Coralife 65 skimmer question on water level.

Ok, first off, I found the information here that I needed to better understand the skimmer i have now. It's the Coralife 65 HOB Skimmer, it's been around for 2 years give or take, not in my tank, but before I got it. Anyway...

I don't exactly remember where but I read more about the air inlet hose and it's importance to getting the mix going, but someone spelled it out and it was great advice! Thanks mysterious smart person!

So, once I put the new air tubing on and started to adjust the knobs, I put the top dial all the way to it's lowest setting. Then I watched the water level that was in the hose. I saw it was coming up into the hose, instead of the venturi pulling air into the pump. Why is it the simplest things? Once I blew into the hose and saw the reaction in the chamber, the light bulb went off. I can't believe I didn't think about this sooner. Doh!!

On to my question, I turned the dial (down by the pump in the tank) to just where the water line went into the venturi and started producing bubbles. Great, that's what I want!! MY concern is the water level is halfway up in the cup and then producing bubbles on that. Once I try to adjust the valve in the water to pull the water down into the chamber (or just to the top) the bubbles stop.

Here are some pictures (crappy cell pics), the first one is last night 20 minutes or so after I got the air inlet working again. I see gunk and I'm excited ;D
last night

This one is from this morning, the water level went down a little bit. What I have read is the water level should be at the bottom of the cup. I'm way over that. I also took it apart and cleaned it up this past weekend, am I still in break in?
this morning

Thank you!
Matt

 

You want to keep the water level at the bottom of the cup for about 48 hours. After that I usually keep the water level midway. I have a 65 and a 125, there great skimmers. I can't believe the stuff it pulls out of the tank. The skimmer will produce a different amout of bubbles from time to time but mostly it accurate. I have the 65 on my 36 bowfront and the 125 on my 55 gallon.

 

Right, that's what I was aiming for. However when I adjusted the valve above the pump to get the water to the bottom of the cup is when water would go up the air-inlet tubing and no bubbles.

I'll just keep an eye on it and go from there. I'm just glad it's back to creating skimmate!

Thanks!

 

I love this statement! There are many of those on here! I'm so glad you got your issue figured out. Just one word about skimmers, they do usually take a few days to "dial in" so it's not atypical to have some adjustment issues when just starting them up on your tank.

Are you going to share a front pic of your tank?

 

The community of reefies is awesome! I've been trying to get up to par with some of the amazing tanks I see out there. So, I read and read and read and read and read.... Just from nice people around the area and seeing different setups, I knew my skimmer wasn't skimming. I basically had given up on this guy, because I bought a reef octo nw-110 for a sump that will be going in. Then I thought, well just buying the new skimmer isn't going to skim if I don't know how to set a skimmer up. Which led me to read about the coralife and I am so glad I did.

It has been staying at the same level through the day yesterday. It has pulled out some gunk, which is great to see! Yesterday when I got home from work, the tank looked brand new! I pulled a The water was "cyrstal" clear compared to the day before.

So, on to the goodies. It's not as good as most out there, but it's in my house and I'm learning everyday and seeing results! again, !

unfortunately the only picture I have with everything updated is blurry (cell pic) that I snapped last night.
blurry pic

thanks!

 

well, zesty I'm impressed! Your tank looks great! You have a nice variety of colors in there! It takes a while (and money) to get tanks to a stage that many on here have. They keep me motivated to keep doing the best I can do with my tank

 

You nailed it there! Time and money, I have plenty of time

Thank you, I've been spending a lot of time reading and reading and reading!! I think it has helped

 

I really want to put a Yella Eyed Kole Tang in there. It might not look like it, but there are some caves and tunnels in there for him to swim around.

 

Update on the skimmer, came home to this after work, skimmmmmmer