Skimmer question. help me set this thing up better

[menace78]

I have a coralife super skimmer 125 and have a few questions if anyone can help.
I'm feeding it with a Quiet one 2200 with just a powerhead style venturi on the intake and a restricted input to pull more air and slow down the flow.
It's curently sutup in sump in ~11" of water.
So questions are:
1. can I/should I mesh mod this pump with this skimmer
2. I can raise it to as little as ~9" of water. should I?
3. it seems to cycle it's production. sometimes it only has maybe 1/2" of foam above the water level in the tube and other times it's pouring skimmate.4. any sugestions on running this external? I don't have enough height to hang on the sump.

I would like any other advice if anyone has any on this thing. I was running a CPR bacpac before this one and it seems to be only marginaly better.
altho production is nice and dark, it only produces maybe a cup a week even when I was curing the 70+lbs liverock in the tank.
I hope It can do better.

 

[Skimmy]

that thing is a POS, unfortunately,
you should just invest in a skimmer that works.

what size tank are you trying to skim?
and how much room in the sump?

 

[menace78]

that thing is a POS, unfortunately,
you should just invest in a skimmer that works.

what size tank are you trying to skim?
and how much room in the sump?

The tank is 110g with a 30g sump.
I have an area that is 10.5" x 13.5" x 26"high.
I don't have the funds to upgrade at the moment and currently I only have 1 6" foxface rabbitfish, 2 pj cardinals, and 2 perc clowns, along with verry little softy corals and an RBTA.
I know the thing isn't a good skimmer but at $60 I couldn't say no.
I was just hoping to get more out of this thing untill I can afford a good external skimmer to free up more fuge room.

I have read many a post by you and know you'r name fits so untill I can get something better do you have any suggestions?

 

[Chichas01]

I would strongly advise against running that skimmer externaly if at all. I had a CSS 65 and it overlfowed more than a few times. Same behavior you describe, little skimmate to overflowing with no warning at all.

 

[blakejohn]

That is the same skimmer I was sold when I set up my tank. I have the same tank as you, 110 with a 30. The SS will overflow with out warning and has to be adjust nearly every day. This skimmer will not skim that size tank, but I guess it is better than nothing.

 

[Pentagona]

I love that you don't pull punches Mark If it's a piece of crap....call it a piece of crap. Even if it's a $700-800 piece of crap!

 

[Skimmy]

you can mesh mod that pump, and make a venturi for it, but i doubt the tiny little neck on that skimmer can handle it. you can try it though. worst case scenario, it will be hard to control, and will put micro bubbles out the return.
what you should do is sell the CSS and the bakpak, and then make up the rest of the cash and buy a cheap skimmer.
the best cheap skimmer for that size is the SWC extreme 160 @ $269
second would be the octo nw-200 (2009 version) for $230.

even the bubble magus NAC 6 is a lot better then what you got going on now, and it's only $138, but a little small for your tank.

even in proper working condition, the CSS is a bad skimmer.
if your going to run it, i would also run the bakpak, and i would definately mesh mod the mj-1200 on the bakpak. as well as mod a new venturi.

 

[Skimmy]

I love that you don't pull punches Mark If it's a piece of crap....call it a piece of crap. Even if it's a $700-800 piece of crap!

Thanks!! i get alot of flack for that, but hell, i hate it when people get dupped into buying crappy skimmers/equipment.

 

[menace78]

I would strongly advise against running that skimmer externaly if at all. I had a CSS 65 and it overlfowed more than a few times. Same behavior you describe, little skimmate to overflowing with no warning at all.

It looks like I have solved the problem with surging with a mod posted on RC. It apparently does it because the return can form a siphon. So far so good I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

That is the same skimmer I was sold when I set up my tank. I have the same tank as you, 110 with a 30. The SS will overflow with out warning and has to be adjust nearly every day. This skimmer will not skim that size tank, but I guess it is better than nothing.

The only time I had it overflow was when I first hooked it up it was in a sump chamber that water level fluctuated and I had adjusted it then added makeup water and 20 min later it was spilling over. After doing the mod mentioned above and moving it to a chamber that stays the same level all the time I haven't had to adjust the red knob at all and no more overflowing.
And I know it's not big enough but as you said It's all I have for now

you can mesh mod that pump, and make a venturi for it, but i doubt the tiny little neck on that skimmer can handle it. you can try it though. worst case scenario, it will be hard to control, and will put micro bubbles out the return.

I'll see if I can run down a post of someone that has done a mesh mod and a venturi for this pump successfully and try to mod it.
And I'm not worried about bubbles It's in the 1st of 3 chambers and I haven't had a problem with bubbles making it to the display from the fuge.

what you should do is sell the CSS and the bakpak, and then make up the rest of the cash and buy a cheap skimmer.
even in proper working condition, the CSS is a bad skimmer.
if your going to run it, i would also run the bakpak, and i would definitely mesh mod the mj-1200 on the bakpak. as well as mod a new venturi.

I already traded off the backpack as partial payment for the tank I'm setting up now. Guess I should have done more homework about the skimmer before I jumped on it Saw the name coralife and figured I couldn't go wrong for $60.
Going to be a few months before I can save the $ for a nice skimmer. especially with the holidays coming up but I'll be getting an external and it will be over what this tank needs. I'll making sure of that.

Thank you for the info and If anyone comes up with any other ideas let me know. I'll be beating my head with this skimmer for a few months. Chalk it up to a learning experiance I guess.:|

 

[Skimmy]

that pump has exactly the same size impellar as the qo 3000, which is also the same as the sicce psk2500. you might be able to get a pinwheel from the sicce psk2500 to start up on that pump if it's not too heavy.

 

[menace78]

that pump has exactly the same size impellar as the qo 3000, which is also the same as the sicce psk2500. you might be able to get a pinwheel from the sicce psk2500 to start up on that pump if it's not too heavy.

I just looke dit up and can't justify $30+
to see if it will work to my wife

as an update I have cut off the inlet reducer to the css125 so that I don't have as much backpresure on the pump and the mod to the outlet is keeping the level stable. Seems to be skimming quite well now considering.

I do have 3 questions that you might be able to help with tho.

1. right now I'm using a venturi like most powerheads have. just a plastic tube inserted into the intake pipe right before the pump. any low cost or diy ways to improve on this?

2. The intake tube goes down the central chamber and has basicaly 2 45° bends across from each other to create a vortex in the chamber. I know that most skimmers have moved away from the swirl effect. Should I cut off the end and let it just dump into the center tube for less turbulance?

3. with how sturdy the impeller in the 2200 is. would it be advisable to dremmel out some of the impeller blades to create the effect of the needlewheel? I figured the solid back plate should give it enough strength if I only made a couple cuts per blade, or only cut 1/2 way threw the blades.
any thoughts?

I'm also atatching some pics of the gunk from 2 days (seems a tiny bit wet but I'm working on the level. I think I'm doing better now) and the cup. It's doing much better and the skimate looks a deep greenigh brown but not much froth. not a good cup of joe in my book

 

[Skimmy]

i would leave the skimmer body it's self alone... as for the impellar, just mesh mod it.
as for the venturi, i would make one from the volute of the pump, I'll see if I cant find a pic or 2 of this....

 

[menace78]

i would leave the skimmer body it's self alone... as for the impellar, just mesh mod it.
as for the venturi, i would make one from the volute of the pump, I'll see if I cant find a pic or 2 of this....

>.< guess I was editing while you were typing.
Refer to my last post.
I'm not talking about moding the body. just the intake tube. Do you think the turbulance isn't something to wory about?
I'm not afrade of DIY as long as it's something I can undo

 

[Skimmy]

>.< guess I was editing while you were typing.
Refer to my last post.
I'm not talking about moding the body. just the intake tube. Do you think the turbulance isn't something to wory about?
I'm not afrade of DIY as long as it's something I can undo

meh, leave it...
the whole thing is crap, inlet, reaction chamber, neck/cup and outlet, and a big can of worms. just do the meshing, new venturi, and if anything else, maybe cut off that outlet with the horrible level adjuster and put in a gate valve to make fine adjustments, that is all I'd do to that thing, but spending money on that skimmer is kinda not a good idea...just keep saving.
here's some pics of a volute being made into a venturi, different pump, but same idea.

first drill a hole the size of your new air post, which should be 1/4" id, i like to use the body of a bic pen. drill the hole as close as you can to where the inpeller is without interfearing with the operation of the volute coming on/off
then find some plumbing piece that will allow you to reduce the inlet right in front of the air post, for that pump a 1/2" piece would be a good place to start. there are 2 ways you can do the air post, you can cut the bottom flat and line it up with the inside top of the volute, or you can cut the bottom at an angle, and face the angle to the impeller and push it to almost the bottom of the volute. i would try both before you glue.

 

[menace78]

meh, leave it...
the whole thing is crap, inlet, reaction chamber, neck/cup and outlet, and a big can of worms. just do the meshing, new venturi, and if anything else, maybe cut off that outlet with the horrible level adjuster and put in a gate valve to make fine adjustments, that is all I'd do to that thing, but spending money on that skimmer is kinda not a good idea...just keep saving.

I might try to do that mod for the return. not sure of the inner workings and might be more to it than just cutting something off >.<
and thank you for the advice!

 

[Skimmy]

go to ace hardware for the cheapest gate valves. CHEAP!!

 

[menace78]

Sorry for asking so many questions.
but I want you'r opinion on the this thing.
I saw it online and figured I would see if I can build it but can't figure out where to add the air inlet. location 1 or 2? (pics below)
and do you think this will work better or worse than the valute?
The outer shell is 1" round. same as the pump inlet.
I was working on this for a day before you posted the pics of the valute.

 

[Skimmy]

#2 is where you want that hole.

that should work good as long as you dial the size of the restrictor in properly. for a 500gph pump, i'm guessing maybe 1/2" or a hair smaller.

 

[menace78]

#2 is where you want that hole.

that should work good as long as you dial the size of the restrictor in properly. for a 500gph pump, i'm guessing maybe 1/2" or a hair smaller.

Got it together and attatched to the pump.
It looks alot better already. alot more foam.
I'll give it a few days and see How it looks.

Might be sifting threw the wreckage of my corals if they don't rebound from the salinity crash, so I won't be taking the skimmer offline for any more mods for a bit.
I'll be doing the return when I feel it's safe to remove the skimmer from the system again.

And let me say thank you for the advice and help.