Berlin Skimmer Help

The_Equalizer · #1 04/16/2003, 05:43 PM

I just picked up Berlin skimmer and noticed that there are hardly any bubbles when i turn it on is this normal or should there be a lot of water movement in the chamber.

Sullyman · #2 04/16/2003, 06:01 PM

What type of skimmer is it? There should be lots of water movement in the chamber, tons of bubbles too. Is it in a sump or hang on, or free standing? what type of pump is feeding it? need more info to try and help.

The_Equalizer · #3 04/16/2003, 06:13 PM

Berlin 25 - 250 skimmer in sump with a rio 2100 pump to drive it.

Sullyman · #4 04/16/2003, 06:20 PM

Is it a new skimmer? The rio should be adequate to feed it, so if your bubbles are few, better check/clean the venturi. If you look at another thread in this forum you'll see about the veturi modification that makes a big improvement, but if it's not bubbling now, the venturi in the unit needs to be cleaned. Do you have the air feed hose screw open all the way?

RandomChaos · #5 04/16/2003, 06:25 PM

If you have the newer one, the venturi tube connects to the Gray knob on the pump, and use that know to adjust air intake.

Make sure you have that in there correctly, should work like a champ.

FWIW

The_Equalizer · #6 04/16/2003, 06:28 PM

Its a used one and do you happen to know the title of the venturi mod forum

The_Equalizer · #7 04/16/2003, 06:33 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by RandomChaos
If you have the newer one, the venturi tube connects to the Gray knob on the pump, and use that know to adjust air intake.

Make sure you have that in there correctly, should work like a champ.

FWIW

A newer pump or skimmer ??

Sullyman · #8 04/16/2003, 06:34 PM

I'm sorry it's in the reef discussion forum. read it and it has all the info you need for the modification. The skimmer should work without the modification though so clean the venturi, also take the air feed hose and put the end of it into hot water while the skimmer is running, it should suck the hot water through and clear the line out, possibly clean the ventiri too. that may be the problem as you need to do that once every couple of weeks.

The_Equalizer · #9 04/16/2003, 07:09 PM

Is this enough bubbles

moodytj · #10 04/16/2003, 07:12 PM

No. It should be filled with millions of tiny bubbles.

The_Equalizer · #11 04/16/2003, 07:14 PM

How do i fix it then ive done just about everything i can think of cleaned the air tube. I cont know how to take it apart to get to the venturi so i used a pipe cleaner.

Summitpa · #12 04/16/2003, 07:15 PM

That looks like freshwater. Skimmers don't work very well (if at all) with freshwater.

The_Equalizer · #13 04/16/2003, 07:22 PM

It is freshwater i was flushing it.

moodytj · #14 04/16/2003, 07:27 PM

Try it in the salt water now it might be cleaned out. Skimmers do not work properly in fresh water as summitpa said.

Alberio · #15 04/16/2003, 07:47 PM

Thank you for serving our country.

The RIO 2100 is NOT adequate for the skimmer you have. I have the exact same skimmer. The best pump for it is the MAG 7. A MAG 5 is ok too if you have one. But if you're buying new go for the 7. It's about 3 more dollars.

Do you have tubing coming from your venturi? The venturi has to have an air source. If it's underwater the skimmer will not function. There should be so many bubbles in your bubble chamber that it looks like it's full of milk.

Once you have the right pump, the Berlin is a very good skimmer.

Good luck, PM or email me if you have any other questions.

mjd

PS. It won't work in Fresh Water. Those bubbles were way to big and way to few. There are millions of bubbles when it's working properly. Maybe even billions :-)

Sullyman · #16 04/16/2003, 08:35 PM

The Berlin venturi is located at the base of the skimmer, where the water intake is, where the line from your rio enters the base of the skimmer. You'll have to take the fitting off to get to the venturi, you can use a coin to unscrew the venturi and clean it, then use your pipe cleaner to clean further into the skimmer, put it back together and it should function. I ran mine with a rio 2500 for 2 years, so it will work with the 2100, not as effectively, but it shold make enough bubbles to skim. A more powerful pump will make it better, but get it to work first. That's the first step, after it's bubbling enough then the fun starts as you will have to play with it to get it to foam up and over into the waste collection cup, usually requires a little back pressure on the return lines. First get it bubbling up then move on to the next step.

The_Equalizer · #17 04/16/2003, 09:48 PM

Thanks for all your help everyone it works great once i actually put it in salt water lol dumb me

Alberio · #18 04/17/2003, 06:59 AM

Glad your skimmer works.

When your Rio burns out (it will), replace it with a Mag!

Good luck,

mjd

otolith · #19 04/17/2003, 10:33 AM

One other thing you can do is hook up an air pump to the air intake line. Also make sure the little bolt that holds the air line open is not compressing the tubing. If you do hook up an airpump, be sure you can adjust it so it doesn't end up overskimming. And remember, be sure to run some hot water through the venturi every other week or so.