etss 800 fine tune

[ldam]

I been having problem with this skimmer for a bit sometime it would work other time it does nothing, Must be my set up, i took all the bioball out just to see if it help
water level is right at the end of the big cylinder where it meet the rectangle base when pump is not running, I have it connect to reeflo snapper a little over kill but i do have valve to control the flow,
The problem i have is that not always i will see foam on top of the water and the bubble is not consistent sometime it there some time tis not. where should the water be if when the outlet gate valve is open and pump is running in the mid of the big cylinder or at the top.
when i tune it should the water level be at the neck

hear it was a good skimmer but having a difficult time tunning it

 

[delta]

It might not produce 24/7. The amount the skimmer will produce will depend on bioload and if the skimmer is oversized or not.

You should have 22 bio balls per tower. If you do not have the right amount it will not work properly

 

[Dashiki]

I have a etss700 I'm Installing tonight. From what I got talking to other people at most only take out 1-2 bioballs.

I'm not familiar with that pump you may want to call them to see if that may be your issue.

In my case my circ pump is a reeflo hammerhead which does a ton of gph but not a lot of pressure. so I am running it off a little giant pump that matches the iwaki 40

Just a thought.

 

[smithcreek]

I've been running an ETSS 800 for years, they do work great and are very easy to set once you know the trick. Please forgive me if I am stating facts you already know, but here's how the skimmer works.
- water is blasted at the bioballs which mixes air into the water
- the water level in the downdraft tubes is at the same height as the water in the main tube
- water in the downdraft tubes gets sucked out of those tubes into the skimmer box, but only as fast as the water exiting your gate valve. THIS IS WHY THIS SKIMMER IS CALLED A DOWNDRAFT SKIMMER. REMEMBER THIS IT'S IMPORTANT.

Now, picture where you have your water level. Since it's at the top of the box, it's right at the bottom of the tubes, so every single bubble that gets produced is going into the skimmer box and main tube. Sounds good, but it's not. Big bubbles, small bubbles, medium bubbles, all of them make it into the box. On top of that, lots of them collect in the corners of the box and make giant blurping bubbles that kill any skimming action you have. The problem you're seeing though is if you raise the water level by closing the gate valve it overflows.

People have done all sorts of things like throttle back the pump, install a gate valve on the air intake, but it's much simpler than that. Here's the trick. The problem is not that you need to open the gate more and lower the water level, you need to close it more and raise you water level much higher, your water level is way too low. How does that work?

- the higher the water the level in your main tube, the higher the water level in your downdraft tubes.
- the higher the water level in your downdraft tubes, the less bubbles and the smaller bubbles that will be drawn into the skimmer body.
- the larger bubbles will stay in the downdraft tube. that's good, you don't want those in the skimmer tube.

So, the easiest way to adjust the downdraft skimmer is actually in reverse. Raise the water level in your skimmer so high in the tube that almost no bubbles make it into the main tube. Then slowly lower the level. Remember, in the downdraft skimmer the bubble are always being produced in the downdraft tube, they just don't make it to the main tube. The lower you go the more bubbles will make it until you get just the right amount.

Here's a picture of mine. I clean it twice a week, it's about due. Just to give you an idea where my water level is, if I put my fingers over the air intakes the water almost fills up the main tube, just 1" or so under the riser flange.

 

[delta]

The snapper is not a pressure rated pump it is probably under driven.

You should really be running a 1100gph pressure rated pump to drive that skimmer properly

 

[ldam]

thank you for the advice pressure is correct i switch the snapper for a smaller pump about 800gph run like crazy
however is the snapper rate @ 2500gph that why i thought it would blow the skimmer away

 

[don in mass]

i can tell you for the people that get them to work right they are a good skimmer.but with experience with etss 600 with the blueline 40 pump on the etss platinum 36 in sump refugium i tried for over 10 weeks to dial that thing in nothing but problems .i tried everything gary at super skimmers said nothing work .and when you think you got it dialed in you leave your house and come back to a flood (10x) the wife was not happy .the one time it ran for 5 days it stunk like low tied so i ordered the waste container and air filter put that on helped with smell but the skimmer was off the hook again so the wife said no more lol i was at that point to. need less to say it got sold and in the sump skimmer was bought .if you type reviews on etss skimmers you will see good stories but more bad ones they did when this happen to me hth don

 

[vp6799]

ETSS skimmers require a high pressure pump to operate correctly. Your 800 skimmer recommends a Pump size:
55 RLT Iwaki, Blue Line 55 HD or Equivalent

If you decide to try a different pump. Look for one with similar specs to those.

You can use a 3000gph pump and not get anything out of it. Or use a recommended pressure pump with 900gph and get crazy foam.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[smithcreek]

i tried for over 10 weeks to dial that thing in nothing but problems .i tried everything gary at super skimmers said nothing work

Like I said, if you try to tune it by slowly raising the water level you will never get it. I tried for a long time and never got it to skim consistently. One the other hand, if you start with the water level very high a downdraft skimmer will produce very few bubbles. So start with the water level very high and adjust it by slowly lowering it, producing more bubbles the lower you go. As far as I know, the instructions from ETSS and the instructions on their website don't give this method. I'm surprised they don't because it makes it a very easy skimmer to use compared to the temperamental beast many people think it is.

 

[vp6799]

I couldn't get my down draft sump buddy 40 skimmer to work right until I opened the gate valve completely and closed it slowly. I went from a week of nothing to some nasty wet stuff. I don't get a lot of dry, just really wet nasty stuff.