Berlin skimmer questions, can you help?

[twilliard]

I have a berlin skimmer, one of those 3 chamber skimmers. Its piped into my sump via a 3/4" PVC about 6" long off a rio 2500. Straight shot from my sump through a bulkhead.

So here is whats going on. It is not making anything. There is always foam in the cup but this is skimming verry DRY.
I have to empty the cup maybe every month and its 1/2 full.

There is NO way to adjust this skimmer. As in the water level. The only thing this skimmer has is an air adjustment screw. Doesnt help me any for water level.
How can I get this to skim a little more wet?? (besides throwing it into the garbage).

Oh and tell me please
IS THIS JUNK?

Thanks all!!

 

[Krish]

I'm not familiar with that skimmer, but I find it odd that you can't bump up the water level to give you "wetter" skimmate. The only thing I could possibly suggest, which I'm not sure is supposed to be done with your skimmer, but with mine, I have a gate valve on the output of the skimmer. To skim wet, I just slowly close the gate valve to where I want the water level to go. The more I close it, the higher it goes. If I want, I can shoot water right out of the skimmer. Just a though...I know a lot of skimmers use this method to get either wet or dry skimmate so I figured I'd toss out the idea. Best of luck

 

[KRMNAL1]

I have only had my Berlin skimmer for 2 weeks and I have been using a really old Mag5 and it just isn't working. I don't have/know of an air adjuster like you mention but I do know that when I blew air into the black air intake hose I made more foam in 10 seconds than the damn skimmer made in one week. I talked to the guys at Blue Sierra and I was told that a Berlin skimmer either works or it doesn't and a Rio 3100 is the minimum pump you want for a Berlin Classic, I have pondered the idea of putting a small air pump on mine

 

[wrightme43]

I spent alot of time trying to get one of those to work. I sure couldnt get it to work. Sold it on ebay. Due to people on ebay being insane. I got more than I paid for it, then they paid to send it to italy. Sooooooo....... You never know.

 

[plomanto]

When I had mine ..I didnt use the screw to adjust the air. I ran the tube to a brass valve...if you go slowly and close off the air the water level should rise a little. but its a very fine line of adjustment

 

[chris&barb]

an air pump might help but its not going to make much of an improvement. i had the turbo models and tried just about everything to get them to work better. the biggest improvement i made is when i turned it into a phosphate reactor

 

[twilliard]

I have only had my Berlin skimmer for 2 weeks and I have been using a really old Mag5 and it just isn't working. I don't have/know of an air adjuster like you mention but I do know that when I blew air into the black air intake hose I made more foam in 10 seconds than the damn skimmer made in one week. I talked to the guys at Blue Sierra and I was told that a Berlin skimmer either works or it doesn't and a Rio 3100 is the minimum pump you want for a Berlin Classic, I have pondered the idea of putting a small air pump on mine

Holy cow a Rio 3100???
This skimmer I have is basicaly the classic. and I dont think my rio 2500 is cutting it.
That air adjuster screw is right there where the black line goes up the skimmer.

 

[Krish]

No sure if I welcomed you yet so if not, Welcome to RF plomanto!

 

[twilliard]

Well it sounds like I need to ditch this skimmer

With the air compleatly cut off the water level doesnt budge.
I will try my Hyperflow 20 on it

 

[jsmkmavity]

check with skimmerwhisperer, but i think the way to adjust it is by having it higher or lower in your sump, and having a large enough pump

 

[dnjan]

Don't bother with the air valve - leave it wide open.

Get a bigger pump (I use a SEN700) and install a valve between the pump and the skimmer. A gate valve is easiest to adjust, but they are expensive. You can use a ball valve if you are patient.

Use the water flow rate (as adjusted with the valve) to controll the wetness of your skimmate.

You should be aware of some venturi-skimmer basics:

1. Skimming is enhanced by maximizing air-water contact time.

2. Skimming is enhanced by maximizing air bubble surface area.

Surface area is somewhat related to the volume of air (for a given venturi). The faster the water flow, the more air that will be drawn in by the venturi. But the faster the water flow, the shorter the contact time.

That is why you want to adjust the water flow and not the little air volume screw. And in my experince, with the Berlin venturi skimmer, you get best results when skimming a bit on the dry side. Too wet means you don't have enough contact time to get good skimming effectiveness.

Note - the two venturi-skimmer basics that I listed are true for all venturi skimmers. The next two paragraphs of applications apply to the Berlin classic (and Classic hang-on version) and may not apply to other venturi-skimmers.

 

[moortim]

I asked skimerwhisperer this same subject comparing it to the AquaC urchin.
He told me very emphatically to not consider using one even if someone gave it to me for free. In the end I bought an AquaC EV120 from him and am very happy with it. I say ditch the skimmer and get a different one.

Tim

 

[Skimmy]

YEAH... what dnjan said..

but the bottom line is that the berlin will never be a real big performer, it wil always just limp on by..

the best thing you could do is unscrew the venturi out of the imput, screw in a hose nipple, and run it with a needle wheel pump like a sedra 3500.
that is basically in effect what they try to do with thier "turbo" model, but with a crappy pump that isnt even needle wheel, they just inject the air into the impellar chamber.

but why go to all that trouble to polish a turd?? it will still be a turd,
other more reasonable reccomendations i could give you involve trash compactors or gasoline.

 

[moortim]

but why go to all that trouble to polish a turd?? it will still be a turd,
other more reasonable reccomendations i could give you involve trash compactors or gasoline.

I love your way with words Mark.

Tim

 

[jammet]

i had one of thoese skimmers back in the day, you might pull the venturi out and clean the whole thing out if you bought it used. Check the tubing too.. I always ran one with mag 9's that worked, you can put a valve on the outlets to raise the water level but I found it worked well with out.

Good Luck with it!

 

[Skimmy]

if someone took me hostage and forced me to use one, yes, overpowering it with a mag 9 would be an excellent idea. also, i have seen people put small mazzi, or other quality venturi injectors on berlins and get some satisfactory results as well.

i remember when i worked in a certain nameless lfs that the red sea rep came in and tried talking to me about how great red sea berlins and prisms were,(and thier salt, bleeyuch!!) i unfortunately laughed in his face and told him i thought they were crap, he retorted with "they are the best selling skimmers in the united states, and your store will be losing business if you dont have them" i didnt know wether to laugh or cry....ultimately i took him over to our skimmer selection showed him what we had, and explained that we had everything covered. i never saw him again. he was a young kid, hopefully he moved up in the world

 

[dnjan]

I really think that the biggest problem with the berlins (as well as with other venturi-driven skimmers) is that most people don't understand how to adjust them. Most people dont really appreciate that adjusting one thing (water flow rate) affects both bubble amount and bubble contact time, unfortunately in opposite directions. Which means that most people never do get their berlin skimmer adjusted correctly. And that stupid air-adjusting valve doesn't help things. Red-Sea would have been much smarter if they would have installed a water-flow valve just before the venturi, along with a true union fitting between the water-flow valve and the venturi (to make it easier to periodically clean the venturi).

That said, a properly-adjusted berlin classic can pull out a good amount of dark gunk from a moderately-sized tank.

 

[Skimmy]

that's why i like recirc models, so you can have the appropriate flow through the pump to produce good foam, and a seperate pump to adjust the throughput to the most optimal level for the skimmer.
having those 2 factors powered by the same pump is counter productive, comparatively, and as stated, very difficult to adjust properly.

 

[twilliard]

Oh my...
Well I dont know what to do now. I dont have another $300 for a "good" skimmer. I dont feel like re plumbing it for a valve. With 5 kids and the wife it just wont happen.
So Mr skimerwhisperer,
What shall I do. I will sell this one but what should I get. I had a Turboflotor before but it was a hastle to keep adjusted, but I did like its results.
So your recomendation?

 

[moortim]

I just thought I would give my experience here. I limped along for a few months with a Seaclone while I was saving for a good skimmer and when it broke I went skimmerless for a few more months. All the while watching several boards and ebay for the right deal. I paid $150 for my AquaC ev120 and it is awsome. I just had to take the time to save for it.

Tim