Big SKimmer driving me nuts

I dunno what happened but for days the thing was operating beautifully. Its a 5 foot Downdraft SKimmer and its all of a sudden not producing the fowm it was. I mean the difference is dramatic and I cant figure out why. Its like the Air mix got messed up. When before the reaction chamber and riser tube was completely opaque with a frothy mix of bubbles now its more water colorerd with large bubbles blasting up through it. All I did was take the U-tube/venturi component down to clean it. Now something is screwed. I dismantled what I could to reach down into the box base and felt around. I thought maybe a bio ball had clogged up something but theres not enough space for that to happen.

It seems like it could be a common cause. If anyones familiar with these skimmers, what could cause the reaction chamber to not rise the bubbles its supposed to? The downdraft tower with the bio balls it awash with all kinds of bubble activity but something happens after to slow the activity in the riser tube. Please help im loosin it a lil i think.

I dont mean to abuse the ASAP forum but my pice of mind of suffering here. Could it just be that between all the skimming in the past 24 hours where it sucked out an amazing amount of foul water and all the water changes there just not enough organics to react with the air? Like I said yesterday morning when I got it all turned on the reaction chambers looked like it had milk in it. Just opaque with tiny air bubbles. Now theres just more water than air it seems.

 

I'm not familiar with your skimmer but it seems like there is some obstruction to air flow. You could try running a cup of hot r/o water through the air intake part. That would usually do the trick on my berlin xl. It's definitely something with air flow being obstructed though from what I can understand. JMO, good luck

 

The Berlin XL Triple PAss? Thats what I used before I got this thing. I had to make an extra high tank stand to use it in my sump but it really worked well. Kept my reef thriving for many months til all this happened. Ive come to the conclusion about skimmers that size is everything. You just cant get this kind of efficiency crammed into a small unit. After seeing what this Downdraft monster can do Id rather build my own before I spend $200 on some "small footprint" skimmer. Truth is you can conceivably get yourself a large kickass skimmer for that much if you build it. The Berlin XL worked great, again because of the size. I say when it comes to skimmers just get the biggest you can get. For the time being youll have something that works great on your tank and then when and if you upgrade to a larger tank you already have your skimmer and dont need to buy another. Its like buying a computer lol.. youre better off spending a few extra hundred on something thats going to remain viable as the technology advances and until it does youll have the enjoyment of using a super fast, efficient PC while the performance requirements are minimal. Makes sense right

Skimmers are the great equalizer that allows sustainable water quality in an closed isolated system. Just my 2 cents... dont chinse on da skimmer

 

I actually no longer have my berlin xl, that thing left a huge footprint hanging on the side of my tank. It was a monster for a 55. I traded someone for a modded bak pak 4 coral pieces and 50 bucks and it fits behind my tank so a lot less of a footprint and it skims pretty well but I kind of wish I kept the old skimmer for a future tank size upgrade like you said. I ran mine with a mag 9.5 but my modded bak pak produces a darker skimmate than the berlin xl did. I dont know if it was because it didnt have the factory pump or what. It was also not as easy to take apart and the line would get clogged but lots of gunk would slime up on to the side and bottom of the cup and not so much in the cup itself, just watery stuff. Anyway, I've yet to get a skimmer that gives me thick gunk in my cup and don't know if that will happen till I spend money on a nice skimmer . I wouldnt know how exactly to build one.

 

Ohh what makes it work even better is if you bypass the venturi (plug it up) and get the needle wheel turbo pump. I noticed a huge difference once upgraded the pump.

Thres lots of DIY plans on the web, all you need to do is find an acrylic company to supply you with a couple sheets and a couple cylanders. I will be making one one day. It will be quite large as I see what a large reaction chamber can do. IF you build one youll save alot of $ cuz companies are charging lots for these glued together pieces of plastic. I imagin most of the cost goes to research and development.