More Red Sea Prizm deluxe help

[degbowl]

I have been using the Red Sea Prizm deluxe for 2 months now. It works great. I get plenty of nasty stuff coming out of it. I only have one problem. It has always been noisy, but it seems to be getting louder and louder. Is there anything I can do to it to lower the noise? If not then I might have to look into buying a skimmer that is very quiet. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
Jim

 

[melosu58]

Cant help on the red sea but I can reccomend a quiet one. I can not hear my excalibur working. It is a good skimmer.

 

[degbowl]

I have been doing some research and I might buy an aquac remora. I will keep the excalibur in mind.

 

[steve-s]

I only have one problem. It has always been noisy, but it seems to be getting louder and louder.

The air intake tube that goes into the pump needs cleaning. As the lower part of the intake gets norrower and narrower from salt/CaCO3 build up, the noisier it will get. Mine needs cleaning about every 6-8 weeks. It's almost like the scaling/hard water deposits you see on kitchen appliances and such.

Take apart the skimmer and soak the end that goes in the pump with a 1:1 water vinegar solution for a few hours. You will need a small bore metal pole to scrape the inside of the hard area of the pipe once it's soaked for a bit. I found the thin wire they use to keep flower stems rigid works very well and is cheap. Be very very careful you do not scrape the soft tube further up. If you damage it, the skimmer will not work properly. You'll see what I mean once you get there. The hole in the tube will be less than a mm when it should be about 2-3 mm.

Cheers
Steve

 

[degbowl]

I soaked it for about an hour then I put it back together. It is very quiet now. Thanks for your help. Next time I will do it for 3 hrs.

 

[steve-s]

Be sure you do not use straight vinegar, it needs to be diluted. It is a mild acid and will weaken the plastic over time and can become brittle if your not careful. Always use a 1:1 ratio of water/vinegar.

Glad it worked for you

Cheers
Steve