New Skimmer

[Mike62]

I just hooked up a new Coralife Super Skimmer to my tank, and while there are bubbles in the lower part of the skimmer, none of them are making it up into collection cone. Im not talking about no skimmate coming out, seeing as the tank is new, the bubbles literally are not coming up into the collection cone. Is this normal for a new skimmer?

[JetJumper]

Whats your salinity at?  If your salinity is low bubbles will not form.

Also you need to adjust the level of the water in the chamber to raise it up to the cup.

[Mike62]

Salinity level is 1.023, and I have played with the knob that brings up the level of bubbles in other skimmers. It has no effect.

[darkphreak]

Most skimmers need time to build a thin biofilm on their surfaces to fuction properly. New skimmers will have oils from the hands that built them and other contaminants. Best bet would be to wash it out with vineger and rinse real well with hot water. Do not adjust the water to high, yet... just let it run a few days.

[Mike62]

Its already full of water. Will it build up on its own or do I have to rinse with vinegar? I dont relish the thoughts of getting it off the tank and emptying the water to do a rinse.

[az]

its broken then? coz knob has to control outflow...

[darkphreak]

Just leave it run for now, in a few days adjust the water level.

[moused]

I used to have a old coralife skimmer.  There is 2 knobs on it.  The first one that is by the pump contols how much water goes into the skimmer. This should be wide open to start.  Then there is the red knob, which controls the height of the water level within the skimmer.
IF you're knob by the pump is wide open and the red knob is closed all the way; and you're not getting the water to bubble over into the collection cup. Then one of two things:
1. the Venturi is clogged.  Open up where the air is sucked in and make sure it's free and clear of salt creep or blockage.
2. your pump is dieing. This is what happened to me, and it just didn't push enough water into the skimmer for it to work.  ie. new pump.

but if I where you I'd take the skimmer apart (completely, including pump ) and clean it in vinegar.  Give it a good rinse afterwards.  Then put it all back together and run it for a while (get the bacteria build up within it). 

Items that would effect bubble creation is salt (as others had mentioned-but your level sounds fine) or additives (there are certain additives/supplements that increase or decrease the bubble creation)

The only thing that I can give as a recommendation with this skimmer is to drill and put in a drain line to the collector cup (incase it overflows)

let us know how it goes.

[Mike62]

Okay, first there is only one knob on it, the one you use to control the bubble level.
I have rinsed the whole skimmer in vinegar, rinsed it out and set it up once again. I can see that water is flowing in and out of the skimmer, there is plenty of bubble action in the chamber below, but nothing coming up in the collection cup. I cant see the pump not being good enough, it and the skimmer are new, both bought at the same time. I have it running on my sump (that is not connected to the tank) to see if gets itself going. Right now I have the bubble dial set at about half open.

[mermaid]

All skimmers are the same is in that when you first set it up.It has to break in.
U meantion that you have it in your sump now but before it was hanging on the back?
You did read that the black hose that comes with them has to be cut depending on where the skimmer is located?
If its in your sump(in 6-8" of water level) the pump has to sit on the bottome.
If its hanging on your tank.The hose has to be but to the proper height.It mentions this in the istructions.

Also,if your water level flucuates then this will also affect the skimmer.
I have used these skimmers in the past and they have worked well.
I think you need to read the instructions and give it time to break in.

[Mike62]

It was in the tank before, but I set it up in my sump to make sure the water was going through completely. When I set it up in the sump, I used the longer tube provided to run in a sump.

[Greatwhite]

Super Skimmer is not known to be a "great" skimmer...  There are modifications you can do to it to reduce bubbles and other issues.  I just Googled "Super skimmer mod" and came across this page that seems to have gathered all the common mods up in one place...

http://tylermerrick.com/blog/index.php/2009/10/08/modifing-the-coralife-super-skimmer-css/

1.023 is a tad low as well... I've found that anything below 1.025 doesn't bubble up enough at all.. I try to aim for 1.026 in my tank.

If you are running the skimmer in your sump, you should be able to keep a consistent water level with an auto-top-off until like Tunze's Osmolator (LOVE IT).  For a skimmer to work best, the water needs to stay at the same level.  Otherwise, you'll find that you are constantly adjusting those knobs because the water dropped - or went up with a fill up.

I can't remember if you mentioned the size of your tank.  The Super Skimmers that I'm familiar with are (barely) good for a 65g with a very light load...

[Mike62]

The skimmer is hooked up to a sump that is not connected to a tank. I bought a sump, planning to use it, but my plans changed. I only have it hooked up there to see if the water was going in and out, which it is. So the water level is not changing. While the mods would be useful if the skimmer was running at least right, thats not the case, I am getting no bubbles into the cup. Only in the main chamber.

[ray]

If bubbles are not rising to collection,increase water in the skimmer body or it may not be placed in correct depth of water

Ray

[veron]

also if the water is to clean it won't skim. If it was just cleaned before you got it it won't skim.
takes a few days to start bubbling up. If you have bubbles in the chamber then it is indead working.
1.023 salinity is fine.

[Mike62]

To everyone else who responded, thank you.

To Veron who responded. 1,000,000 bonus points. With your advice in mind, I put the skimmer in my current tank, and up came the bubbles perfectly.

[veron]

your welcome, I haven't used tha skimmer type for years. you probaly can asjust either water output
or ain input? not sure. As time goes by, you might have to tweak it. Normaly most people
run the ''air'' wide open and adjust the water to raise or lower you water/bubble height. This
is called wet or dry skimming. You also notice that the skimmer can stop skimming if you feed,
put your hands in the tank, etc.. It can also overflow if you use meds or chemicals so be careful.