Skimmer working properly?

As some of you may know I purchased my first skimmer a little while ago, the Reef Octopus BH-100f.

I have it set up running on a tub of FW for now making sure there are no leaks or anything before I put it behind my tank. Question is I am not sure if it is running properly. The third media chamber is filled up right and the second chamber where the bubbles are made is filled up as well. There are minimal bubbles but enough where even with the FW the bubbles go into the tube of the collection cup when set at the lowest setting.

My question is the first chamber with the pump. It is not even filled halfway, in fact the water does not even completely cover the pump, almost the whole thing but is about 1/4inch short of covering it completely. Is this normal? It is consistently blowing bubbles into the second chamber but is a little noisy at it sounds like its spitting them (hard to describe) but I am thinking part of this is it being new and needing to break in and also being in FW and not SW. The pump is the newer version the OTP-1000 I think is what they called it not the old resun one that had problems.

 

It's just because it's in fresh and not salt. It should work in salt. Skimmers are used only in sw tanks for a reason lol. Your witnessing why. It's not doing anything lol

 

+1

Foam fractionating requires saltwater to create foam, not just bubbles.

 

But wouldnt the pump still suck enough FW into the 1st chamber to cover itself and produce lots of bubbles into the second chamber? I figured they would just pop a lot faster which would mean no foam.

 

I have no experience with that pump or skimmer bu if your problems still exist when u put it in salt, then you should be concerned. But just relax. Your pump is working, that's all that matters right now. Skimmers do not function in fw.

 

Thanks, I wasnt sure if I wasnt getting it primed appropriately or what. I guess I will throw it on the front of the tank to tinker with and see what happens

 

Yeah do that n let us know.

 

Try by priming it? close the air valve so no bubbles are being produced, it should allow the water to fill up in the chamber then let the air valve open, just my guess not sure if thats your problem.

Edit: Now that i think about it I believe this skimmer is made that way so that the pump is just barely covered by water, http://www.elegancereef.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=9&pos=585

 

thanks for all the help, when running mine looks like the one in the picture so I guess that must be how it is made since my pump chamebr is filled to exactly around that point! I did have a heck of a time priming it but eventually got it to work, jsut wasnt sure if it was done properly since the chamber was not full.

Is it normal for it to make the burping noises or is that because its new and needs broken in?
Also nice wall of white in that picture is that what I should expect after a little while or is that with a modification? Im thinking of only running the skimmer 12 hours a day since I am going to house softies and lps which I believe enjoy some nasties in the water as food.

 

OK I got some pictures to help. That burping sound if thats what you can call it I think was the pump trying to pump too much air into the water or something. I installed the little white valve on the other open port of the silencer so I can fine tune the amount of air going into the pump by twisting the valve, and the burping sound is gone and the bubbles are a more constant flow rather then a spitting pattern. The water level remains the same but it matches the picture in the link from cheesy guy so I am assuming I have it up and running properly just need to put it onto the tank!


And if the chamber isnt going to be full might as well hide all the tubing