Djplus1 January 29, 2013 Share January 29, 2013 I'm wondering if I'm doing things right. I have the aforementioned skimmer and I would like to know what adjustment setting it should be at. There is a tube with a dot that you rotate to raise or lower the bubble production. I have the skimmer in a Eshopps RS-75 sump if that helps. The reason I ask is that for the first few 2-4 days I get nothing in the collection cup. At the end of the week (7 days) I have maybe a half inch or so of skimmate. Is this all I'm going to get or should I set the skimmer to bubble much higher so I have to empty out the cup every couple days or so? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epleeds January 29, 2013 Share January 29, 2013 the tube just lets you adjust how "wet" you want to run your skimmer at. The higher the water line, the "wetter" your skimmate is. This also can affect your salinity depending on how much skimmate is produced. I normally run my waterline just at the bottom of the collection cup and clean my skimmer every week to 10 days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Djplus1 January 29, 2013 Author Share January 29, 2013 the tube just lets you adjust how "wet" you want to run your skimmer at. The higher the water line, the "wetter" your skimmate is. This also can affect your salinity depending on how much skimmate is produced. I normally run my waterline just at the bottom of the collection cup and clean my skimmer every week to 10 days. Is the "waterline" the level of the foam, or the actual water itself? I didn't notice the water going up that high as to reach the cup, but the foam quickly over flowed into the collection cup if I turned the tube completely closed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveoutlaw January 29, 2013 Share January 29, 2013 Start with the tube wide open and see where the top of the foam is. If the foam isn't getting up into the neck of the skimmer, close the tube off a little. Keep doing this until you get it to the desired level. However, don't rush it.........skimmers take time to break in and you want to make sure that you get it adjusted properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epleeds January 29, 2013 Share January 29, 2013 by your description, the level of foam. the area where the bubbles end. i normally keep that at the bottom of the collection cup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Djplus1 January 29, 2013 Author Share January 29, 2013 by your description, the level of foam. the area where the bubbles end. i normally keep that at the bottom of the collection cup. OK, that sounds reasonably easy. I will set it to just bubble up to the base of the cup for now on. Will this likely result in me having to empty the cup 2 or 3 times a week now instead of just once? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Djplus1 January 29, 2013 Author Share January 29, 2013 Start with the tube wide open and see where the top of the foam is. If the foam isn't getting up into the neck of the skimmer, close the tube off a little. Keep doing this until you get it to the desired level. However, don't rush it.........skimmers take time to break in and you want to make sure that you get it adjusted properly. The skimmer has been running for about 6 months, so I assume it's broken in, no? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveoutlaw January 29, 2013 Share January 29, 2013 All skimmers are different so it's going to be a trial and error process. Put the top of the foam to the bottom of the skimmer neck and see how it does. If it's not skimming enough, raise it a bit. If it's skimming too wet, lower it a little. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epleeds January 29, 2013 Share January 29, 2013 OK, that sounds reasonably easy. I will set it to just bubble up to the base of the cup for now on. Will this likely result in me having to empty the cup 2 or 3 times a week now instead of just once? mainly depends on how much bioload you have in your tank. each skimmer is different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankieGee March 16, 2014 Share March 16, 2014 Did your PSK-150 ever start making skimmate? I'm curious because I just bought a used one and i'm concerned about the quality of this brand and the pump that came with it. I noticed the pump that came with it isn't a Sicce SK-400 like most ads show. What kind of pump is on your skimmer? The pump on mine came with is a Atman PH2000 Skimmer Pump With needle wheel impeller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildcrazyjoker81 March 16, 2014 Share March 16, 2014 I have a bubble magus with an atman pump and it has worked fine for me for over a year. Just keep it clean. I know other pumps are better, but it has been fine for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crob5965 March 16, 2014 Share March 16, 2014 That's the skimmer I used to have, it works great however, it's very sensitive, one minute it would be very dry skim, then I would look the next day and it would be pulling water out, if I remember correctly there is an airline, tube and the return pipe that can be adjusted and all will give you different results. I ended up dropping mine on the floor and cracking it during a cleaning, I use the D&D Terminator II now that I got off of Ebay for $65,it works better than the eshopps but the thing takes up way too much room. the atman pump is what came with mine also, great pump, a little noisy, but reliable, I think it's the exact same pump that my D&D uses. It's a good skimmer, they do work, however the money they cost new wasn't worth replacing it for me. I was low on funds at the time and needed a skimmer so I went with the D&D, cant say I'm disappointed, but I doubt that I'll be keeping it long term. Good luck, try not to adjust it for a few days and it should start producing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Djplus1 March 16, 2014 Author Share March 16, 2014 Mine has the atman pump. It actually worked pretty good after I ran outside air into the airline. Definitely recommend that. Crob- did you crack the collection cup? Do you still have it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crob5965 March 16, 2014 Share March 16, 2014 Mine has the atman pump. It actually worked pretty good after I ran outside air into the airline. Definitely recommend that. Crob- did you crack the collection cup? Do you still have it? No it was the main body that was cracked, I actually ended up siliconing/epoxy it back together and giving it to a friend that had a 75 gal and no skimmer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crob5965 March 16, 2014 Share March 16, 2014 Start with the tube wide open and see where the top of the foam is. If the foam isn't getting up into the neck of the skimmer, close the tube off a little. Keep doing this until you get it to the desired level. However, don't rush it.........skimmers take time to break in and you want to make sure that you get it adjusted properly. yeah it's all coming back to me now lol, I remember having to turn the angled pipe on top about 1" left or right and wait 15 min to see if anything changed, once it's set it's pretty reliable as long as you can keep the same water level in your sump, I dont have an ATO and at the time the skimmer and pump were in the same chamber in my sump so it was a problem for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankieGee March 16, 2014 Share March 16, 2014 Thanks for the update/info Crob. I got a little skimmate overnight but it's a tea color. We'll see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zygote2k March 16, 2014 Share March 16, 2014 If any skimmer is a pain in the ass to work, it's worthless and unreliable. Buy a brand that works right out of the box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lnevo March 16, 2014 Share March 16, 2014 The sicce pumps are on the newer models. I may change mine out at some point. I have the psk-100 and i'm happy with it. There is no other skimmer that will really fit that chamber. Once its set, its pretty much forget. The skimmate i get is a dark green tea color. I keep the water level at the top of the cylinder right before it starts angling in. I added a swabbie and skimmate locker so i rarely have to do much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crob5965 March 16, 2014 Share March 16, 2014 If any skimmer is a pain in the ass to work, it's worthless and unreliable. Buy a brand that works right out of the box. True, the guy at the LFS told me it was a great skimmer, it did it;s job but it was hard to adjust, especially being the 1st Skimmer I had ever used Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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