Skimmer Questions

I have a Precision Marine RL 120. It is kinda a pain to keep it skimming correctly. It seems to be hypersensitive. If I turn the adjustment tube a hair either way it can either overflow the collection cup or not do anything or drop the water an inch. It is a crap shoot to see if it is "dialed in" until it runs a while. Is this common with this skimmer or do I have a problem other than design?

Also, I turn the return pump off when I feed the fish in the DT. This causes the sump to fill which changes the level of the water causing the protein skimmer to overflow the cup. So I turn off the protein skimmer too now. When I turn the return pump back on, the ps seems to need to be adjusted again and you know what a PITA that is. What do you all do that works without a lot of extra steps to feed the fish and not affect the skimmer?

 

Anybody? Is there a PM RL 125 owner out there that can give me some advice? Thanks!

 

When's the last time you gave it a good cleaning (as in taken it apart and cleaned everything, including a vinegar soak with the pump)?

 

I cleaned it in vinegar when I bought it used. I has done some good skimming at times but it is very sensitive to water level and adjustments. VERY SENSITIVE. It is usually either running wet or dry. There is either skimmate if I'm lucky or a dark cup after a day or it's overflowing... I can try cleaning it again but it seems like it is more trouble than it's worth.

 

You should't have to turn off the return pump nor the skimmer when feeding. Heck at times I turn my powerheads back on to get the fish into their hunting mode and it makes my job feeding my anemones.

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk

 

I'm leaving it on from now on. I guess the only time it will get out of wack now is after a power outage.

Thanks for all the replies!