Why is my skimmer going nuts?

[kien]

Originally Posted by jason604

Actually my water chamber for the skimmer is pretty deep. Not home to measure as of right now but I would say it's about 14" or so. I did try to physically lift my skimmer higher up n held it there n the water lvl In the skimmer did lower to the correct lvl. Wouldn't egg crates or pvc tubes make it super noisy by the pump vibrating.

Whoa.. I don't know about your specific skimmer, but 14" seems very deep to me. My last two skimmers have sat in about 6-8 inches of water. My newest skimmer I had at about 8 inches but then raised it another 2" by sticking two 2" pvc pips underneath it. I don't notice much additional noise. The water does a decent job of dampening. Plus my sump is enclosed in my stand.

if noise or vibration becomes and issue just try dampening with foam sheets (that you can get at Michaels. I have those under my other pumps (return and biopellet reactor).

[jason604]

Originally Posted by kien

Whoa.. I don't know about your specific skimmer, but 14" seems very deep to me. My last two skimmers have sat in about 6-8 inches of water. My newest skimmer I had at about 8 inches but then raised it another 2" by sticking two 2" pvc pips underneath it. I don't notice much additional noise. The water does a decent job of dampening. Plus my sump is enclosed in my stand.

if noise or vibration becomes and issue just try dampening with foam sheets (that you can get at Michaels. I have those under my other pumps (return and biopellet reactor).

Ya I made it deep CUZ I'm planning to use my final chamber in my sump as a frag tank/return pump so I needed it to be as deep as I can. Gonna take ur advice to use pvc n egg crate now

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Yup, at 14" deep you'll never stop overflowing your skimmer. The vast majority of skimmers require 8-10" of stable water level to function optimally. Since this is going to require a long term solution, make sure your "box" is very sturdy or it may tip over or make a vibrating noise.

[jason604]

Originally Posted by SeaHorse_Fanatic

Yup, at 14" deep you'll never stop overflowing your skimmer. The vast majority of skimmers require 8-10" of stable water level to function optimally. Since this is going to require a long term solution, make sure your "box" is very sturdy or it may tip over or make a vibrating noise.

What should I use to dampen the vibration? Right now I'm cutting 4 pieces of pvc then prob cut some teeths under it so water can flow through to not trap crap later on n zip tie them to egg crates n put skimmer on up. But I suspect massive vibration

[andestang]

I'm having almost the exact some problem with my Vertex 200. It's been running now for almost 3 months. It's at 9 1/2" just like they recommend. I haven't added any chemicals or anything except for some vinegar dosing which I stopped a month ago. I still don't have it functioning right, the bubbles are usually more like when you add Alka-Seltzer/Eno vs what should be the nice slow big bubbling. I try not to adjust it much anymore, it's fine one time (rarely) then the next check it's overflowing like yours. If I used the drain adapter on my tank it would be fresh water in the matter of days. My old little Euro- reef skimmer would kick this things ass, but I paid so much dam money for this thing so just has to work right lol ?

[freeze]

Every skimmer I have operates like crap at the recommended water level. If it's overflowing and running like crap, raise it up. You want super fine bubbles but when at the right height those then into a nice foamy head.

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by freeze

Every skimmer I have operates like crap at the recommended water level. If it's overflowing and running like crap, raise it up. You want super fine bubbles but when at the right height those then into a nice foamy head.

This

Just about every skimmer I have ever ran runs better in less than recommended , problem is if your making a sump you can't lower a skimmer but you can raise one up so we tend to make the baffles higher and recommend putting something underneath

I run my csc450 in 5" of water and have 90 degree fitting on the inputs so it can draw water lower and not suck in air.

14" is unheard of .....

[andestang]

Mine starts to surge if it's taken to far from the 9.5"

Originally Posted by freeze

Every skimmer I have operates like crap at the recommended water level. If it's overflowing and running like crap, raise it up. You want super fine bubbles but when at the right height those then into a nice foamy head.