Can someone help me? I'm about to throw this skimmer out the window...

Alright so today was the day I got in the Aqua C Remora Protein Skimmer that I ordered a little over a week ago. I have to fiddle with it all day because this is my first skimmer and I want to be sure I know what I am doing before I plug it in....I was wrong.

So I have it on and the bubbles are actually over flowing into the box no matter how high or low the box is. So I shut it off so I can adjust the rubber thingie on the cup. I turn it back on this time the bubbles never ever even get close to the top, I wait awhile and nothing. I turn it off put the cup as low as it can go. Nothing.

So I decide I'm going to cut the tubing going from the skimmer to the Maji Jet 1200 to make it smaller and maybe this is why it isn't causing bubbles very well. Nothing.

To add to this I look up and my tank is UBER CLOUDY I mean the thing was only on for like 5 minutes all together and BAM its still cloudy right now?! lol

So all in all I need some advice on how to get this thing working and also how to keep it from turning my water into some snow storm looking mess.

Thanks!

 

You need to let it break in. It may take a week or so for it to work right. Check the instructions and see if there are any for a break in period I know my coralife had them. If not I would just set it so that it is making bubbles but not overflowing the cup and let it run like that for a few days so a beneficial layer can build up on the inside of the skimmer. Hope this helps.

Jake

 

So at first it will not be making enough bubbles to even make it to the cup? How do I stop the micro bubbles?

 

is the water level in the skimmer high enough?

 

I know that I had to set mine so that it wasn't reaching the cup and let it run for a couple days, then it worked okay collecting skimmate. It took a few weeks of adjusting to get it working well, but after that I pretty much forgot about it, other than emptying the cup. And it really worked great imo.

 

It looks like its not making any bubbles anymore at all. I don't see any getting close to the cup.

As for is it full of water it has been running for like three minutes now and nothing yet, what should I do?

 

what i mean is that some skimmers have a recommended level for the water height... with your pump having to push the water up such an elevation out of your sump it is losing a lot of head pressure... are you getting what im saying?

 

It normally take several days for a skimmer to start working properly. Let it continue to run. I would set it in the middle and wait. If you don't get skimmate after 3 day, then I would worry.

 

I see what you are saying but nothing in the manual is saying a certain amount of water level.

It was working correctly before and then I unplugged it and now it isn't should I be worried?

 

You know, the filter did take a lot of water and the sump isn't as high as it usually is. I'll add some water like a gallon or so and see if that fixes anything.

Will it also quiet down once it is broken in?