Euroreef Sponge Bubble Difuser - Don't use as Prescribed

[kwirky]

I finally figured out the troubles to dialing in my euroreef skimmer. finally!

I was cleaning the foam difuser on the outlet pipe on a weekly basis, and THAT was the cause of the euroreef going out of whack when I couldn't understand it. I ended up cutting the foam difuser in half, and situated it so it's BELOW the output level of the pipe, so the water falls on it, rather than flows through it.

here's the problem with putting the foam as instructed, over the output pipe completely:
See, as the foam filter gets filled with gunk, the water has to go higher to get out of the foam. This causes the air-foam in the reaction chamber to rise higher as it gets gunked up. The skimmer was running beautifully every time I dialed it in for two days, then all of a sudden I'd get home and the cup would be full after only 4 hours running!

Taking the foam off completely makes it real noisy as the water splashes into the sump, so here's my solution:

Cut the foam so that it slides onto the output tube, and rests JUST below the outlet of the tube, allowing the water to fall through it, but it doesn't HAVE to flow through it. Quiet output, and no risk to your skimmate cup overflowing because the sponge is gunked up for some unexpected reason.

still gotta clean the sponge religiously though

[trilinearmipmap]

I recommend doing the gate valve mod and doing away with the foam altogether. I found the riser tube too hard to adjust.

[Quagmire]

Thanks for the tip
One thing thats always bothered me about the sponge on the skimmer is that we always say don't run a sponge filter or you will get nitrates,yet here we are running them on our skimmers.I think I'll try the gate valve mod when I get time.

[kwirky]

i'm afraid of doing the gatevalve mod

I can get a spears gate valve for a good price, but if I mess up drilling the acrylic, it's $400 down the drain

[Pescador]

The gate valve mod just replaces the riser tube, you shouldn't have to drill anything.

[Chaloupa]

Can you post a pic of the mod? I have a Euroreef also and dislike using the sponge too....if you do that would be great!