protein skimmer help!!!

[huma-huma]

Ok so I have a current ph2500 protein skimmer that came along with my tank that I recently bought, I decided to plug it in today for the first time to see how it works.....well it fills up with water and it seems to be spinning the water effectivley, but with the air adjustment valve all the way closed, I don't notice it doing anything else, my question is, the seperate canister on the top that collects the junk, is it supposed to fill with water or does the gunk just work its way up into it, kinda like a trap

[Rutrag]

The collection chamber should not fill with water. I'm not familiar with the particular model, but your description sounds like a fairly typical venturi. If the air inlet is closed, you get no air and therefore no foam and you're just pushing water through a tube. Try opening up the air inlet until you have a head of bubbles below the collection chamber. The bubbles pick up the goop from the water column and kind of build up into more of a foam until they reach the collection chamber where it will collapse into a nasty brown stinky liquid. Depending on the setup, this might just collect there or it might drain via a tube to a separate jug. The more air you let in, the less water. The trick is getting it adjusted to produce the best foam, which takes some playing over time. You generally don;t see foam right away. Also, with my venturi inlet, I get a scale build up over time that I have to soak clean in vinegar to keep air coming in.