ATI Bubble Master Owners

[weege1]

Help/Experience info wanted.

I pulled the trigger and went to the BM200... :-D Got it yesterday and Gave it a warm bath to help with the break-in period...

It was installed on the tank at about 7PM last night...

I have the second gen version with the wingnut that allows you to raise the riser tube to set the water level.

Here are my observations so far.

When I plugged it in started right up and SUPER quiet, if I didn't see the bubbles I wouldn't have known it was on. Left it as is and left it for the night. Checked on it this morning and bubble level was still very low not reaching the neck at all. If I pull off the collection cup I can see that there looks to be quite a bit of turbulence in the chamber, not sure if this is normal.

Questions:
How high should the water level be in the skimmer? How long did your skimmer take to beak in and start producing skimate? Any tips or things to look out for?

Thanks,
Lou

 

[MichaelJ]

You should give it a week or two to break in.... leave it at it's lowest setting (tube) then only raise it a 1/4'' at a time..... see where the level goes...
I like mine so far....

 

[bigchippa]

Be patient like Mike said keep it all the way down and in a couple of days it will slowly raise up, small adjustments aftter that.

 

[MichaelJ]

A problem that I am occuring at this time is , I don't think the seal from the pump to the skimmer itself is tight enough? The pump keeps rattling... Any ideas Bigchippa?

 

[Reef55]

A problem that I am occuring at this time is , I don't think the seal from the pump to the skimmer itself is tight enough? The pump keeps rattling... Any ideas Bigchippa?

read the manual...

 

[Liam]

A problem that I am occuring at this time is , I don't think the seal from the pump to the skimmer itself is tight enough? The pump keeps rattling... Any ideas Bigchippa?

did you get it from aquarium gallery,because they assembled their skimmers incorrectly,as was pointed out to me.
My pump rattled when you first started it until i remounted the pump correctly.

 

[MichaelJ]

read the manual...

I did.

 

[MichaelJ]

did you get it from aquarium gallery,because they assembled their skimmers incorrectly,as was pointed out to me.
My pump rattled when you first started it until i remounted the pump correctly.

Yes I did.... I just took apart the air hose and the pump, cleaned it up a little.. now it's working good again... I think the airhose got pushed to far in.


Not trying to hijack your thread weege.... but these might be problems you might incur.

 

[Myk]

No Liam, the 250 the black rubber piece sits on the bottom of the pump. the 200 the pump sits on its side on the rubber piece. That was corrected quite a while ago...

-B-

 

[Liam]

No Liam, the 250 the black rubber piece sits on the bottom of the pump. the 200 the pump sits on its side on the rubber piece. That was corrected quite a while ago...

-B-

the skimmer in question in this thread is a bubblemaster 200.
Just wanted to check because the rubber had been torn off the side of my pump and put on the bottom like the 250 which was incorrect.
My pump rattled like crazy when you first started it and sometimes would not prime after being switched off.
Once i glued the rubber boot back into the correct place i never had another problem.

 

[MichaelJ]

Either way it's a great skimmer. Just the fact that I don't have to mess with it is a plus IMO

 

[Myk]

I know Liam, You got one of the first ones that came in. The black peice was not attached to anything when they arrived. When we assembled the first few we thought it went on the bottom like the 250. (hence, when you got yours) That has since been corrected, that was all I was saying.

-B-

 

[weege1]

Something doesn't seem right so I wanted to ask the peeps that have teh skimmer. It's been running for 2+ days now and while I don't expect to see any skimmate yet I would expect the bubbles to reach the neck of the cup/skimmer. It I take off the collection cup with the skimmer running the bubbles dont even spill over and I think this is not what I should be expecting. Can anyone let me know if this is normal?

 

[Reef55]

Mine did about the same as that for like 5 days.

 

[weege1]

OK Something is not right with my BM200.

How many of you BM200 users have to mod your output to get the bubble level to reach the cup neck?

At the lowest position I can take the cup off and the bubble level is about 1.5-2 inches from the top of the bodies cone. If I put the riser to the highest position it makes it to the top of the bodies cone.

The only way I can get the water level high enough to get bubbles in the neck is to mod it to restrict the output. I would think that with a 500+ skimmer no modding would be required for it to operate correctly.

I have tried 6 8 and 10 inches of water in the sump, no effect.

I have a Dwyer and get a reading of 18-20 so I know its inline as far as air draw is concerned. It just seams that the water draw on the pump is not what it should be, either that or the output design is poor and a gate valve should be standard.

What are you all seeing in this regard?

Thanks

 

[Liam]

mine took a while to do anything too but once they break in they are a great skimmer.

 

[Liam]

OK Something is not right with my BM200.

How many of you BM200 users have to mod your output to get the bubble level to reach the cup neck?

At the lowest position I can take the cup off and the bubble level is about 1.5-2 inches from the top of the bodies cone. If I put the riser to the highest position it makes it to the top of the bodies cone.

The only way I can get the water level high enough to get bubbles in the neck is to mod it to restrict the output. I would think that with a 500+ skimmer no modding would be required for it to operate correctly.

I have tried 6 8 and 10 inches of water in the sump, no effect.

I have a Dwyer and get a reading of 18-20 so I know its inline as far as air draw is concerned. It just seams that the water draw on the pump is not what it should be, either that or the output design is poor and a gate valve should be standard.

What are you all seeing in this regard?

Thanks

I would give it a week,should be no need to mod it.

 

[weege1]

I would give it a week,should be no need to mod it.

Liam,

So your water.buuble level was below the cone when breaking in and then rose to teh cup neck while breaking in without playing with the riser? I don't see how I'm going to see such a large rise while it's breaking in?

 

[Liam]

i had to adjust the riser but not modify it.
In relation to the bottom of the cup where do you have the top of the riser t

 

[weege1]

i had to adjust the riser but not modify it.
In relation to the bottom of the cup where do you have the top of the riser t

If I put the riser at the highest setting (hitting the cup) and pull the cup off the bubble do not spill over, they are about .5-1 inch from doing so. All pics info I have read/seen indicate that this should not be normal, they should be spilling over like crazy.