Incredible Corals August 9, 2011 Author Share August 9, 2011 Steve - It will take some time. How much height do you have under the tank? I have a 30" tall Reef Dynamics skimmer you can borrow to help you get the "new" out of the water. Also, if it runs like the Avast you'll know it's something in the water and not the skimmer. Let me know. I only have 28" :( . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zygote2k August 9, 2011 Share August 9, 2011 as chip says, it's gonna take some time to break all of the foreign substances out of the water. it really doesn't matter right now because there's nothing that you need the skimmer to do this early into the cycle. In fact, I usually wait till the first signs of nitrate before even turning the skimmer on. You have at least 3 weeks before close to the end of cycle. Don't do anything drastic, just let it be. Keep the cup off and let the tank cycle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldReefer August 11, 2011 Share August 11, 2011 FWIW mine just settled in. It was running it in a brand new plexiglas tank. Apparently the chemical traces made it crazy. All good now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incredible Corals August 11, 2011 Author Share August 11, 2011 FWIW mine just settled in. It was running it in a brand new plexiglas tank. Apparently the chemical traces made it crazy. All good now How long did it take? I'm on day 3 and it's still not happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctenophore August 11, 2011 Share August 11, 2011 You have so many known bubble-crazing agents in there that it may take a week. Putty, new tank, filter socks, new skimmer, dry sand- I think you've covered just about all of them. Adding some mysis might help balance it out (only half kidding- mysis is known for shutting down skimmate production) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incredible Corals August 11, 2011 Author Share August 11, 2011 Haha sounds good. Its just running now with the top off doing it's thing. Thanks for all the help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incredible Corals August 14, 2011 Author Share August 14, 2011 Its been a week and the skimmer is still going crazy. What do you recommend? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F&Fmgr August 14, 2011 Share August 14, 2011 can you through some carbon in there, maybe it will help remove some of the non organics causing the problem. also is tank abit cloudier than your used to? reason I ask is a tank this new could be going through lots of different processes and their could be an excess of bacteria. its more likly some chemical and the carbon will(most likely) remove it. try taking the gate valve, tee, and maybe even the stand pipe off of the skimmer. that way the water level will be low in the skimmer allowing for the foam to condense without losing alot of water. if you start to see residue or even skimmate after a day or two, then you can add back the standpipe(after cleaning the reaction chamber), let it skim another day like that, then if its still dry, add the tee/gate valve and dial in. HTP Sean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incredible Corals August 14, 2011 Author Share August 14, 2011 I already added carbon so I'll try removing the T to see of that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incredible Corals August 15, 2011 Author Share August 15, 2011 I tried to remove the T and water out goes straight up. If I remove the other outlet pipe then the output is under water and makes it worse. It's been running for a week straight and I don't know where to go from here, other than let it keep running. However, I don't see any improvement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vadim August 15, 2011 Share August 15, 2011 i would take it out completely. get a bin fill it with saltwater and let it run in the bin to see if the reaction is different? just my thought. If you don't have a big tub or something, i have a couple. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 August 15, 2011 Share August 15, 2011 Steve, you're welcome to bring it over to my place to see what it does on my system. We could troubleshoot together if you want and you'll see whether it is in fact the water or something else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incredible Corals August 16, 2011 Author Share August 16, 2011 Think I got it figured out. First I raised it up even higher. As high as it would go without the base out of the water. Second I tested the little intake muffler thing and that thing was causing a lot of back pressure or something in the system so I had to pull the tubes almost all the way out of the "muffler" and the level dropped a little. Third I took the "T" with the gate valve all the way off and that caused more back pressure because it was fighting the water pressure that was going straight up. So I went one step further and took more piping off so the output was under water. That did it! The crazy bubbles now stopped in the middle of the middle chamber. So I then put the pipe back on and tilted it so it's not going straight up and creating back pressure. I still have the "T" off but you can see that it's not overflowing. I hope that I can eventually put the gate valve back on and turn the output tube straight up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incredible Corals August 16, 2011 Author Share August 16, 2011 Just check it again and I have real life skimmate! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 August 16, 2011 Share August 16, 2011 Stephen, if your skimmer is all the way out of the water and there is more foam than water in the reactor, I think something is still wrong. From the looks of things, your skimmer is at least 1/3 foam rather than air bubbles in water. Can you discern how much water you actually have in the skimmer (where the water line actually is versus where it's pure foam)? Sounds funny to say that you have too much air in your venturi - what we all strive for! - but sounds like something is still amiss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incredible Corals August 16, 2011 Author Share August 16, 2011 Stephen, if your skimmer is all the way out of the water and there is more foam than water in the reactor, I think something is still wrong. From the looks of things, your skimmer is at least 1/3 foam rather than air bubbles in water. Can you discern how much water you actually have in the skimmer (where the water line actually is versus where it's pure foam)? Sounds funny to say that you have too much air in your venturi - what we all strive for! - but sounds like something is still amiss. It's more like 90% foam in the tube. Not sure what is causing the bubbles but it's pulling skimmate now so I'm hoping it pulls what is making the skimmer mad. Not really sure what else to really do. I'm stuck with the skimmer now so I have to try to get it to work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 August 16, 2011 Share August 16, 2011 The offer still stands if you want to test it out in my system. You could also try it out in normal tap water. The lower density water will cause the bubbles to be much larger and not foam as much so if it overflows then, something is probably needing to be tweaked or something is put together incorrectly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incredible Corals August 16, 2011 Author Share August 16, 2011 The offer still stands if you want to test it out in my system. You could also try it out in normal tap water. The lower density water will cause the bubbles to be much larger and not foam as much so if it overflows then, something is probably needing to be tweaked or something is put together incorrectly. I'm going to let it pull out some more skimmate and see if it pulls out whatever is causing all the crazy bubbles. If it doesn't get better in the next few weeks so I can put the "T" back on along with the gate valve then I'll bring it over. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incredible Corals August 17, 2011 Author Share August 17, 2011 Happy to report the skimmer is working great now! If anyone has the same problem I recommend first raising as high as you can without the base being out of the water. Then, taking the "T" that the gate valve is attached to off the outlet pipe. Then angle the outlet pipe so it's not going straight up and the water output is a little under water. That will help with the back pressure and drop the level of all the foam. Let it run like that for 24 hours and it will build up a nice thick bubble mass that will eventually go into the cup. Once all the stuff is out of the tank you can start to lower and stand the output pipe back up. Right now I have the skimmer lowered all the way and the gate valve back on. It's all the way open but it's on Thanks for all the help everyone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 August 17, 2011 Share August 17, 2011 Woo hoo! Great for you! Now you'll be longing for that skimmer full of foam! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctenophore August 17, 2011 Share August 17, 2011 I nominate you for the longest most extreme break-in period ever! Glad to hear it's working normally now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan S February 12, 2012 Share February 12, 2012 If anyone has the same problem I recommend first raising as high as you can without the base being out of the water. Then, taking the "T" that the gate valve is attached to off the outlet pipe. Then angle the outlet pipe so it's not going straight up and the water output is a little under water. That will help with the back pressure and drop the level of all the foam. Let it run like that for 24 hours and it will build up a nice thick bubble mass that will eventually go into the cup. Once all the stuff is out of the tank you can start to lower and stand the output pipe back up. I am now experiencing this same problem. I don't have any room in my stand to raise the skimmer any higher. I can try to remove the T and angle the outlet pipe as you have recommended. Otherwise I can't even turn the CS1 on as it fills with bubbles and overflows instantly. My davy jones locker fills up in about 30 second flat! Since I'm only day 5 into my cycle, can I just leave the skimmer off until 1 month in, when I actually have something to skim? Maybe it will work fine then I wonder? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incredible Corals February 12, 2012 Author Share February 12, 2012 (edited) I am now experiencing this same problem. I don't have any room in my stand to raise the skimmer any higher. I can try to remove the T and angle the outlet pipe as you have recommended. Otherwise I can't even turn the CS1 on as it fills with bubbles and overflows instantly. My davy jones locker fills up in about 30 second flat! Since I'm only day 5 into my cycle, can I just leave the skimmer off until 1 month in, when I actually have something to skim? Maybe it will work fine then I wonder? I would just leave it on with no collection cup for a week or so. Mine took a while to break in. The filter socks caused most of the bubbles. Mine works amazing. It's filled with dark green nasty stuff every week. Edited February 12, 2012 by Aquatic Obsession Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zygote2k February 12, 2012 Share February 12, 2012 make the skimmer 'leak' by loosening the screws that hold the baseplate together. you might have to loosen more than one to allow enough water to escape. this works every time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan S February 14, 2012 Share February 14, 2012 make the skimmer 'leak' by loosening the screws that hold the baseplate together. you might have to loosen more than one to allow enough water to escape. this works every time. I loosened 3 of them, and water is leaking from all 3, but it's still overflowing like niagara falls. i took the collection cup off and am running it 24/7. we'll see if it slows down after a couple of days maybe? mine is the recirc version, not sure if that matters at all. i have a 160gph MJ feeding it, which avast said should work fine. maybe i should loosen the 4th screw as well so the leaking is even more? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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