My 4 yr. old BakPak skimmer is hardly skimming anymore

[Damsel13]

Hi,

My skimmer, which I run wet used to get about a half cup of green tea colored skimmate with some solids on the tube. I modified it with extra airstones quite some time ago and saw a marked improvement. For about 6 months now even though I am running it so it should be pulling alot of water it is not. I only change the cup monthly now and have very nasty green sludge. I have checked all connections, cleaned the pump. It is working well.

What could have caused this change???
Thanks for any thoughts on this.

 

[Skimmy]

what pump is on it??

have you seen my thread on how to modify a maxijet for about double the power on a bakpak skimmer??

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28372

 

[fatboyt123]

what pump is on it??

have you seen my thread on how to modify a maxijet for about double the power on a bakpak skimmer??

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28372

i think they must have they were post #8

 

[Skimmy]

oh, sorry...

 

[fatboyt123]

well atleast you now its a cpr skimmer with a maxi

 

[Skimmy]

is this a mesh modified maxijet 1200 were talking about?

 

[lizardarm]

is this a mesh modified maxijet 1200 were talking about?

That was the first thing that popped into my head. I recently had a mesh mod "explode" inside the pump. Skimmer just stopped skimming one day.

 

[Skimmy]

yep...that can happen after several months/year after modification, typically the fishing line gets worn down to breaking, then the whole thing turns to a plastic bush on the end of a stick...lol

 

[Damsel13]

Actually I never got around to trying your mesh mod skimerwhisperer as the extra air stones were working well at that time. Looks like it is time to give it a try.
Thanks for your replies everyone.

 

[Skimmy]

the other thing you could do is contact this company and order a replacement maxi-jet for this skimmer, and put it on your bakpak.
this mj-1200 is getting 230lph air injection, which is insane for a maxijet.
http://www.nuocean.com/skimmers/bubble-magus-bmqq.html

if you call them, they may even sell you just the impellar and venturi which is what you really want...