trying to improve skimmer performance

incase you were wondering about the bars behind my sump its a iguana cage.



for any parents out there don't get your kid a iguana nobody tells you they get over 4 feet long(zoo's don't take them). my fathers friend caught him in his back yard(lives down the street from aspca) when it was only 5 inches.

 

What is the 1/4" looking Polypropylene tubing for ? is that the proper size for the air induction ? My older model R/D had like a 5/16 or 3/8 inlet there . Also when was the las time you pulled it out and set it in a bucket or some Lime away or CLR stuff and ran it a few hrs to clean out the mixing chamber ? That should be done at least every six months . And what pump are you feeding it with ? has that been also soaked in something like mentioned above or at least vinegar has the impeller ever been replaced ? The Bio Balls ever been cleaned at least if the skimmer has never been soaked ?
What levels of Ca and DKH do you maintain ? And the fact that you said the air pump Mod made a difference just tells me the pump is weak and the balls and skimmer needs a good soaking and cleaning and a new or rebuild that old pump is a must and the pump should be a Mag 7 Minimum and a Mag 9.5 and control valve would be better. If spend more time maintaining then far less modding would be necessary . The air pump you have injecting air into the skimmer downdraft column would actually choke it out if that skimmer where cleaned and the pump replaced or repaired.

 

wow thats alot. that tubing is from the air pump and yes it has the inlet like what you said i just unscrewed it to put the air tube in. i have never soaked the skimmer. 2 times a year i rinse it out with just water. but i should try that lime away. the bioballs are clean. the pump was replaced 2 years ago with a mag 9.5 and i clean that once a year. my Ca is a little low running at 375(since my pump on the ca reactor burned out). don't know my dkh.

 

Well if you service that pump and skimmer every 6 months then you will see a huge difference , The hardness levels we run for a reef is like sand paper and will wear out a impeller and sand or grit will wear and score the shaft magnets pretty fast if not cleaned a checked over every so often. I ran ETSS skimmers for yrs still have a few , But your problem is lack of pump and hydrostatic pressure inside the skimmer.. I do mine at least twice a yr.. On the old style R/D I ran a Little giant 3MDQX to supply it with water.