protein skimmer goin haywire!!

[nolesfan06]

well everything in the tank is running right for about month then all of a sudden my protien skimmer one day starts shootin a million tiny bubbles into the tank. Someone please explain y it did this please??

so i turn the venture till they stopped and it is fully shut... and when i go to twist in open just opening it a little it produce tons of bubbles again. it's a seaclone 100.... i know i know people don't recommend these but it was free and u dont hear that word very much in this hobby so i took it!!

 

[houndhome1]

pull out the air intake line where it plugs into the powerhead.Thats the part that has the cone shaped piece on it. then plug it back in. Sometimes they loose the suction part of the cylcone. That should fix it.

 

[quis]

I have a excalibur hv-1 skimmer for about two months now, and for the past week I have been having millions of micro bubbles in my tank. It makes the tank look really dirty. I have no idea why this is happening, but I'm getting tired of looking at my tank and seeing all those bubbles floating around. I wish I could help you, but I need help myself.

 

[nolesfan06]

i tried pullin the airline out, but it didnt fix my problem. anything else i can do??

 

[cgrant]

only other thing i can think of trying is turning it on and off a couple of times, maybe the pump turning on and off will do the trick, thats all i got! :thinking:

 

[nolesfan06]

none of those methods worked. My LFS said to take it out and soak it in bleach water??? anyone ever hear of this? they have the same one on their live rock tank and they said it helped theirs out when they did it.

 

[nolesfan06]

^^^^ :jumping: bump, going up! :jumping: ^^^^

 

[saltfan]

Does this have the air line going into the pump? IF it does, then I'd pull the skimmer apart, salt develops on the intake line, and messes up the flow. I can't remember if the Seaclone has it or if it uses a air stone. I'm takin a shot here.

 

[nolesfan06]

do u mean take the air line and clean it or take where the pump hooks into the plastic tubing and clean there? it's seems like it's not pushing the bubbles up far enough to reach the lip of the collection cup.

 

[saltfan]

Oh, if thats the case, your alright. They don't make skim all the time. But where the line goes into the pump itself is where the salt will collect on the line itself and slow up the air.

 

[nolesfan06]

o well i was concerned cuz it's been about 5 days and no collection has been acquired. i already took the airline and clean it. so i really dont know what to do from hear.

 

[granny]

There is a simple, quick, maintenance item that needs to be done on most skimmers every week or two. I do mine every time I do a water change. Salt crust builds up in the juncture of tubing and pump that needs to be cleared. Simply
take a cup of warm ro water-NO SALT_
Hold it by the venturi intake tube and simply dip the end of the tube into the cup of warm water. It will suck it dry! This cleans the gunk out and should get rid of your bubble problem. I had this same problem with the Aqua Clear until I read the book and it stated this should be done every couple of weeks. Took 4 minutes and cleared up the problem.
Hope it works for you!

 

[nolesfan06]

do u mean stick the tip of the airline into the warm water??

 

[shrmnator]

i have read some great modifications that can be done to the seaclone 100. do a search and you should come across them. and you are right. you cannot beat FREE!