Problems with a Reef Devil

Now, to answer your original question. I have an old style E.T.S.S. 600XR that I run on my 90. I had a heck of a time dialing that thing in a first, but after a month, it started pulling quite a bit. It is going to take a little bit to get this thing right, so be patient. You have a great skimmer.

Once you get past the cycle and get some livestock in there, just do the following.

1.) Open the gate valve all the way
2.) Close off the air intake (with tape if you have to)
3.) If you have a ball valve to control flow from your powerhead to your skimmer, use that to adjust the water level to the bottom of the tube. If you do not have this, then just adjust the water level using the gate valve until you get the desired level.
4.) Let it bubble there. It will appear to be doing nothing, but this is priming the skimmer.
5.) After about a week, let the air into the skimmer, try to keep the water level at that original mark with the air coming in. See what it does and adjust the level with the gate valve to maintain it there for another couple of days. Remember, you want small bubbles, not big ones. So adjusting the air is just as important as adjusting the level for proper skimming.
6.) After a few days of this, adjust the level up or down slowly using the gate valve. One quarter turn and wait 24 hours. If it is not right, do another quarter turn and wait another 24 hours. It is a slow and tedious process, but patience will pay off.

....and you do have some bioballs in the tube, right? That will help with making smaller bubbles as the air is drawn down the tube. I am presuming your air input is at the top of the tube where your water input is.

 

Thanks, but I disagree with the notion. I do appreciate the explanation though, always been curious why people thought that. But, all it takes to cycle a tank is a very small amount of ammonia. Something to actually kick start it. And if you have Live Rock and Live Sand, with any amount of die off on it, you don't even have to add a source of ammonia. Running a skimmer can actually help by reducing the amount it has to process/consume before stabilizing. When it stabilizes and you have an amount of bacteria to handle the amount of waste in the tank, and the waste level drops, you have a bacteria die off. When it dies off, you see a spike (mini-cycle). The same thing happens when you add new fish, new corals, new cuc, new live sand, new live rock. The only difference is how much of a spike you are going to have but you will have a spike.

Since you are going to have a spike either way, why not run the skimmer, let it break in, and be ready when the fish go on? I just don't agree with the notion is all.

 

My problem is that I can not tell where the water level is because the skimmer is made of dark plastic. I do have 6 bioballs in it do you think I need more.

 

Instead of trying to adjust the water level up to where you want it, adjust it down to there. Close the gate valve until you see the water in the neck, then adjust it down to where you want it.

 

i had a downdraft reef devil just like yours let me tell you i hated that thing. it was a piece of ****. i would ditch and get a coralife super skimmer like i did easily out performed it by 20x.

i really hope you get yours to work, and dont have to buy a new one, but i never got it to work right even after 3 years. that skimmer is the bane of my existence.

the best mod for your skimmer is a recreation of this scene but with your skimmer. keep the pump as those SOB's at reef devil didnt make it.

 

Lol, I love that scene. I will see how the skimmer does once I get fish in there. If it does not work I guess I will look for a new one and yes I am going to keep the pump if that happens. Does anyone know of any other skimmers that could use a mag 7 pump?

 

i would probably recommend a needle wheel skimmers, as i dont see many lower priced skimmers that work that dont use a needle wheel.

 

Yeah I have been looking at the ASM G2 and the Turboflotor Blue 1000 which they have for 150 bucks on doctor foster and smith.

 

Excellent. There you go.......

 

I like the idea