Problems with a Reef Devil

I bought a Reef Devil skimmer used off a guy for $110 I got a new mag 7 pump for it. But now 2 monthes after I set up the tank it is still not dialed in. I can get the bubbles to within 3 or 4 inches of producing but then if I adjust it any more the skimmer goes crazy and it overflows the cup in minutes. Could it be because I have no fish yet or what?

 

probably, I don't have a reef devil, but in theory they're the same. Mine didn't do anything for a few days so I turned it off and let the tank cycle for 2 weeks. Now it produces, it goes into over drive usually for an hour or so after feeding and any time I put my whole arm into the tank. My collection cup hasn't filled up yet, it's got about 1/16" of goo in the bottom of it.

I am having a very hard time keeping the water level stable in the skimmer as well. I think the minute variation in SG over the course of the 4 hours I have my ATO off between runs contributes some... also I found my original venturi intake was getting clogged with salt creep, sending my skimmer water into the cup... now i use a Hagen Venturi valve, which is helping, but hasn't fixed anything for certain.

-Doug

 

The reef devil is a down draft. My tank has no fish in it and it is not made of clear plastic so i can't tell where the water kine is.

 

coop, not having a bioload other than the sand, rocks and whatever is on the rocks, will cause a skimmer to be hard to get adjusted properly. Do you have a sandbed? How much live rock? Any clean up crew? Any corals? All of that is part of the bioload of a tank and will produce proteins for the skimmer to remove, just depends on how much of each you have in there. It could also be an issue with the venturi and/or the gate valve setup. ETSS makes an awesome skimmer, just takes some tinkering with them to get them dialed in.

How much water is it sitting in when its in the sump?

 

I have a 1 1/2'' sand bed and about 60 pounds of live rock. The water level is 8 1/2 inches.

 

You're skimming nothing. You need to get fish in and adjust your skimmer at that point. There's no protein slick to skim. Turn off the skimmer while you cycle.

 

So at this point I am just wasting energy to run it? Does this explain the overflowing problem?

 

I am curious why people think you shouldn't run the skimmer while the tank cycles. It is the perfect time to tinker with it, see how adjusting it affects it, get used to cleaning it. Lots of benefits and no drawbacks (other than energy consumption) while its cycling.

 

so the lack of a bioload is not the problem?

 

Absolutely.

Yes, it is the primary problem. Once you get a bioload in there producing waste, then the skimmer will start to work fine and dandy. We just need to get ya past the cycle, then turn it on.

You need to have waste in the tank for it to cycle. You can run the skimmer if you want to, but it will end up prolonging the cycle by removing the waste that is necessary to increase the bacterial population.