Micro Bubbles w/ Coralife Protein Skimmer

[parmoffitt]

I am pulling my hair out trying to get my protein skimmer adjusted so it doesn't produce micro bubbles in the tank. When I adjust the valve it either stops producing foam and skimmate or when it produces foam and skimmate the tank is full of micro bubbles. Just how important is one anyway? When the protein skimmer stops producing skimmate the tank is crystal clear and I happen to be partial to that look. When it is running I am asked why the tank is full of tiny bubbles! Which is better? A clear tank or the protein skimmer?

I have a 90 gallon reef tank that has been set up for nine months now. Do any of you operate your tanks w/o a protein skimmer without any problems?

 

[dadummy]

hello there,
I have a coralife 125 protien skimmer and have had the same problem with the tiny bubbles.
Two things that have helped in the battle are:
1) I lowered the bubble diffuser just under surface level and made sure that the output tubing is one inch or more from the bottom of the diffuser.
2) There is a vent hole located on the output tubing, I connected a piece ot nylon tubing to the vent and ran the tubing a couple of inches under the water. This allows the the vent to suck water instead of air, which cut down the amount of air bubbles, and seemingly made the device easier to adjust.
i hope this is as helpful to you as well, and i would definately recommend using a skimmer.
good luck

 

[chipmaker]

The newest instructions out for the coralife skimmer has it so the outflow tube is "AT" or slightly above the tanks highest water level...not under it.........and also the pump shold be raised up as close as possible to the surface 1.5" or so....As tempting as it may sound its not recomended to put any additional tubeing over the outflow "air bleed"

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on the outflow pipe. The purpose of this

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is to allow water to flow out of it if the outflow diffuser foam /filter gets clogged, and also to purge some air that may be trapped. Putting it under water does not really serve much n the way of stopping micro bubbles as its not a venturi and the flow is insufficient to pull any amount of air into the outflow waters discharge.........Same thing with e air intake tube off the silencer...do not add any valves etc to try and reduce noise....If skimmer is setup as stated above it will be quiet. One big change not mentioned by coralife is the big ugly bubble diffuser box...Chuck it in the trash and do without. Get a foam filter sleeve like is used on the MAG 3 and 5 pumps over the strainer. Place this on the end of the outflow tube with a small portion of it in the water and the rest above the water line, or in the case of a 65 CSS simply push it up on the elbow.........After those changes to the diffuser box, you will not have any big ugly box. Adjust the bubbles in the reaction chamber so that they are about 1/2 inch or from the bott9om of the collections cup funnel portion, or in the case of a 65 size about 1 to 1 1/4" up from the red ring used to secure cup to reaction chamber......This will eliminate 99.9% of micro bubbles, eliminate any leakage around the adjustment knob, and just about make it as quiet as a church mouse.........Its a terrific trougle free skimmer, but its too bad Coralife screwed up and did not do a good job on printing up a proper set of instal and setup instructions. They intend to have these new setup instructions on their website and its in the works so I am told........
Odds are that when yuor skimmer is setup properly, and running that the red adjustment knob will be no more than 1/2 of the way rotated from the fully closed position or the little nub for a ppointer will be at about the 6 oclock position. Just because the knob turns more does not necessarily mean it has to be run at the wide open position to be doing its job.........Once setup you will be getting some nice dark black/green skim off it, and it will be a slightly dry skim. If your wanting more wet skim raise the column of air bubbles closer to the bottom of the funnel portion of collection cup, but be prepared to have to empty it on a daily basis and add more top off water as well........

 

[parmoffitt]

I had an aquarium maintenance company hook it up so I guess they got it wrong as well. It's great to know that something can be done. Thanks for all the information and help.

 

[chipmaker]

Originally Posted by parmoffitt
I had an aquarium maintenance company hook it up so I guess they got it wrong as well. It's great to know that something can be done. Thanks for all the information and help.

Having someone thats knowledgeable set it up is fine, but the big problem is Coralife acknowedges that the instructions are not correct, and odds are if its installed in a sump some of the problems would not even be noticeable or problematic, and I have seen a few tanks with to9ns of micro bubbles that folks thought were supposed to be there ..........Simply call Coralife and ask for tech support on the skimmers, and they can verify what was posted above (except for replacing the bubble difusser box). The foam sleeve diffuser is more of a muffler for outflowing water than it is a diffuser, and with this foam sleeve it does both the job of trapping and removing any tiny bubbles that may be present and muffle the sound of the water flow as well, which the box diffuser does not do (quiet water sound) unless the tube is fully submerged in the water, which then produces micro bubbles once again.
When you adjust your red adjustment flow, look at the skimmer while its running. YOu will notice in the reaction chamber where the induced micro bubbles enter the chamber that they mainly flow upwards into the collection cup area. Directly below the bubble inducer, you will see the outlet for the return water, that travels from the bottom of chamber upwards through the adjustment flow valve and then into the aquarium. You can readily see any micro bubbles that are flowing downwards into the outflow tube in the chamber......Adjust the knob until these bubbles diminish or dissapear......Its easy to try and push more water through than it can actually handle, so the extra water flow pulls some bubbles back into the outflow. Just reduce flow a slight bit at the knob.......it will then allow longer reaction time with bubbles in chamber and produce a better skim overall.

 

[parmoffitt]

Thanks Chipmaker. Calling Coralife is a excellent idea.