Coral life super skimmer HELP!!!

[byancey]

I installed a coral life super skimmer 65 on my 29 gallon tank yesterday morning and since then, I have had a hell storm of microbubbles. I have taken it off and checked the adjustments to the diffuser and all hoses and hookups and still the same micro bubble barrage. I know the instructions said to allow a 72 hour break in period but will it actually make a difference in my bubble load? I have adjusted and adjusted and I can't seem to get it to level out . Also I am concerned about my corals (green Hairy mushrooms and green star polyp ) getting too much oyygen from the bubbles not to mention my LTA is not looking to happy either. My question is ...will the 72 hour wait help make adjusting the skimmer easier and will this micro bubble storm hurt my livestock??? :help:

 

[ryan]

I had the same problems with mine. The skimmer seems to work great once all the adjustments are correct. You need to make sure that the tube going into the bubble diffuser is only about 1/8 to 1/4 down below the sponge. The top of the diffuser should be about 1/8 of an inch out of the water, and the pump should only be about 4 inches below the water level. This is how mine is setup, and has been working well for almost a year now. You can look at the forums at http://www.esuweb.com. This is the site for coralife, and there is a guy on there who gets this same question constantly. Check the site out and it will help.

 

[byancey]

thank you Ryan..I will check out what this guy has to say . Right now I can't get the site to open ...maybe having trouble on thier end. I have the pump 4 inches below water and the tube in the diffuser is 1 inch from the white sponge as directed in the instructions. Thanks again for your reply.

 

[gsd]

You can raise the pump up so the water intake is within even 1/2 to 1 inch of the surface and it will work just fine plus pull off any surface skum that accumulates. The outflow tube needs to be at or above the tanks water level. HIgher is better. The sponge in the diffuser box needs to be 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch above the water, and it can even be higher and it wil not hurt anything. The white pad on the bottom canbe doubled by adding in more filter batting etc........The fellow on coralifes web forum that answers the questions is Roland. A lot of times the fourm is shut down on weekends for some reason or other.....You can call Coralife and ask to talk to Roland and he will gladly address any issues and give you step by step instructions to make it work as advertised. Should be a toll free phone number on the paper that came in the box with the skimmer.

 

[saltfan]

All the above answers as to which way the thing is set up will help you out. But the main thing is that if you keep messing with it, it will not break in. The more you mess with it the more micro bubbles it makes. And yes the 72 hour break should give you a good picture of what it will be running like after that. I have the large one, still hve some micro in the return, but its nothing to be upset about, and it only took a couple of hours for it to calm down to operating properly. Once you get it into the tank and running, take a look at the cylinder, you will hardly be able to see the inner tube, once the unit starts to settle, most of the bubbles will be out of the outer chamber, and not returning to your tank.

 

[byancey]

thank you all for your help . I will just let it work and let it alone until I can reach Roland. I have to be out of town Monday and Tuesday and I am still a little concerned about my livestock . I forgot to mention in my original post that I have 2 clowns and a midas blenny and a scallop that are trying to hang out under the powerhead like they are trying to stay out of the bubble storm. Tonight it looks a little better than it did this morning so maybe tomorrow will even be better. I am just concerned that the micro bubbles will harm my fish , like damage thier gills or something along those lines. At least it is starting to pull out the gunk. I had to empty the collection cup a little while ago .

 

[byancey]

UPDATE !!!
I just got home from work and I have no more micro bubbles !!!!
you guys were right ...leave it alone and let it break in . It is skimming it's heart out and not a sign of a micro bubble in the tank...yipppeeee!!!
Thank you all for your advise and have a great day....whew!!!

 

[saltfan]

 

[ryan]

GSD,
I tried to move my intake to about 1/2 to 1 inch below the water surface, but I cant adjust it to be lower that 1/4 to 1/2 inch from the top of the collection cup. I like to dry skim, and cant get the level low enough for that. Any ideas?

 

[byancey]

I can't get my intake any higher than my diffuser box bottom. In fact my diffuser box is resting on top of the pump box. I have raised it as far up as the tubing allows. The clear tube meant to connect the pump to the intake tube is so short that it is just there to connect the two now.I did think about moving the whole thing closer to the side of the tank and attach the diffuser to the side of the tank sideways to see if I can figure out a way to raise my intake but right now it is as high as it will go with it being attached to the back of the tank. I have measured and my intake is 3 1/2 inches below water level . I am getting a lot of the dry skim but every now and then it will pick up some of the really wet stuff too . I am still in the break in stage so I am hoping that mixture of wet and dry skim will also level out. So far since it quit throwing micro bubbles, it has worked great . I did read that the intake needed to be in the top two inches of water but for the life of me I can't figure out how you can do that with a H.O.T. mount since the depth is not really adjustable with it hung on the tank unless you want to go deeper.

 

[ryan]

Thats what I ran into. I removed the little valve thing and just ran about 1 inch of tubing, but I am still about a inch below the surface, maybe even a little more. I dont know how to get it up any highter without dropping the water lever, which is not going to happen.

 

[saltfan]

Your intake should not be higher than your diffuser box. From what I am reading from you, you have it fine tuned, thats as good as it gets. In order to get the pump as close to the surface as you can get it, which from what you say is 3.5", thats as good as it gets with this skimmer. Basically you cut the rubber tube that comes with the kit, as small as possible, just to connect the pump to the return hub. Other than that, the dry skimming with an occasional wet froth, thats how they work. You are not going to get skim mate all the time, and your not always going to get dry foam either, thats just how the things work.

 

[byancey]

I feel the same way...not dropping the water level so i will just have to live with the depth I am limited to . If you do figure out a way to do it ...let me know I would love to raise mine up too .

 

[kjord97]

Also, just an FYI if you add any water treatments to your make up water or when you start running carbon, you may get the bubbles again, but will go away in a few short hours.
It is just the break in period on those skimmers, to allow for a build up of stuff on the inside of the skimmer walls. It is in the FAQ of your user manual for the skimmer.

 

[byancey]

thanks Kjord for the heads up...I did have a little bubble storm day before yesterday after a 12 gallon water change and I thought it was just because I had turned off the skimmer to do the WC and it it was just getting it's settings back when I turned it back on. I know I am really loving this skimmer !!!