problem with protein skimmer

[asmiley73]

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE
My first post so please bare with me...
My problem is that my Prizm Skimmer Deluxe (Red Sea) keeps stopping pumping air/water. I jsut installed the skimmer to my 75 gallon FOT over the weekend. I have followed the instructions for the setup of the skimmer. When I attach the air tube to the II slot (for pumping air and water) everything seems to work fine for awhile (the overflow compartment fills up and bubbles are produced). This is what is supposed to happen I believe. For some reason it stops pumping water in a few hours ir so. I then have to attach the airtube to the
I (#1) slot (for pumping water only) to get the skimmer pumping water again.
Any ideas why this is happening?
Am I explaining this right? What should I see happening? I am a newbie so please bare with me again.
AJ

 

[firecopemt]

Is the intake tube far enough in the water? I have the same skimmer on my 75, and havent had any problems with it other than getting it adjusted. Take that back, it has lost prime 2 times since I have had it, which wasnt that big of a deal. You dont have to take the hose off to get it to prime again. Just squeeze the tube shut with your fingers. If I remember right it says that your intake tube needs to be in the water something like 4 inches? I would check that first. If that is fine, then I would try to turn it up a bit and see if that helps.
One more tip. I took the advice of someone else that uses the Prizm on their tanks. To get the best possible adjustment and performance from the Prizm go to your LFS and buy a litte shut off valve like they sell for air pumps to regulate the flow. Take the little clear tube, and cut it in half. Put the flow valve in the middle and slide both ends of the tubing on to it, then connect it to the waste cup. After doing this you will be able to fine tune it so that it works the best that it can without filling your waste cup with water. The clear tube is just your air injection tube, so after you do the modification then you can adjust your air and flow rate seperately instead of all in the same step. By doing this modification you can fine tune it to work 100 % better than from the factory. Hope this helps

 

[asmiley73]

Thanks. I am trying something new. I called the manufactoror (Red Sea), and they suggested that I leave the valve to the lowest setting (almost closing it) for 48 hours and then reopen it slightly). They said this should produce the foam and not fill the basket with water. Have you tried that?

 

[firecopemt]

Yes I tried everything, even calling Red Sea like you did, and got told the same thing. I did that and it seemed to help, but still didnt perform the way that I wanted it to. By taking my friends advice from another forum that I frequent, more than I do this one, I finally got the performance that I had wanted out of it.
What Red Sea didnt tell you is that everytime you clean the skimmer you are going to have the same problem with it filling the waste cup up very fast, so you are going to have to turn it way down like they told you for 48 hours AGAIN.
I would try the tip that I gave you. If you arent happy with it what did you lose? A dollar on the flow valve, and 5 cents on some new tubing, and a little time? HTH