Is my new skimmer broke?

I have had this Vertex Protein Skimmer for about 2 weeks. I went through the initial break in and it spit bubbles for about 1/2 day and the skimmer was running great until last night? I came into the room and noticed a ton of micro bubbles in my tank ....

Today I took the skimmer out of the sump and began to inspect. Everything looked OK but I decided to fill the bubble chamber with water since thats where the majority of the bubbles are. I noticed the pipe leading to the bubble chamber from the pump leaks pretty good into the outer chamber, see(pic). The leak is about 40 degrees away from the outflow pipe and I have a feeling that its the problem? What do you guys think?

Thanks for you help...Jeff

 

It very well can be. I would silicone that seal and see if that works.

 

Looks like she sprang a leak lol Silicone it up but let it dry long enough and give it another shot before sinking your money into a whole diff. skimmer at the moment

 

I'd contact Vertex and see about getting a new push seal and see if that will fix it. Let me know if you cant find the contact info and I'll help you out. Or contact the vendor you got the skimmer from. Vertex is a good company that stands behind their product.

VeralteAquatics@aol.com

 

Thanks for the help. I ended up putting a filter sock over the output tube. Does the trick but still has me wondering? I think I might have to contact them anyway because my pump has been getting louder and louder :-/. Time will tell....Jeff

 

I would still contact them to see if there is a fix nothing like second guessing everyday is this thing going to leak.

 

I would get that sealed up. Vertex is a good company - they work with Royal Exlusiv, makers of the Bubble King. They'll work with you on it, I'm sure. Even though the bubbles would be caught performance may be affected.

 

In the research I did everybody talked pretty highly of them, I hope they can help me out... I just sent the message below through there contact us page...

"I recently bought a Vertex IN-100 from Aquacave. The skimmer has ran great for the last 2-3 weeks then I noticed a couple of problems.

1. I have a ton of micro bubbles in my tank. I took out the skimmer to inspect and noticed that the bubble chamber is leaking into outer chamber? Quick cure was to put a filter sock over the output tube but I was wondering if it effects the performance?

2. The pump is become pretty loud since I first installed it, is that normal?

Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated. I have a post on 3reef.com that has pictures of the leak if that helps. Thanks again... Jeff "

 

Any word back from them yet? Im curious if they're helping you or not as I am still in the self-debate over which skimmer to order.... This is one of them on the list

 

There has been a couple emails back and forth. They said that little leak in the picture would not cause the problem of microbubbles and so did my LFS? Beyond that they gave me some things to try but none of them worked? Right now its running but with a filter sock and the pump is about 10 times louder then my Rio 2500 return pump.
All that being said I still would recommend this skimmer. After reading all the great things about the company I have to beleive that I just got a bad one?