jonny bolt
Member
Thought I would my experience with this CSS, thought it might help some people out. I bought it new, after a friend got one and I saw how outstanding it really does perform. I do not have corals, and neither does my friend, but I have a Dwarf Lion and a Valentini Puffer which can be messy eaters, and I also have a Flame Angel that takes the longest poops I have ever seen lol. Other than that I have a Maroon Clown, Decorated Goby, and a Blue Devil Damsel. My friend has more fish than I do which is why he got his, but I got mine because of the eating habits, plus I moved up to a tank that is just about twice the size as my old one.
I got a new one, with the new instructions. I put everything together ok. But I knew right off the bat that it was not going to fit behind my 72g bowfront, because I only left 4 or 5 inches between the wall when I set it up. So I knew I had to mount it on the side of the tank, which I didnt really care about until I figured out it was going to interfere with my Orbit light leg lol. Grrrrrrrr.
After getting that out of the way, and mounting the CSS, I realized that the pump was too low in the water. This was a big problem for me personally, because I keep my water about .75" over what most people probably wouldm because that way it covers the "lip" on my filter and the water doesnt splash so loud into the tank. I also use that noise a gauge for when I need to topoff my water LOL. When I hear more racket than I want and cant get to sleep, its topoff time. So I had to rig up the pump, and move the valve down so its down between the pump intake and the venturi chamber. I had to use some of the extra tubing that came with it to achieve this. I then used some more of the extra tubing to connect the top of the pump to the intake pipe. This helped tremendously, and I was able to get the pump up to 3" below the water line. NOW I have some serious foamage! What a difference. So to anyone who had or is having problems getting some bubbles in there to start the "breaking in" of the unit, your pump is definitely too low and/or your valve isnt open quite enough. These 2 factors were what got mine running correctly. After getting it all setup up, I noticed my adjusment valve was closed a tad too much......I tweaked it open a bit and up came the bubbles. I then used the water level adjustment dial to get the bubbles back to about 1" above the red collection cup threaded ring.
I will let it sit at this setting to break it in for a few days, then open'er up full throttle and make the final adjustions. I will post again after that. For now, here's some pics....
All in all, it was a bit laborious getting it set up correctly, but I attribute this to my particular setup, and if I had set up my tank a little farther from the wall, I could've avoided a few hours worth of "rigging" and tweaks lol. So this one gripe is all on me. Other than that, I think this skimmer is absolutely great. Compared to others I have seen and worked with, this is just easier to work with once you're used to it, and easy to tweak. In my opinion, you CANNOT beat this for $100. THUMBS UP!!!!
I got a new one, with the new instructions. I put everything together ok. But I knew right off the bat that it was not going to fit behind my 72g bowfront, because I only left 4 or 5 inches between the wall when I set it up. So I knew I had to mount it on the side of the tank, which I didnt really care about until I figured out it was going to interfere with my Orbit light leg lol. Grrrrrrrr.
After getting that out of the way, and mounting the CSS, I realized that the pump was too low in the water. This was a big problem for me personally, because I keep my water about .75" over what most people probably wouldm because that way it covers the "lip" on my filter and the water doesnt splash so loud into the tank. I also use that noise a gauge for when I need to topoff my water LOL. When I hear more racket than I want and cant get to sleep, its topoff time. So I had to rig up the pump, and move the valve down so its down between the pump intake and the venturi chamber. I had to use some of the extra tubing that came with it to achieve this. I then used some more of the extra tubing to connect the top of the pump to the intake pipe. This helped tremendously, and I was able to get the pump up to 3" below the water line. NOW I have some serious foamage! What a difference. So to anyone who had or is having problems getting some bubbles in there to start the "breaking in" of the unit, your pump is definitely too low and/or your valve isnt open quite enough. These 2 factors were what got mine running correctly. After getting it all setup up, I noticed my adjusment valve was closed a tad too much......I tweaked it open a bit and up came the bubbles. I then used the water level adjustment dial to get the bubbles back to about 1" above the red collection cup threaded ring.
I will let it sit at this setting to break it in for a few days, then open'er up full throttle and make the final adjustions. I will post again after that. For now, here's some pics....
All in all, it was a bit laborious getting it set up correctly, but I attribute this to my particular setup, and if I had set up my tank a little farther from the wall, I could've avoided a few hours worth of "rigging" and tweaks lol. So this one gripe is all on me. Other than that, I think this skimmer is absolutely great. Compared to others I have seen and worked with, this is just easier to work with once you're used to it, and easy to tweak. In my opinion, you CANNOT beat this for $100. THUMBS UP!!!!
