ETSS Reef Devil Deluxe Problems

[mungus]

I have had an etss reef devil deluxe running on my tank for approximately 4 months. It is externaly mounted to my sump in a compartment of my sump that has about 6" of water. It has work very well previously. I pulled it all apart and cleaned the entire skimmer with papertowels wetted with DI water and replaced the bioballs. Since I cleaned it, it has not produced any skimmate. This morning I got up and had a gallon of clear liquid in the waste container. When I dial it down it doesn't produce anything. Also the pump is a mag 7 and was cleaned at the same time.

Any ideas on why it stoped producing?

 

[les]

Any major cleaning on these style skimmers requires a new "break in" period. Just leave the level of water at the same location you had it before the cleaning and it will start foaming again. You may want to insure that the air inlet piping and fittings are not clogged up or restricted in any way also.

 

[Skimmy]

well scince you cleaned off the organtic film, and you replaced the bio balls, that alone could account for no foam, how long are we talking here? if it's a week or less you'll probably be fine, if it's been more than a week you might want to check that the amount of bioballs is correct, check out the mag once again. have you started using any new chemicals or foods? changed salt brands? mabye you overlookled a small change in your itinerary that has effected things.
also, there are a few mods you can do to your skimmer;
put a 1/2" ball/gate valve on the air intake, usuallyif you throttle it back a little you get smaller bubbles, better foam, no burping of large bubbles.
i've also used large bioballs instead of small ones and had better foam production, you'll have to play around with the amount to dial it in.
also, scince you have the taller deluxe model, you could stand to upgrade your pump, a dolphin 800 or mag 9.5 would probably be better, even if you have to throttle it back a little.
hope some of this helps

 

[mungus]

Thanks for the response. I did clean the air inlet when i cleaned the rest of the skimmer. Hopefully it will start producing again soon.

 

[mungus]

I did start adding reef plus from seachem. It does seem like it is burping larger bubbles. The riser tube has larger bubbles in it than it did before. The top of the foam in the riser tube seems to be very turbulent. It's almost like it wants to start foaming but the foam gets knocked down by the turbulent water / air mix.
I checked the amount of bioballs this morning and I do have in the 12 recommended by the mfg. I will try to add a ball valve to the air intake this weekend.

If I do switch over to the larger bio balls is there any specific type that I should use or will any do?

Thanks

 

[Skimmy]

no, just the larger blue normal bio balls. you'll want to approximate the same height of the small bio balls in the downdraft chamber.