Does anyone use a EV-120? setting up questions

I am trying to get my new tank going, I am running a used but appears to be in great shape Aquea C EV-120 powered by a Mag 5 pump. I can't seem to find a happy medium with the gate valve and the air valve. It either is not making foam or blowing water out of the collection cup vent. This is my first saltwater tank and skimmer. I cleaned the skimmer, so no clogs, it sits in my sump and the water level is just below the gate valve. I mean touching the bottom of the valve. should it be a little higher? The tank is 90 gallons with a 40 gallon refug. Salt was added about one week ago, all rock and sand were dry when assembled, so nothing live at this point. Just trying to get smoothed out before anything live. Thanks for any and all advise.

 

I had a 120 running the same set up. Mine was not that hard to get going. I had a Mag 7 on mine. The directions are pretty clear. If you do not have them, you can go to skimmers.com for them.

Anyway. The water level is set where it should be. That part should not really change. Close the air valve and set the level just below the bottom of the neck. Where the neck comes out of the body, right at that intersection, you will want it a little lower since it is clean. After break in, you want your water level right at that intersection of the top of the body and the bottom of the neck.

After that give it some air. Don't worry about a lot right now, just get some foam. Start small, go big. Make small changes.

The problem you are going to have right now is your tank in new, the skimmer, is clean, and you have no bio load. You are going to have very inconsistent performance right now. In fact, you don't even need to run your skimmer with no bio load. I assume you are going to add a fish at some point and start a cycle.

Right now it is going to be tough just because your skimmer has nothing to work with.

 

Set up on the EV series is pretty easy. First close off the air valve completely. This will show you where your water level is, which should be where the neck and the box meet. The water should be where the clear and smoke acrylic meet. If it's higher, meaning it's up into the neck, open up the gate valve. If you don't see the water level, close it off until you see it. Let it stabilize a bit then readjust if needed. Then open up the air valve, I have mine open about 90%, which is about at 7 o'clock if you are looking at the valve lever. Since your tank is new, it won't skim anything until you start accumulating waste. At this point, I would suggest turning off the skimmer and letting your tank cycle naturally. If you want to keep water running through your skimmer so you get bacterial colonies in that, just close off the air valve so it turns off the skimming.

 

Thanks for the advice, I think I will close the air valve and allow the water to move through the skimmer so the water will not be sitting and getting stile and old.