What is wrong with my skimmer

[milomlo]

Several months ago it was working fine. I took it out yesterday after I built my sump. I hung it on the side of a cooler with water in it (of course) and ran it for several hours adjusting it many many times try to get the darn cyclone to start. Just wasn't getting enough bubbles. So I took the long arm off and put it inside the cooler and hooked the MJ1200 directly to it and I ran it all night long and all day today. Still adjusting it many times. Still can not get the cyclone bubbles.
What am I doing wrong? Any suggestions? :help:
I am going nuts here. I dont' know what else to do

 

[ruaround]

correct me if i am wrong... but isnt that an hob... wouldnt it need air to start the cyclone... by putting it in the water arent you essentially "suffocating" it... i havent ever used one just an observation...

 

[seannmelly]

mine did the same thing after about 3 months. it was a coralife super skimmer and i took it off from the tank to put it in the sump. i got it in the sump plugged it in and its doing the same thing like yours, just the little bubbles. if someone knows i would like to know too! cause i just had to go buy a new 1!

 

[houndhome1]

I;m not sure if that is the 100 or 150 model. I use the 150. But what I can tell u are missing some parts. There should an air line that leads from the pwerhead with an adjustment knob attached. Also there should be a hard plastic j shaped piece that goes from the powerhead which would be attched inside your tank to the outside bottom of the skimmer. This is where the cyclone is started. u adjust the amount of air into the line and u get the skimmer action. I clean mine and retstart it. 5 mim later I am getting foam action.

 

[milomlo]

Originally Posted by ruaround
correct me if i am wrong... but isnt that an hob... wouldnt it need air to start the cyclone... by putting it in the water arent you essentially "suffocating" it... i havent ever used one just an observation...

The air line is hanging out the side of the cooler. The only thing I did was take off the long tube where it hung over the side of the tank and plugged the MJ1200 directly into the bottom instead of into the top of the long tube. The same air hose is still used and it is not in the water.
Anyone know why it is acting weird? It did work great and I took it down and put it away for a few months now this is all I get.
Is it because I have it in fresh water (although I did add a little salt to it)?

 

[milomlo]

Originally Posted by Houndhome1
I;m not sure if that is the 100 or 150 model. I use the 150. But what I can tell u are missing some parts. There should an air line that leads from the pwerhead with an adjustment knob attached. Also there should be a hard plastic j shaped piece that goes from the powerhead which would be attched inside your tank to the outside bottom of the skimmer. This is where the cyclone is started. u adjust the amount of air into the line and u get the skimmer action. I clean mine and retstart it. 5 mim later I am getting foam action.
As stated above I took off that J shaped tube, I thought I could run it without it. That is what I am trying to find out. The air line and adjustment knob are still hooked up to the power head, you just can't see it. They are hanging over the side of the cooler. So it is getting air.
I had it hooked up the correct way for several hours yesterday and I got this same effect.

 

[houndhome1]

Sorry, I didn't see that, I found every once in awhile I have the pull the inlet side of the pwerhead line off. The cone shaped piece gets small pieces of seaweed caught in it and the air mix can't get through. I also heard that skimmers don't work well in freshwater due to different type of water conditions.

 

[milomlo]

Ok well maybe that is it, maybe it is the freshwater thing.

Since I just took it all out of storage there is nothing stopping up the intake. I blew all of that out and everything is clean.
I sure hope it is only the freshwater thing. Do you think there is a problem with running it this way? I am not sure if that long tube is need for anything particular. I figured it would sit better in my sump this way.

 

[houndhome1]

the only thing I can think of, and I'm far from an engineer is that the water needs the gravity and speed to enter the chamber fast enough to create the cyclone action inside. I believe that is why that type works well as a hang on tank type. Good luck.

 

[redbora]

i have the same problem, but i have mine still hanging on the tank. i've tryed restarting it, drainning it and starting it again, adjusting the air valve, adding more water.....nothing seems to work
it's gotten to the point where i just leave it off since it's not doing anything n i haven't really had time or an idea how to fix it

 

[majakarot]

I have the seaclone 100 and my airline gets plugged quite often, i think it is salt creep in the line... you can take off the bulb-end and blow into it, if you can't easily blow air into the skimmer then it is plugged, check the airline and the end where it attaches.... sometimes just sucking on the line is enough to free the plug

 

[milomlo]

I stated above that I blew everything out. I will do it again though.
Any other suggestions?

 

[dieselndix]

the insructions on my HOB stated that the air hose had to be higher than the surface of the water....dont know if that affects your setup, but it may be worth opening the air valve (yours probably twists open) and holding it higher than the water level.....just a thought

 

[milomlo]

Well that may help.
I did put the J shaped arm back on it and hooked it back up that way and for some reason it is getting more bubbles now. Still not right yet though. I also added a bunch of salt to the cooler so maybe the saltwater has some sort of effect on how it makes bubbles.
I have been searching online for skimmers and I have noticed something about venturi which is this one and then something about a needlewheel.
What is that exactly and how is it different from the venturi models? What is better? Anyone know?

 

[rick2203]

i have the same skimmer mines is the 100 a few questions , are the bubbles not being produced in the skimmer itself in the vortex or in the collection cup,if the vortex is not spinning fast enough your not gonna get any bubbles, the problem could be clogged airline or the little tube where u plug in the airline, now if u have no bubbles in the collection cup , its just not adjusted properly, another thing is u cant skim freshwater , even if u put in salt to see if bubbles come out, cant doit, the reason for the bubbles is all the crap in the saltwater, and god knows what else, i might be wrong but clean water cannot be skimmed. anybody feel free.

 

[milomlo]

Thanks - yes I do think it is because of the freshwater. I stopped trying and just decided to wait until I get the sump set up and then go from there.
Does anyone know the difference between a needlewheel skimmer and a Venturi skimmer??

 

[turningtim]

Originally Posted by milomlo
Does anyone know the difference between a needlewheel skimmer and a Venturi skimmer??
Yup!

:hilarious