is wrong. I had to raise the skimmer where the water level is just below the lowest recommended water depth.
I thought that fixed my problems but...
Boy was I wrong!

The skimmer won't skim! The problems I'm having are...

Water I'm inside the skimmer won't stay level.
I see the pump pumping, then it will stop drawing water and/or air for abreif moment, causing the water level inside the skimmer to drop. I see all the bubbles come out the inlet, then it resumes.

I get water level too high even with the gate all the way open and pump on level 1.
I raise skimmer but because I can't seem to get the pump to be consistent, If I can't get a steady water/air mix, i won't be able to get anything else right.

What's going on here?
I heard good things about this skimmer but that's not what I'm experiencing!
All I'm experiencing are problems!

I bought the SK200 about 5 days ago, honestly its been absolutely perfect best skimmer i ever had so far! Prior to this i had the nyos 120, maybe yours is faulty?

 

[Dj City]

I bought the SK200 about 5 days ago, honestly its been absolutely perfect best skimmer i ever had so far! Prior to this i had the nyos 120, maybe yours is faulty?

I put in a ticket with maxspect yesterday but have not heard anything back from them yet.
I contacted BRS who I purchased the skimmer from. The guy i talked to had no answers but he said he will research it and get back to me.

Mine might be defective benadryl from what I can tell, it should work very well but...
It doesn't.

 

[jacobreynolds6883]

Ok anyone have any luck with these issues. I’ve been running the SK200 for a month now. I raise water in sump area, lower water in sump area, adjust controller level and nothing. Never skims anything just releases tons of micro bubbles into my display help is needed!

What water level and how adjusted?

 

[Dj City]

Ok anyone have any luck with these issues. I’ve been running the SK200 for a month now. I raise water in sump area, lower water in sump area, adjust controller level and nothing. Never skims anything just releases tons of micro bubbles into my display help is needed!

What water level and how adjusted?

I was not able to get mine consistant.
I replaced it with an IOAOI skimmer and have been a very happy reefer ever since.

My system may have been too small for the sk200. I have a 50gal cube reef but it's pretty heavily stocked.

The IOAIO skimmer beats the crap out of the Maxspect!
Hands down, no joke!
The IOAIO is the better skimmer for my application.
You can check out my thread
"I'm back after life changes with a new reef budget build! Guidance needed" for a more detailed explanation.

What size reef are you working with?

 

[jacobreynolds6883]

I was not able to get mine consistant.
I replaced it with an IOAOI skimmer and have been a very happy reefer ever since.

My system may have been too small for the sk200. I have a 50gal cube reef but it's pretty heavily stocked.

The IOAIO skimmer beats the crap out of the Maxspect!
Hands down, no joke!
The IOAIO is the better skimmer for my application.
You can check out my thread
"I'm back after life changes with a new reef budget build! Guidance needed" for a more detailed explanation.

What size reef are you working with?

Thank you for the reply and just earlier this week I decided to go away from the Maxspect after weeks of messing with it. I have still yet to get any skim and it is beyond frustrating. My tank is 42g display and 13g sump, I wonder if the smaller tank size is the issue. The microbubbles that are released by this skimmer is unreal, I cannot stop them from entering the display and puts my OCD in overdrive. I'm sure Maxspect makes nice products but I for one will not ever purchase another one.

 

[Lareng]

I have the exact same problem. Freshly cleaned, it skims perfectly: water outlet about 70% open, pump at about 50%, and the water line sits at the neck of the skimmer. After a few days the water level starts to rise, and I have to open the outlet fully to bring it back down to the neck. The level keeps creeping up anyway, and eventually I have to clean it again to get good skimming.


Cleaning it every two weeks keeps it working, but the maintenance is a pain: disassembling it, scrubbing the pinwheel/needle wheel with a toothbrush, and so on.


To me it looks like the needle wheel stops producing as many microbubbles after a few days of running, so the mix gets more and more water and less air, which pushes the water line up.


I've seen that Maxspect offers an upgrade kit for the SK-200. I'm trying to find out where to buy it so I can test whether it solves the problem. Has anyone here tried it, or know where to get one?

Maxspect upgrade kit: