skimmer help please!

[craigwmiller]

If it's brand new it will probably still have a covering of lubricants/etc (food/human/fish safe) that takes a while to break in.

I would take it out and give it a vinegar bath (large rubbermaid, RO water with say 2 cups of white vinegar - total liquid volumn to the recommended depth of the skimmer) and run it...

This also works after a deep clean... After I gave my skimmer a really good cleaning it didn't do anything bubble-wise - so I ran it in a bucket with just water, and as soon as I poured some vinegar in BAM it started working. I rant it like that for an hour, rinsed it quickly, and put it back to work.