Can't get water into my collection cup

Hi guys,

I can't seem to get water into my collection cup on my CPR Skimmer. I even turned the air valve thing on high(making lots of microbubbles) but it won't come up into the collection cup.



Anyone have any ideas, or has had this skimmer before?



Many thanks!

 

the only time i do not get the water to the cup is when there is nothing to skim. How are the water params? How old is the tank? The more info you provide the better this group can help. Some of the folks here have helped my tremendously. good luck and let us know as much as possible about your tank.

 

How long have you had it running? Is it past the break in period? Where is the bottom of the cup in relation to the water level? A picture might help a bit as well.

 

My tank is 4 months old. All the water perimeters are excellent. The bottom of the cup is above the tank, obviously, as the actually skimmer is hanging outside the tank, and above the water.
My skimmer has been running for about 1 and half months. When I turn the Air Valve dial up, all it does is fizz and make lots of bubbles, but doesn't fill up collection cup =\

 

Thats strange. There must be an issue with your pump. Mine is hooked up to an mj1200 and the bottom of the cup is right below the hole between the two chambers that prevents overflow and I get a 1/4 cup every other day of dark greenish/brown skimmate. I changed out that air valve for a needle valve and that also increased skimmate. I will put a link to thread I have about this skimmer at the end. I can't tell from the picture, but where is the water level in relation to the skimmer on the cup side, like how much below the bottom of the cup. How old is the skimmer its self, your tanks not too old and doesnt look like it would have a lot of stuff to skim but you should still be gettin something. Also, my chamber is completely full of bubbles with the valve barely open and about a centimeter between the water level. The rest is full of foam which makes it into the cup eventually. Either your pump isnt cuttin it or you could try blowing through the air tube to clear it or run a bit of warm r/o water to clear any salt deposits in the line. Get rid of the bio bale, all it does is trap stuff and become a nitrate factory, that may also help increase efficiency and your live rock does the same thing anyway as is expected fromt the bio bale.

You just may not have nothing to skim, theres some pictures and other info at this thread
There some pictures here but if you need others just ask. I hope I was able to help some. Can't tell much from your pictures. Good Luck

 

http://www.3reef.com/forums/protein-skimmers/what-do-empty-compartment-cpr-bak-pak-73591.html