ASM skimmer question.

[glibgoat]

Got the ASM mini. It's been running for 2 days now. It's not producing any skimmate. I adjusted the arm various different ways but no production. My previous skimmer made a great deal of bubbles, but this one only makes very tiny bubbles. I can see through the skimmer (looks like normal water) is this normal? Very frustrated. Any experience with the ASM line would be greatly appreciated.

 

[mr_x]

no. it's not normal. i think it's not pulling air. double check the airline and make sure it's sucking air, and also check the impellar to make sure it's spinning.
it should be top to bottom bubbles in the reaction chamber.

 

[bioneck47]

You can also take the impellar housing off to check if the impellar has any debris. Are you running this in hyposalinity? If you are then it is actually normal to not get very many bubbles. You can also try blowing into the airline while it's running to try and "jump start" the skimmer.

 

[glibgoat]

Hey X, thanks for the reply. I bought stuff from you a few months back on the DVRC site. Thanks for your help here. Thanks for the reply bio.
I unplugged it and rechecked the connections. I then set the arm very low. It had massive amounts of bubbles for about 2 hours. Now it's bubbling but maybe 70% of the initial boom. The original boom made it look WHITE in the chamber. It's not white anymore. The bubbles are nowhere near the cup. I mean a good 4 inches away from the collection cup.

 

[bioneck47]

How deep is it? I found that about 9-10" of water is just about right, at least for the g4 skimmer. Raising the arm up will also raise the volume in the chamber, but I'm sure you already know that.

 

[mr_x]

your welcome!
i'm not sure what the problem is then. when you say "rechecked the connections" do you mean you opened the pump and inspected the needle wheel?

 

[glibgoat]

Took her back to the store today (3 hours roundtrip). Turns out the mini model often burns out. The pumps malfunction. We cnecked the skimmer and the pump was running crazy hot. THey refunded me...such is life.
Anyone who wants to buy the ASM mini... don't.

 

[hammerhed7]

I have been running an asm mini for about 18 months on my 46 and I have had great luck with it, the only thing you need to watch it the fitting where the airline goes into tends to get plugged with salt creep other than that for the money it is a great little skimmer.