story of my skimmer and I

[tboy]

hello everyone
hope someone here in this room could help me
When i first start into the hobby i got a seaclone skimmer and everything was perfectly fine for the first 2 months. Then come the skimmer doesn't collect anything but water and also produce lots of bubble into the tank. I try to adjust the valve, water level and the whole nine yard it still doesn't do anything so i shut it off.
Then come my second tank and bought a brand new skimmer and built that into my sump. Never ever collect in that skimmer but bubbles in the sump. After trying the whole nine yard and again and ask so many people i have to give up again. NO SKIMMER
So now i just built a 220g tank and bought a used asm3 skimmer from a guy and everything was fine for the first 2 months again. Now it start doing the same thing.
Normally every week or two, the asm3 would shoot out a lot of water and all i have to do is clean it then i would be back to normal again. So the other day when i see that happen i figure i have to clean in but i didn't have time so i shut it off and wait till i have more time and clean it. Today after cleaning it and put it back together. The skimmer start shooting so much water out and make lots of bubbles. The collection cup collect nothing but water.
Normally inside of the skimmer i would see lots lots of bubbles . Now only a little bit of bubble up on the to of the skimmer and lots lots of water come out with lots of bubbles. I bought the skimmer and the sump from the guy and he proberly used it about a year and i'm really sure nothing really happen to him.

What did i do wrong?

 

[apos]

I wish I knew. I just did a water change, and my skimmer hasn't produced enough bubbles to make it anywhere near the collection cup since. I'm getting sort of worried. I thought water changes were supposed to HELP nitrates, but they seem to break the skimmer just long enough so that it can't be there to remove debris and so forth.
I really wish I could afford a better skimmer.

 

[fishy7]

I have not used this brand of skimmer but I would read the manual and see what they suggest. Sounds simple, but most skimmers are very touchy and have to be right on the money for them to work properly.
If this does not work then throw the thing away and get a new skimmer that is not so problematic. I use an AquaC EV240 on my tank. I made adjustments after the break in and 2 years later I have never touched it since.

Good luck!

 

[apos]

You do empty the cup from time to time though, right? Though for nearly 400$ retail, this thing should come with a maid service that cleans it out every week for you.