Skimmer basics

[Scott]

I'm running a skimmer for the first time, following Greg's advice from the newbie presentation on Saturday, "Get a good skimmer, then get a better skimmer"

(I don't know if I got the good one or the better one. )

I got it set up yesterday, I adjusted the water and air flow per the instructions, and it was foaming well and collecting some nice green skimmate (that's the word, right?)

Sometimes the foam was pretty dry, other times it was very, very wet where at times the water was a steady stream out of the collection cup.

All told, I collected about a gallon of water. I assume this is way too much for a day of normal operation, but it was interesting watching it work.

I had to replace that gallon of water, and did a water change as I removed a good amount of rock from the system that displaced about 4 gallons of water.

Now after the water change, the skimmer is boiling away, but the bubbles are popping quickly and no foam is climbing up into the tube.

Trying to understand what's going on here, I'm guessing that clean water foams much less, and dirty water foams more.

Is this correct?

Once things dirty up again, the foaming will resume?

Is that basically how it works?

TIA.

 

[Behrmon]

What kind of skimmer & pump? Thats is a lot of water.

Skimmers take a little to "break in" but sound like your skimming very wet.

 

[Scott]

It's an AquaC EV-120 and Mag 5 pump.

oh yeah, it was a lot of water for sure. I was playing with it, letting it run wet at times, watching it work. I'm an engineer, I need to do that.

There were some points where the foam was nice and thick, like what you see on the beach (not as dirty, thankfully!). that's when it felt like it was running like it should be.

Now I can't get it to foam wet or dry. there's about an inch of bubbles in the big chamber. I figure it now just doesn't have enough grime to get all in a lather about. and/or needs to break in as you say after I disrupted it with a water change.

thanks.

 

[tone2607]

yeah defentially got to give it some time to break in

 

[JohnK]

Hehe, your doing what everyone does with a new skimmer, tinkering. It will drive you insane, skimmers are funky like that.

The biggest thing to keep in mind IME is that any adjustment you make will take a day or so to settle in. If you set it up so it's just starting to produce skimmate the first day, no doubt it will be going totally nuts the next day. That's normal.

Once you do get it dialed in, you'll most likely see it obviously producing foam sometimes and sometimes it will seem to be doing little. That's normal. Usually when you feed the foam will collapse (the opposite of what I'd expect), that's also normal.

Best bet, adjust so you have a nice foam with lots of tiny bubbles in the riser, but it doesn't look like any foam is going to make it to the collection cup. Leave it like that. If you don't have anything in the cup in a day or two, raise the water level a little bit and give it another day. Repeat until it seems right.

Good luck

 

[chew*]

Fwiw most skimmers do they're job at night when your sleeping and not fiddling, There are all kinds of things that can make a skimmer "shut down"

A candle in the room, smoking in the same room, putting your hand in the water etc etc, there are also things that can make it go crazy such as changing out a micron pad or sock.........If your not waking up to any skimmate in the cup in the morning your skimming to dry, if you wake up to a full cup of water chances are your skimming to wet, try to find a balance in between by tuning it where you get 1/4 to 1/2 cup a night............

 

[Scott]

excellent responses guys, thanks. just what I was looking for.

I've seen already through my tinkering that something as simple as putting a hand in the sump, putting a rock under the outflow to quiet it down, etc. can shut it down.

maddening indeed.

 

[JayM]

I don't know if it was mentioned, but the water level that the skimmer lives in being constant is also critical to get your skimmer to produce skimmate regularly

 

[chew*]

I don't know if it was mentioned, but the water level that the skimmer lives in being constant is also critical to get your skimmer to produce skimmate regularly

True that

 

[delta]

The EV 120 is especially sensitive to water disturbances due to the short neck. This makes the difference between skimming and not skimming very slim.

Basically I tune the skimmer by raising the air water mix so I can see it above the black mixing box then I open the gate valve a 1\4 turn. Then I open and close the air valve to dry out my skim mate.

If you find the skimmate is too dry with the air valve all the way open, open the gate valve some more in 1\8th turn increments but wait a few a good 4 hrs in between.

The reason for lowering the water level to get wetter skimmate is that when the water level is up in the riser chamber it is starving the skimmer of air.

Also if you having issues with changing water heights inside you mixing box, make sure your skimmer output is not creating a siphon.

I don't know if it was mentioned, but the water level that the skimmer lives in being constant is also critical to get your skimmer to produce skimmate regularly

Just keep the water level below the output of the skimmer and you will have no issues with this

 

[Scott]

I've got the unit positioned so that the gate valve is just above the highest level of the sump water, so it should never be submerged (unless the return pump is off).

Until I move the sump down to the basement (winter project), I'll be tempted to connect pipes to run the output down below the surface, with appropriate siphon-proofing, of course.

Greg, what you're saying seems counter to what the manual says:

If the foam you are collecting is less concentrated than you prefer (too wet), open the gate valve in small increments. This will lower the water level inside the skimmer, which gives the foam more time to stabilize before it spills into the collection cup. If the gate valve is open 100%, then you can start closing off the blue air valve in small increments.

At this point, wet foam is being produced again. I've got the gate valve just about all the way open and am starting to cut off the air little by little.

thanks again guys.

 

[steevareno]

I had an Ev-120 and was never able to get it tuned in just right. Actually it never really skimmed well at all. Some people have good luck with them and some don't from what i've read...If i were you and you can't get it going in a few weeks, get a needlwheel skimmer using less wattage and better skimming, IMO.

 

[delta]

I've got the unit positioned so that the gate valve is just above the highest level of the sump water, so it should never be submerged (unless the return pump is off).

Until I move the sump down to the basement (winter project), I'll be tempted to connect pipes to run the output down below the surface, with appropriate siphon-proofing, of course.

Greg, what you're saying seems counter to what the manual says:



At this point, wet foam is being produced again. I've got the gate valve just about all the way open and am starting to cut off the air little by little.

thanks again guys.

Yeah that may be but they aslo recomend a lower setting to start with

 

[Scott]

I had an Ev-120 and was never able to get it tuned in just right. Actually it never really skimmed well at all. Some people have good luck with them and some don't from what i've read...If i were you and you can't get it going in a few weeks, get a needlwheel skimmer using less wattage and better skimming, IMO.

Thanks, this is good to know. I picked up this unit used, like I try to do as much as possible in this hobby so I can learn new stuff by doing. If it works, great. If not, I'll get something else and call this one a learning experience.

Yeah that may be but they aslo recomend a lower setting to start with

ok, I was just checking to make sure you didn't mean wet when you said dry.