Fasthandsslowmind
Active Member
Hi guys!
My ultra reef UKS-200 DC skimmer is still giving my grief after over a year. It just doesn't seem to reliably produce any skimate. Since I previously had very low (undetectable) nitrate and low PO4, I figured there's just not that much to skim. I do run an algae scrubber that produces a ton of algae. Now though, an experiment in carbon dosing has caused a Dino or cyano outbreak. Phosphates are now 0.9 or higher (my hanna test only goes to .9). In effort to mitigate that, I've increased nitrates using sodium nitrate dosing. All this to say - There's plenty of biological material to skim.
Initially I set it up in 9" of water in my sump. Levels pretty reliable. I hooked up an Avast Skimate Locker.
For weeks, it'll chug along, producing very little skimate, then eventually completely overflow, triggering the skimate locker to shut it off. In the past year, I haven't gotten even one solid fill of the locker with dark skimate. It seems like every time it shuts itself off due to overflow and filling the skimate locker, when it comes on again, it's out of adjustment.
I eventually added a Red Sea skimmer control sensor to it (I have a Red Sea return pump, so the dual controller plugs into the skimmer pump and the sensor that I retrofit to the Ultrareef lid) in hopes that the sensor would detect overflow and reduce pumps speed to prevent overflow. It -does- do that, but the overflows keep happening.
Lastly, I've put the skimmer on some PVC couplers to raise it 2". It now experiences 7" of water in my 9" sump depth. After some adjustments.....No change. Now it's set to run at a baseline of 78%, and just doesn't seem to be producing very many bubbles. I've tried to disassemble and clean it regularly, and I don't see any obvious damage to the impeller. The air intake is clean and unrestricted.
Is anyone else experiencing these issues? Suggestions?
My ultra reef UKS-200 DC skimmer is still giving my grief after over a year. It just doesn't seem to reliably produce any skimate. Since I previously had very low (undetectable) nitrate and low PO4, I figured there's just not that much to skim. I do run an algae scrubber that produces a ton of algae. Now though, an experiment in carbon dosing has caused a Dino or cyano outbreak. Phosphates are now 0.9 or higher (my hanna test only goes to .9). In effort to mitigate that, I've increased nitrates using sodium nitrate dosing. All this to say - There's plenty of biological material to skim.
Initially I set it up in 9" of water in my sump. Levels pretty reliable. I hooked up an Avast Skimate Locker.
For weeks, it'll chug along, producing very little skimate, then eventually completely overflow, triggering the skimate locker to shut it off. In the past year, I haven't gotten even one solid fill of the locker with dark skimate. It seems like every time it shuts itself off due to overflow and filling the skimate locker, when it comes on again, it's out of adjustment.
I eventually added a Red Sea skimmer control sensor to it (I have a Red Sea return pump, so the dual controller plugs into the skimmer pump and the sensor that I retrofit to the Ultrareef lid) in hopes that the sensor would detect overflow and reduce pumps speed to prevent overflow. It -does- do that, but the overflows keep happening.
Lastly, I've put the skimmer on some PVC couplers to raise it 2". It now experiences 7" of water in my 9" sump depth. After some adjustments.....No change. Now it's set to run at a baseline of 78%, and just doesn't seem to be producing very many bubbles. I've tried to disassemble and clean it regularly, and I don't see any obvious damage to the impeller. The air intake is clean and unrestricted.
Is anyone else experiencing these issues? Suggestions?
