Coralife Super Skimmer

[kquang]

I recently bought a coralife super skimmer and I let it run for 72 hours to break it in. I didn't see any foam forming so I adjusted the height of the skimmer and within minutes...there was foam forming. Then I left and came back to having no foam again. Does the foam in the skimmer fluctuate or is it suppose to have a constant flow of foam into the cup? Any ideas on how to fix this? I tried to adjust the skimmer again to get it to foam but have not had any luck. Thanks in advance

 

[zanoshanox]

I have noticed the same thing with mine...its been up and running since last night and no foam. its not a corallife though

 

[darknes]

Yeah, I just setup my new coralife superskimmer this morning, and it produces a lot of microbubbles, but there is no foam yet. Is it still breaking in?
Also, my bubble diffuser on the output keeps overflowing. Do I have something setup wrong? All the water mostly spills over the side of it.

 

[zanoshanox]

I think it's still braking in, i just read the manuel for mine and it says that it can take up to a couple weeks for anything significant to start accumulating in the collection cup.

 

[uk cats]

Hey Kguang I also have a Corallife skimmer its been running for about a year now and works great you will be blown away the stuff that comes out of that bad boy. Anyway it will take awhile to break in. Give it a few days. When your ready set the bubbles forming in the unit below the collection cup to rise about at the top of the curve in the collection cup. So your bubbles will be topping off about lower to mid of the collection cup. I also had problems with mine and had the LFS contact the company and that was the answer. has been working great since. Also Darknes my bubbles come over the outside of the overflow box too. I just leave mine alone because it helps with keeping the water level at the top of the tank moving. Hope this help. Good Luck.

 

[acrylic51]

Originally Posted by zanoshanox
I think it's still braking in, i just read the manuel for mine and it says that it can take up to a couple weeks for anything significant to start accumulating in the collection cup.
That's insane to take a couple weeks to "breakin"....That's long enough for you to get "T'd" with the skimmer.....I just purchased a ASM G3 for my customers tank, and dropped it into my LR holding tank to break it in and within 1/2 hour it was producing good thick foam, like on a good beer on a hot day.....That thing pulls 3/4 of a cup daily of nice dark brewed tea that'll turn you stomach......Maybe you might want to check out the ASM skimmers with about 48hrs max break in time......

 

[stanlalee]

there are 101 reasons why skimmers do and dont produce skimate. If you go to that famous wet web bob fenner site and search ANY brand of skimmer and most message boards you will get several people asking or posting the same thing. People with the best of skimmers that arent skimming properly or at all. People with the so called worst skimmers performing excellently. you have to consider break in period (according to aquaC anyway for manufacturing oils ect to clear and "slime coat" to cover the surfaces of the skimmer), amount of disolved organics, sump water height, skimmer adjustment, pump performance, cleanliness of the skimmer ect ect. Just because a skimmer starts skimming 5 minutes after you put it on one persons tank and somebody elses takes a week doesn't mean the one who's started first has a better skimmer. or the quality of skimate will be better.
My seaclone wasn't all that great when I got it and took 4 days to start skimming but with time and experience it is truly working well (yeah I know hard to believe but I've seen enough peoples skimmers with so called great ones to know mine is working well, not just well for a seaclone). Now if I clean it and put it in the sump it takes no more than 20 minutes to start producing.
This was what I was getting in a day before I got familiar with it and time for it to settle in. I could have easily got T'd, gone around calling it junk and spent money on a new skimmer:

This is now, less than 24hrs of time on same tank. all day, every day. just a 30g with two fish and some corals

and yes I got it to work well before putting it in the sump

 

[theappe]

this is the samething that happened to me when I was inquiring about what skimmer ppl recommended. Everyone told me not to get a prizm because they sucked.... for whatever reason I got a prizm and well to be honest with you I have no complaints whatso ever about it. Its pulling out extremely nasty green gunk so I believe its working just fine. I wouldnt know why ppl didnt like it. I guess my point is that its different for everyone, especially with skimmers since they are so many factors that are included to say if they are "good" or not.
EDIT
Oh btw i forgot to mention that before the prizm I got a SuperSkimmer and didnt like it at all, so I returned it and thats when I got the prizm. Best decision ive made

 

[zman1]

I bought a seaclone when I went to reef in 02 and bought a ASM about 1.5 years ago ( I will have to dig up the receipt for exact timing) for my 75 knowing I was going to buy the 120 and combine them on the same system. So I had the ASM on the same system for many months that the seaclone serviced. There isn't any comparison between the two. The ASM pulled out in a day what it used to take the seaclone a week or more to do. I am not saying it is junk just you get what you pay for on skimmers. Frankly you could DIY a skimmer better than a seaclone and comparable to a EuroReef or ASM. These are two that I have personal experience with...

 

[stanlalee]

thats not the point, an ASM except mini cost $200 and up while a seaclone $70. A seaclone has a 3.5" x 18" chamber while a G1x is 5.5" x22". Same with Pump. Size alone even if it was the same design tells you they shouldn't be compared. I dont need a ASM G1 or larger on a 30gallon nor was the point even about MY skimmer being good or bad. Basically I'm saying someone elses experience with a skimmer production is of little to no use to the next person. I've seen several AquaC's remora's not putting out as much as my seaclone and watery as all get out and I've seen remora's outperforming my seaclone. But I'd be a fool to go switch out my skimmer when mine is pulling a cup every two days from a hardly stocked 30gallon, how it sucks be damned.
Now I'm setting up a 90gallon and am going to use an AquaC EV120 but based on the least of which is somebody posting "its fantastic" or "get an ASM, its better". If I were foolish enough to purchase based on my own experience I'd be buying a seaclone 150.

 

[acrylic51]

Originally Posted by Stanlalee
thats not the point, an ASM except mini cost $200 and up while a seaclone $70. A seaclone has a 3.5" x 18" chamber while a G1x is 5.5" x22". Same with Pump. Size alone even if it was the same design tells you they shouldn't be compared. I dont need a ASM G1 or larger on a 30gallon nor was the point even about MY skimmer being good or bad. Basically I'm saying someone elses experience with a skimmer production is of little to no use to the next person. I've seen several AquaC's remora's not putting out as much as my seaclone and watery as all get out and I've seen remora's outperforming my seaclone. But I'd be a fool to go switch out my skimmer when mine is pulling a cup every two days from a hardly stocked 30gallon, how it sucks be damned.
Now I'm setting up a 90gallon and am going to use an AquaC EV120 but based on the least of which is somebody posting "its fantastic" or "get an ASM, its better". If I were foolish enough to purchase based on my own experience I'd be buying a seaclone 150.
I think you miss the point.......You can't compare the skimmer and the price shouldn't even be looked at you look at the quality you get from the product.......There is no reason a skimmer should take a week or so to build or break in other than it's an ill performer.......The ASM's will skim right out of the box and pull nasty within hours.......Not weak tea, like others.......The Seaclone might be great on your 30 gallon tank, but by no means is it adequate enough even for a 55 gallon tank, and please do put it on your 90 and see what it pulls......1 cup every 2 days........I'll put the ASM up against that anyday and pull 1 cup daily and better yet we could put up a MRC, Barrs, or Deltec and would make them really look bad...
Bottom line a skimmer is one area you don't want to skimp and by going that route......You'll be replacing it in a matter of time.......Go over to ReefCentral and see the ASM's, EuroReefs, Deltecs, MRCs in action!!!!!!! It'll make you think twice about your skimmer selection

 

[stanlalee]

Originally Posted by acrylic51
I think you miss the point.......You can't compare the skimmer and the price shouldn't even be looked at you look at the quality you get from the product.......There is no reason a skimmer should take a week or so to build or break in other than it's an ill performer.......The ASM's will skim right out of the box and pull nasty within hours.......Not weak tea, like others.......The Seaclone might be great on your 30 gallon tank, but by no means is it adequate enough even for a 55 gallon tank, and please do put it on your 90 and see what it pulls......1 cup every 2 days........I'll put the ASM up against that anyday and pull 1 cup daily and better yet we could put up a MRC, Barrs, or Deltec and would make them really look bad...
Bottom line a skimmer is one area you don't want to skimp and by going that route......You'll be replacing it in a matter of time.......Go over to ReefCentral and see the ASM's, EuroReefs, Deltecs, MRCs in action!!!!!!! It'll make you think twice about your skimmer selection

and tell me where you said something any different than I did?
a) I said they shouldn't be compared
b) I said I was going to use a AquaC EV120 for my 90 gallon
c) I said my 90 gallon choice wasn't based on my current skimmer
d) you said put it on the same tank for direct comparison with a good skimmer which IS my point. Testimonials are meaningless because there isn't direct comparisons. anybody with a skimmer that has good production will say theirs is great (like you are acusing me of doing).
the only thing you said different is the ASM will skim within hours right out the box. I said go to bob fenners famous wet web FAQ and see how many people with those skimmers you recommended complain about theirs being up for days and not skimming

 

[cgrant]

I have the coralife ss220 and it works great, I did have a problem with it making too many bubles at first but thats cause the air line fitting on the pump was not pushed all the way in.
Within 72 hours of installing my coralife it was pulling out this crap that looked like...well crap!
General break-in seems to be about 72 hours on these from searching/reading on it.
If you are not producing any bubbles something is wrong?
When i was messing with mine if i completely plugged the air line the bubbles went away, it sounds like something is clogged?
Read the instruction again, Take you skimmer out of sump and make sure everything is installed correcty, then make sure you can blow air in all the air lines.
Let us know how it goes, once you get the issue resolve it will start pulling all kinds of crap out. Again, if you dont have bubbles something is wrong with the setup!

 

[cgrant]

a picture is sometimes worth a thousand words, kinda looks like mud, this skimmer is only 2 weeks old and already needs a good cleaning.
I have mine draining into a 1 gallon milk jug, works well.

 

[eye.guy]

Not sure how it works of if it even works . Paid 330 for it and guy threw in pump it needed. Not sure how to set it. Are the bubbles supposed to come over the internal tube into the cup? You need to adjust a tube for bubble level. When I had the bubbles coming up to the top of the tube the collection cup was filling with water, so I lowered it. Also my tank is only 3 weeks old so only living things in there are hitchhiker snails (whelk) a couple of aiptasia and lots of brown algae. Can someone please explain via photo or great description how to set this skimmer as it only came with a sheet of paper with a picture of the skimmer on it.

 

[splatee]

There are alot of little tricks ot there that will make the CSS work even better. We have a CSS 125 on a 90 gallon and i have to empty it everyday just about. Here are a few thing i did.
1. I made sure the pump was at 3 inches below the waterline.
2. I raised the black foam in the overflow box about 1/8 of inch above the box, this took care of the microbubble problems. And you want the overflow box about 1/8 to a 1/4inch above the waterline.
3. I widened out the air hole on the retun tube just a little bit and made sure the return tube was about a 1/4 inch below the water line. This takes care of the surging problem.
Hope this helps.

 

[madandgloa]

I have a CSS and after about a day I cannot get the tiny micro bubbles to stop coming out of the overflow box. I raised the foam out a bit and it helped but I am not satisfied with the fix. I also cannot adjust it properly according to the instructions. You are supposed to open the water flow valve all the way and then adjust the water height using the drain control. If I open the water flow valve all the way I cannot keep the micro bubbles low enough, and I fill the collection cup with clean water in 30 seconds. Please help if anyone knows what the issue is.

 

[splatee]

Is your skimmer broke in? I would get the waterline about a 1/4 inch below the overflow box, then adjust the skimmer from there. You want the bubbles in the neck of the skimmer about an 1/8 inch, this will give a thick foam. It can take the skimmer a couple of days to fully break in and even after that it can take a little to get it dialed in.