Deltec MCE 600 Users
 

I just bought this skimmer and put it in my 44 gallon tank which is 2 years old. All it is doing is foaming up clear water and filling the collection cup with water in about 10 seconds! I have the air fully open. I am even getting water bubbles forming at the back of the collection cup and then dripping onto my floor. I called Deltec and they said to put vaseline between the tank and the collection cup at the back to stop bubbles from forming but that only lasted 10 mins until it started dripping again. Has anyone else had this issue? I am getting frustrated as this skimmer was a lot of $$$$. J & L said it is from using Prime as a water conditioner although I have never had this problem with less expensive skimmers I have used??? They told me to just keep running it although I can't if it keeps leaking onto my floor. HELP!

Is the collection cup as high as it can go?

Raising and lowering the cup controls the concentration of skimate.

yes, the collection cup is as high as it will go!

Tune the air down till it breaks in.

I use Prime, never had a problem with my skimmer.
It's brand new?
Did you wash it before you used it (just clear water)?
How open is the air valve?
You also want to be careful about the position of the degassing plate... if it's too high, the water level inside the skimmer will rise.

just to let you know i have a Bubble king and it was a crap load too and i ran into the same problem.. run it in a tub of vineger and water, for like 5 hours it will take the oils out of it...

When I turn the air down water collects in the cup even faster???

Deltec MCE-600
 

I had mine now for a year and mine works flawless.My tank is not drilled (150 Gallon FOWLR) I keep my cup as high as it will go,dont tighten the cup screw to tight,as I find thats when the water will leak.... I keep my air set at about(orange knob) 3-4 minutes after the hour. No bubbles at all go back into the tank... Just give it some time...Trust me you will be more than happy in the end.

Cheers,

Marcel

hey man hows the tank its doing good i hear and didnt know that you got a 600 for your tank

I have had this very issue with several of my client's MCE 600's. Basically, IMO, it is from something in the water that is making the skimmer froth excessively. The two most popular culprits are food(like PE Mysis is a biggie!!) and water conditioners/additives(like dechlorinator with added slime coat protectant).

What I would suggest is eliminating any of those first, then run carbon for a week or two. It should help. BTW, chemiclean will also make this skimmer go haywire. It is a very good skimmer, hence why it is so touch to the slightest change in water...

HTH?

Thanks for all the replies. So I have come to think that it may be caused by the dechlorinator I use Pure. I have been told to do a water change and not use the Pure although what will remove the chlorine if I don't use the Pure? I am a little concerned about not using a water conditioner. I am also going to add carbon to my canister filter. I ran the skimmer all night and there hasn't been any decrease in foam/water production???

Letting the water degass overnight should clear the chlorine prior to adding to the tank, especially if you have a pump running on it. Or you could pick up an R/O unit or tap water filter. :)

I would also try the vinegar and water trick, just to rule that out. We have a 1.5 year old MCE600 that works perfect even with Prime added to the water, but we also have a client's skimmer that is doing this exact thing and we just cant figure it out.

Use Prime, I use it and all the MCE 600's are fine with it, what is most likely causing them to act up is the newly mixed saltwater. So, they may act up after a waterchange, but i don't think it is from the prime.

It may take a week or more for your skimmer to settle down after carbon use and not using the PURE, so be patient. :)

Seems to me that since you are using tap water in your tank that there will be a lot of junk in the water to foam...

I have never used an ro/di unit swith previous skimmers that worked fine so why would I have to use it with the "best skimmer"? Doesn't really make sense???? Would a tap water filter work OK???? This is so frustrating........

Edmonton water like Vancouver water contains chloramines not chlorine, you need to add some type of water conditioner as chloramines are chlorine and ammonia that is ionically bound.

http://www.epcor.ca/en-ca/Customers/...FAQs.aspx#fish

Prime is excellent as it does not contain aloe or slime etc...

Douglas

I have been using Prime and that is what people are telling me is screwing up my skimmer.....I am so confused and frustrated that I can't get this thing to work properly.

Not sure what is making your skimmer behave the way it is, just to recap, you've adjusted air up and down? Water flow up and down? One thing you may want to try is to restrict the amount of water flowing into the chamber, don't restrict the intake on the pump but restrict the output between the pump and the skimmer chamber. I've probably not worded that right but maybe you'll get the idea.

Douglas

OK so I think I have the collection cup bubbles under control by adjusting my air to 2 o'clock and running carbon although now the return pipe with the degassing plate is causing major bubbles to be released into the tank???? My water in the tank isn't clear at all it is juat all bubbly.

So as for why you seem to have it covered. Now here is the mod I did to my tuboflotor 1000, and the same to the deltec this is for the rare time I've use chemi pure and instead of on the floor it goes in a bucket. Just cut the overflow tube and what you don't see is the 90 elbow I add and extra hose. I also have to plug the little hole on the top. I keep the bucket under the unit with some towel strategically placed. Hope this helps ( It's better than standing there)
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...r/P2060030.jpg
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...r/P2060028.jpg

Does it always foam into the collection cup or does it sometimes go right down???

Do you mean ? The foam, your asking if it is always foaming? No it will stop for small amounts of time. When I have an additive (chemi clean) it goes nuts for about three days none stop big bubbles I'd have to dump the cup every min or two. That would be why I modded the unit, I actually add the turbofloater 1000 and run both. Does that answer your question?

Well I have the air full at 12 o'clock and my cup is far down and there is no foaming action in the cup????? That seems not right to me because my previous skimmers foamed all the time. Also when it was foaming the foam was never brown looking it was just a clear foam???

Think about it... a better skimmer should be more efficient or better at pulling DOCs out of the water. Otherwise, why would it be better? If Coralife skimmers worked as well as Deltec skimmers, I would think D-D would be out of business. So, when upgrading to the much more efficient Deltec, you made a change where you can now pull more and possibly different DOCs out of the water, DOCs that your old skimmer didn't have access too for whatever reason.

Try hooking a skimmer up to a tub of your tap water, I guarantee that skimmer can pull something out of the regular tapwater before it even goes into the tank. I watched someone do this in Saskatoon and was disgusted by what the skimmer pulled out of plain tap water.

It skims best in-between, not when it's open full. Close it. Then when you open it, it will get a little loud. Keep opening it little by little until it quiets down a bit- that's the 'sweet spot', the place where you'll pull the best foam.

Could someone please tell me how to remove the pump for cleaning?

Does the media holder inner plate thingy need to be used if no media is used, so I can put my heater in there?

Thanks

Just slide it to the left, then pull it straight up. If it gives you grief while you're restarting the pump, you'll need to play with how far you push it onto the fitting.
I never actually bother with rinsing my pump... lol. I do drip warm water down the air valve once every couple of weeks, though.

I always thought that was there just to keep the media from floating upwards and blocking the outflow.

Thanks.

Mike, the fixer upper guy, :D , figured it out. All cleaned up and repaired. Now I owe him, but he,s going away again soon, so will take care of his tank. :lol:

Its actually a fair sized skimmer.

Does the degassing plate do its job? Mine came without one and we are thinking of building it. I seen a thread where some said they just removed them? Or perhaps just using a couple 90 degree elbows?

^

Doug from looking at the skimmer its only there to stop the bubble that goes into the tank. the water travels under the plate and disperse into the water. i think the 90 would work too

Still wondering about this.
Thanks

Things you learn when first setting your skimmer up.

Dont run the water level above the screw that holds the cup.

When you fill the cup up with saltwater, dont try dump it back in the skimmer..:lol:

Impressive pump and amount of bubbles and foam.

Pretty stupid waste collection cup, compared with my Tunze 9010.

Wow Doug i guess its just me and you on this thread.. so how's the skimmer and any pictures of it in action......

I think it's job was to :
a) minimize the water splashing out from the output;
b) help reduce the micro bubbles.

In my setup it was good for reducing the splash, but I had a micro-bubble problem for about 18 months (not enough to be visually distracting in the tank, but enough to cause some salt creep).

I did create an output mod using 90 + 45 elbows, but it didn't really reduce the bubbles ... the bubble problem just "disappeared" by itself after about 18 months.

Sorry, I don't know anything about modding the plate because I just use the stock unit.
It works, though.... if that helps! :lol:

Thanks. Most likely what I will do also.

I was just wondering who actually used them. Thanks, thats what I was looking for. Besides using elbows, we were thinking about making a new one from acrylic, thus my question.

fwiw ... the MCE600 fittings are metric and I couldn't find any metric pvc fittings at HD so I just wrapped some teflon tape around the MCD600 output to make it "fit".