Does this make sense?

[vermonter310]

I have a Seaclone 100 for my 72g FOWLR. It's been on the tank (HOB)since the word go and has yet to produce a single drop of skimate(sp) I was pretty much set on tossing it but decided to give it one more go. I mean half the people I talk to say it's crap and the other half say it's perfect for small to medium size tanks. In fact, it's DR. Foster's and Smith's Favorite! (It must be, I read it in their catalog). So I hall out the instuction book which is awful, says to adjust but never mentions how or what you should be looking for when adjusting. I mean, I know the adjustments in the air valve but what does it look like when it's adjusted properly, I know what the end product should be but I'm new to this SW thing and have never even seen a properly functioning skimmer in action before. There are no good LFS's. The closest good one is about an hour or so away. Aquacorals. Anyway, so I'm pretty much on my own here. I toss the instruction book in the trash instead. Open air valve......mucho air bubbles in the tank... close air valve......no bubbles in skimmer......you get the picture. So here's where I am right now. I have opened the air valve about 3/4 of the way...huge mass of bubbles in skimmer.....after a few minutes most of the bubbles that were dumping into the tank stop......foam moves up the tube and presto!......within 15 minutes I have liquid in the collection cup and very few micro bubbles being dumped into the tank. It seems the initial dump of micro bubbles happens when the air valve is opened but there is still a substantial flow of water through the skimmer, this flow slows a few moments following the introduction of more air (opening the valve) and thus slows the amount of water going back to the tank and carries fewer bubbles with it and I guess would allow more time (slower flow) for bubbles to rise to the surface within the skimmer itself. Again causing fewer bubbles to make it to the display tank. So I guess I'm just excited about making yucky liquid but does this make sense to anyone?...Does it make sense at all? Or is this something I should have known all along?

Mike
Okay it's been running like this for about 30 minutes now ( yes, I type that slow)and the entire bottom of the collection cup is full of greenish brown liquid and the tank appears clearer....

"Boy it doesn't take much to make me happy."

[reefrunner69]

That's not bad, most skimmers tank a good week or more to "break in", of course yours has had plenty of time to get a slime coat on it, so it's not too suprising, but yeah, it makes sense. The break in period of a skimmer is basically getting a coating on the inside of the skimmer to create some drag on the bubbles

[sw-addict]

Make sense to me I have the 150 model and it gave me crap in the begining until I replaced that crappy adjustment valve with a t valve because ther was no adjustment either it was to much air or not enough, now when I empty or clean the skimmer it is easy to dial in again with the new valve. The only problem that I have had other then that is the s tube or j tube whatever they call it (I tossed my instructions to)has those o rings that I had to replace but a short trip to the plumbing section took care of that. One other thing never run stress coat or any slime coat builder with that skimmer or it will be down for weeks. Good luck and happy reefing.

I know a buddy of mine made the sea clone to work in sump which takes away the J tube. He said it works great on a 75gal he has.