Skimmer just sucking water

[Angelscrx]

I have a Red Sea Berlin Skimmer ( I know not the best in the world but all I could afford) and my tank has been set up for about two weeks. I have the rock and sand in the tank and some chromis to help cycle. The water is RO/DI plus water out of my 55g tank which I used to age the 150g. The problem is that once the skimmer gets going it starts skimming but all it is spewing is water over the top and I get a 2.5g jug full of water in about an 30 minutes. Why is it doing this any ideas? Thanks

 

[wrightme43]

Ok how have you got the air line adjustment set? How is the varible flow control on the pump set? Do you have tubing on the out lets? If you want to throttle it down, open the air inlet all the way, set the pump flow controll to as low as it will go. Open it back up to about 1/2 way on flow control wise. Then slowly close the air inlet flow untill it just barely spills bubble over the outer skirt inside the skimmer body. That is usually a good setting for me. Now the dang thing is for sale on ebay, and I will be glad to see it go as well. Steve

 

[sryder]

hey steve, this must be a common issue with the red sea berlin. I went to work the other day and when I came home my skimmer was doing the same thing just pouring water back into the sump. it also dumped all of the doc's with it. this skimmer was running fine for 3 months. I closed back on the air intake and that worked. it was just wierd that it did this out of the blue. i will probably break it down tonight when i get home and clean out the returns. steve.

 

[Angelscrx]

Ok how have you got the air line adjustment set? How is the varible flow control on the pump set? Do you have tubing on the out lets? If you want to throttle it down, open the air inlet all the way, set the pump flow controll to as low as it will go. Open it back up to about 1/2 way on flow control wise. Then slowly close the air inlet flow untill it just barely spills bubble over the outer skirt inside the skimmer body. That is usually a good setting for me. Now the dang thing is for sale on ebay, and I will be glad to see it go as well. Steve

Ok the air line has been wide open to almost completely closed. When it was almost completely closed iy didn't do this but it wasn't bubbling much either. Should I let it run this way to break it in? I don't have anything attached to the outlets becasue of backpressure issues I had before. Now it jsut drains right into the sump. As for the pump should I have a valve to turn it down? It is just a rio running it. Thanks for the help.

 

[wrightme43]

Well Red sea says something about needing a special pump (made by them of course) to handle running the air and pump enough water.
If the air valve is all the way closed like you said it wont bubble, if all the way open it should be sucking in enough air to make the pump bog down and stop flowing. Have you tried taking the skimmer out, setting it in the sink, pouring in two gallons of white vinager and running it for a hour or so?
Do you use stress coat or anything with aloe vera in it? That makes them go nuts.
It might be a good idea to put a valve on the pump. It seems like they work best when the bubbles just barely start to spill over the outside skirt. I just sold on for 71$ and 31.45 shipping to Athens Greece. Thats a part of the price of a ASM skimmer. I got the G-3 and I love it. It is the neatest thing. I have decided to not buy anything Red Sea makes again. Sorta like Chevy lost my business with a 97 step side 3rd door extended cab truck that leaks water every times it rains, drips water into the cab when the a.c. is on, and cables on the tailgate that break when my 150 lbs skinny butt walks on them. No assistance from the dealer even after multiple trips. Bought new. I even get a discount because my dad is retired from corvette. Sorry about my rant. LOL I will stop now. Steve

 

[Angelscrx]

Thanks for the info and the help. I really appreciate it. I turned it all the way down with just a little bit of bubbles coming up and I have had any issues yet. Will let it run like this for a while then turnit up a 1/4 turn and see how that works.

I ahve never owned a Chevy but my wife had a Camaro when we were dating and when it went south from an electrical malfunction the dealer told her it wasn't covered in the warranty and that she had to pay for the whole electrical system to be replaced! Needless to say she called me to pick her up because she handed the guy the keys and told him to keep it (well not exactly in those words).

I will never own a Chevy. I am an Import man myself.