Skimmer Problems

[ReeferGirl]

Hey Guys-

I have noticed that something is wrong with my protein skimmer, i dont think its working. i cleaned off the intake line, and i cleaned the cup out, made sure everything is plugged in, etc.. but its not pumping the water into the skimmer as fast as it normally does. im getting like.. no flow it looks like. real slow moving water, and hardly any bubbles being produced. its a coralife one, i cant recall the make, but its a big one. anyone have this problem before? i cant take it out, because i cant get the hoses loose enough to come out, to lift the entire unit out. so yeah.. not sure what i should do, because i cant pull it out without having to cut the hoses. SO weird!!! but yeah.. corals are starting to look real crappy, and my birdsnest coral is starting to bleach. BOOOOO!!!!!! i THOUGHT i got a good skimmer. any suggestions/thoughts?

thanks!
kelly

 

[sfsuphysics]

I had the Coralife Superskimmer 220 "The big one" it was ho hum.. some issues that I noticed was similar to you, is bubbles weren't forming, just not a very good venturi or something. One thing you can try, is wrap your thumb and index finger around the little plastic cone "grate", I noticed that allowed bubbles to go, and to fix it I simply slid a piece of half inch PVC as a sleeve over it.

Also another common problem with all skimmers is the actual air intake barb on the venturi portion of the pump, often it will get salt creep caked on them effectively making the hose smaller than it is, so requires some cleaning, luckily for my skimmer I have a drill bit that exact size of the hole.. so I simple drill out the salt.

 

[tuberider]

Try soaking the pump and intake in vinegar.

 

[ReeferGirl]

thanks guys. johns dad died last night so we are on our way to oregon. my tank is basically dying, and im on the road right now. totally depressed but I can't pay attention to my tanks, so im bound to come back to a bleached tank, I can see it starting, but have no time to fix it. sucks. after about a month, ill be able to take the tank down and start from scratch again. at that time i'll take everything out including my skimmer, clean everything out and give it a good cleaning. thanks for your help guys. ill be back in a couple months id say.

 

[patchin]

Sorry to hear of the double bad news. Is anyone looking after the tanks? Anything we can do?

 

[ReeferGirl]

thanks, and no one is watching the tank right now. ill try to salvage whatever is left when I get back.. it sucks but I absolutely have no energy or time to deal with it right now.

 

[pixelpixi]

I'm so sorry to hear about John's dad. :-(

As Steve said, if we can do anything to help with the tanks let us know. I'm in new mexico myself right now, but I'll be back Friday.

 

[Roc]

If there anything you need just let me know, I think I remember that you live in richmond, not that far from me.

 

[ReeferGirl]

nope. im nowhere near richmond. im in sunnyvale. no biggie. thanks anyways. i'll assess the situation when i get home..

 

[ReeferGirl]

update- not *everything* is dead, which is good. still have some tiny pieces left on my superman monti, chalice is a little bleached, but i think i can bring it back, my purple bonsai is completely white, no flesh, and so is my birdsnest, and digitata. uggghhhhh i think im just going to take the tank down for the time being, because im having a war with TruVu with regards to an imperfection in the acrylic that i think they should fix, so i have to take the tank to the retailer so they can call truvu. ugghhhhhhhh. at least my fish are doing ok got the skimmer back online, john noticed that some little plastic cylinder thing that an airline was plugged on, was the reason my skimmer wasnt working, so thank god thats back up. cant wait to get everything back in order after this whole tank ordeal.

 

[patchin]

Welcome back home. Doesn't sound great, but I'm glad some things made it.

 

[ReeferGirl]

thanks i know, definitely is going to take a while to fix. just did a nice healthy water change, and my mushrooms are starting to open up, so thats a good sign. i think im staying pretty positive!