Protein skimmer setup (pictures attached)

[Drzy]

Hi folks.

I've had my 55-gal tank running several months now. I've shockingly had no problems, particularly shocking since I'm using no filtration whatsoever. Just a buttload of live rock and two powerheads. I've tried to get my skimmer hooked up but was unsuccessful.

Alas, the surface has finally started to go to crap, so I really need to get the skimmer working. I tried to follow the instructions and I thought I had everything set up like the diagram says, but water is shooting out all over the place. It flys out the top of the cup WAAAY up into the air. I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to do that.

I've attached pictures below with some descriptions in them. Can anyone spot what might be wrong? I'm kind of fearful for my fish, I'm afraid they might be living in a cesspool. Although for what it's worth, the water quality looks much better in person than it does in the pictures.

 

[rfc]

Hi,

I just set up my coralife super skimmer 65 on my tank.

Suggesttions:
1) turn the top right red control knob to control the amount of bubbles in your collection cup. You want to set the control so that foam is not immediately flowing out of the spout. Over the next few hours you should see some foam starting to form at the top of the neck and into the collection cup.


2) It also looks like you have your pump hanging too far from the unit. Trim the rubber flexible tube so that the top of the pump is 4 inches max from the water surface.

This image is how my pump and diffuser looks setup in my tank

Hope this helps, I am only a noobe

RFC

 

[Quil]

I have a quick question for you guys...I just got a Coralife SS myself, but I haven't set it up yet. I got it out of the box yesterday to lay all the pieces out and test fit it on the tank, and the hose that goes into the bubble diffuser doesn't look right. The black mesh foam that goes in the top has a huge hole cut out of it, and the hose just sort of goes down in there...it's not held in by anything, just kind of stuck in there with a lot of room around it. Is this how yours is set up, or does it sound like something is wrong with mine?

 

[ColdFish]

That sounds about right Quil. When I set my CSS-125 up in my sump, I had to trim that hose way short due to the height of my sump. you just hang the diffuser on the tank and place the end of the hose down through the big hole in the foam. It will take some playing around with it to get it right. You need to make sure that you leave some space between the end of the hose and the bottom of the bubble diffuser, mine said 1" but not sure if that's the same on the CSS-65 or not.

Drzy

A couple of things that might be causing your problem. First, as was mentioned already, I think that the pump is supposed to be hanging straight down from the unit as in rfc's picture. Did the skimmer come with 2 different hoses for connecting the pump? Mine came with a short hose for use when doing a "Hang On Back" install, and a long one for use in a sump. If you didn't get 2 then you probably just need to trim the one you have.

The other thing I was thinking about was that you may have the hose that goes into the bubble diffuser too long. That's what I was telling Quil about. If you have the end of that hose jammed down tight to the bottom of the diffuser then I think you will get water spraying out of that little hole at the top of the hose. Normally only air passes through that hole and it needs to stay clear for the skimmer to work properly.

HTH

 

[Drzy]

Thanks guys, this is fantastic! I'll try your suggestions tonight, I'm due for a water change and that'll be a great time to try to get the skimmer fixed as well.

Geeze rfc, that tank looks a million times cleaner than mine. I know that's largely due to newness, better lighting, and better picture quality, but.... wow!

 

[Quil]

Coldfish, thanks very much for the reply. I feel a lot better now, I was kind of worried about my setup.

RFC, looking at the way you have your skimmer components arranged....do you think the skimmer still works as well with the intake of the pump directly under the diffuser? Just kind of seems that you would be pulling the freshly skimmed water right back into the skimmer again.

 

[Drzy]

Just wanted to pudate that I tried your suggestions tonight, and it worked the very first time. It might've been the positioning of my pump, it might've been the length, I might have not set the knob properly.... I don't know, but I tried everything you guys said and it worked. Thank you so much!

The overflow cup is overflowing with little specks of crap, which are getting blown all around the tank by the powerheads. I'll just hope that'll go away in a couple days.



EDIT: Okay... I am apparently slightly retarded. My cup is already filled with debris and I'd like to clear it out, but I can't figure out how. Am I supposed to turn it off while I do this? What do I unscrew?

 

[sonoma2nv]

To dump the crud you need to shut off power to it and unscres the big red circle thing lol.And just take the top off and dump it all done.hth