reef octopus extreme 160 protein skimmer help

[thetonyage]

ive had my skimmer up and running for 2 days, it was working perfectly untill today i shut down my whole system to drill a hole in my return line. when i powered everything back up the skimmer did nothing. it doesnt even sound like the pump is trying to suck up water. what could be wrong?

 

[ccCapt]

Sometimes the pump needs a little kick start. Just blow into the airline that is attached to the pump.

PS.........are you going to the frag swap at That Fish Place in Lancaster next weekened?

 

[thetonyage]

Sometimes the pump needs a little kick start. Just blow into the airline that is attached to the pump.

you mean blow through the silencer?

PS.........are you going to the frag swap at That Fish Place in Lancaster next weekened?

i would really like to, hopefully i can get my water parameters stable enough to bring somethin nice home.

 

[thetonyage]

i tried blowing through the silencer and that didnt help, theres no reason for the pump to be clogged its only been running for 2 days maybe ill take a look when i do a water change later on today.

 

[ccCapt]

Disconnect the airline from the silencer and blow into it. Take a deep breath and blow hard and I can almost guarantee the pump will start.

If that doesn't work, and I'm betting it will, take the volute cover off and make sure the impeller can spin freely.

Going by this pic you posted in your other thread, you were running the skimmer while the water was very cloudy from adding sand. (Your skimming way to wet. Drop the water level inside the skimmer) I would not be suprised if some sand is restricting the impeller making it hard to get started.

 

[thetonyage]

The problem I found out was the airline was kinked where it comes from the pump around the base. I just had to adjust it a bit. All is well now I think.