Help with a Coralife 220

Well, having searched the posts and pics, I think my skimmer is set up wrong. It's in the sump, and putting out more water than gunk, so time to reset it? Does anyone know of a down loadable manual for this thing (Coralife superskimmer 220)?
Or do I just tweak the dial til something happens (that's how I fix the washing machine!)?
And what am I looking for result-wise?
I realize the output is based on the bioload, and results will vary, but what should the consistency of the waste in the collection cup look like?
Okay, I'm done....whewwwwww!;D

 

Sounds like to me you need to lower the water level in the reaction chamber its wet skimming Lower the level and allow the bubbles to become finer and let them build up to the cup. Its a great skimmer for the price of it.. Cut off the air inlet totaly allow the water level to stabalize then lower it a inch or so then let it run for a few days if its still wet lower it a bit more

 

Howdy, bbsbliss! We have the same skimmer. As with all skimmers you can set them to "wet" or "dry" skim, or anything in between.

Here's a photo of set to "wet."



You'll notice the bubble level is very high in the reducing area of the skimmer. In this mode the skimmate, or "gunk," will be lighter in color. This is because there will be more skimmate, and thus will be more dilute.

In "dry" skimming mode (of which I don't have a picture,) the bubbles will be much lower in this area, and the skimmate will be much darker, and there will be less of it.

If you suspect some type of problem where dissolved organic compounds are the culprit, you set the skimmer to skim "wet", and more skimmate will be pulled from your water column faster. In dry skimming it's the opposite.

Neither is better, as both methods pull organic compounds from the tank, and that is what a skimmer is made to do. I suppose the disadvantage to wet skimming is having to empty the cup more often.

As with most things, the ideal setting (if there is one) is probably something in-between the two. If you feel your skimmer is pulling too much gunk, or the gunk seems too light in color for your taste (eewwwww), then set the bubble level lower.


Hope this helped!!

 

Oaky- I reset the water level- and now I'm getting greenish tinted goo, with some other yuck in it (like the technical jargon?!), but I had a power outage the other day for several hours. So I did my chemistry this am, all numbers are good, but ALK is 4.5, higher than it has been.

 

You should replace that drainage cap with a length of airline tubing that runs to a 1 gallon (milk jug, etc...) overflow container. That way you have less to worry about if the skimmer cup overflows while you're not home.

 

Here's a link to the manual for the 220 needlewheel(not sure if you have the needlewheel or venturi model)http://www.marineandreef.com/v/vspfiles/pdf/super_skimmer.pdf

Glad to see you got it running good. Be careful, I used to run a 125 until recently and it was always very touchy, and would overflow the collection cup easily (I'd hate to see all that skimate get put back into your sump)

 

Thanks for the link! This will come in handy-