AquaC CLUB! - Page 30

M peacock · #**726** 05/27/2006, 12:39 AM

if i join the aqua c club do you think my skimmer would reward me with a cup of scum

ill try anything!

tatoofr · #**727** 05/27/2006, 05:24 AM

Hi all,
First I want to thank everyone for your help.
Its still not dialed in right, but it does seem to be running in the right direction.
Just cant seem to get it right, its either to dry where it never builds up to the cup or toooooo wet where it overflows.
I really dont know what to try next.
If I turn the air down it does make some nice thick foam but it never makes it to the neck of the skimmer, if I give it a little more air to help push it up it gets too wet and dies.
Im thinking of putting my old skimmer back on but I really like this skimmer and im going to hang in there a while longer.

printedpaper · #**728** 05/27/2006, 09:16 AM

What type of plumbing do you have from the pump to the skimmer and how long is it. The clear vinal tubbing made a differance on mine vs PVC. Also keep the tubing as short as possible. Is your injector clean how about the air valve, the air valve will get cloged up with salt. Mark

tatoofr · #**729** 05/27/2006, 12:54 PM

Hi,
The skimmer is plumbed sitting next to the sump with the gate valve through a bulkhead into the sump. The pump is connected to a mag 7 with about a foot and a half of tubeing. Everything is clean.
Frank

flyingpolarbear · #**730** 05/27/2006, 01:42 PM

Frank, you mentioned that when it makes nice thick foam it never makes it to the cup. How high does the foam get? With the ideal air setting in my EV-180, the foam rests about 3/4 up the riser. Then it seems, usually when I am not looking, it produces a nice skimmate with coffee consistency.

The tiny bubbles in this foam head recirculate amongst themselves, finally until enough waste builds up, pushing it further into the cup. But this process takes time, and it will happen suddenly, when it breaks the threshold it spills over into the cup, then the foam level drops back down.

If you adjust it so that the bubbles are always popping near the cup then it will have big dilute overflows. The ideal setting instead is where the tiny bubbles have time to mix amongst themselves and slowly build an increasingly larger froth. Because this takes time and then the rise happens suddenly, it is tricky to adjust.

I have the EV-180 with the Eheim 1262, one pump size up from the recommended pump. You also have one pump size stronger, the EV-120 with the Mag 7. So I am guessing you have enough flow.

One part that you have different from my setup is that you have the gate valve through a bulkhead. This could add extra distance to the water output adding more friction, equivalent to closing the output gate valve a bit. I removed my gate valve allowing the water to flow with minimal resistance so I could use the pump at max output, so I don't have to put a ball valve on the pump output.

A couple questions,

1. How much do you have to close the gate valve so that the water level is near the top of the external box, or an inch above the external box? With the ideal pump flow (and especially since you might already have a bit of output resistance with the extra bulkhead) you shouldn't have to close it very much, if at all.

2. How high in the riser does the foam rest when you close the air to get the fine bubbles? If it is half way up the riser, you might try leaving it like this a few hours, give it time to see how high it can make it.

Put some food, bioplankton, etc in the tank, and then check whether the foam head makes it to the top a few hours after feeding. Mine initially drops from the food oils but then quickly removes the waste an hour later. In this way the AquaC tends to do the job in spurts rather than continuously.

Keep in mind the air valve only allows coarse adjustments. The perfect spot is hard to dial in because if you move the air valve enough to make it move, sometimes you've already turned it too far! I discovered this when I changed my setting recently. I have to go back and forth several times before I found the setting that I had before. AquaC should replace this with an air valve that allows finer adjustment.

I guess that you should be able to get your setup tuned eventually because you get overflows with too much air. In that case it is just a matter of using this coarse adjustment to find the precision setting for dry foam.

wuelfman · #**731** 05/27/2006, 02:28 PM

hey frank
i would try the following
turn up the air
turn down the water level if you can.
you should end up the same water level in the skimmer but more air mixing in.
it shouold pull crud out with a higher air mix
i did have problem on mine till i put a more powerful pump on it
i dont have a problem with skimming after feeding and my hands in the tank now

tatoofr · #**732** 05/27/2006, 02:38 PM

Hi flyingpolarbear,
The foam gets up to about 3/4 up to the riser.( about an 1 1/2 below the cup).
I dont have to close the gate valve much to get the water level up to the top of the box. 4 full turns maybe.
When I close the air to get finer bubbles , the foam rests maybe a couple of inches up the riser.
I just checked it and it is starting to pull out some gunk, not to dark, more like a light brown so maybe its right and starting to kick in.
One thing I did just notice the bubbles for some reason have gotten a lot finer, I dont know why but they are the smallest I ve seen?
Thanks,
Frank I'll keep you posted

tatoofr · #**733** 05/27/2006, 02:43 PM

Hi wuelfman,
I tried that yesterday,
Nothing but wet foam over flowing.
Sometimes no foam at all.

flyingpolarbear · #**734** 05/27/2006, 02:45 PM

Hey Frank it sounds like it is getting closer! Try raising the water level to one inch above the external box with the gate valve, with the same restricted fine-air setting. This time instead of going up to 3/4 of the riser maybe it will reach the top. That's all you need. The smaller the bubbles, the better. Small bubbles = more surface area for skimming. Large bubbles just cause bubble troubles. Light brown skimmate is a good sign. I like a setting that makes a dark coffee color (even less air, more concentrated).

When the setting is right, sometimes you will see thick foam reaching 3/4 up the riser, other times (usually when not looking) a stable foam will reach into the cup. Then it drops back down when the nutrient level drops as a result of this skimming.

tatoofr · #**735** 05/27/2006, 03:04 PM

Hi,
I think im getting close and understand how to set this skimmer now. Aqua c needs better directions. They also told me to keep the air wide open at all times and adjust everything with the water level. Big headache!
Im looking for that deep dark dry skimmate.
Im going to leave it the way it is for a day, because im happy its finally doing something.
One thing, once I get this skimmer set, will it need constant fiddling all the time to get it to work?
thanks,

djtodd · #**736** 05/27/2006, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by tatoofr
Hi,
I think im getting close and understand how to set this skimmer now. Aqua c needs better directions. They also told me to keep the air wide open at all times and adjust everything with the water level. Big headache!

If you're using the reccomended pump, thats the way to do it. Once you start "overdriving" it, it's a wee bit more tricky.

I dunno, I'm still running my 180 with the MAG7, and it still skims like a champ. Here's 24 hours on the "stock" setup.

The only adjustments made was to close the gate valve about 1/2 a turn.

printedpaper · #**737** 05/27/2006, 03:24 PM

Frank What is your bio load? Mark

tatoofr · #**738** 05/27/2006, 03:26 PM

Heavy,
Lots of fish and corals.

flyingpolarbear · #**739** 05/27/2006, 03:40 PM

The recommended size pump seems to work for some people, but others have problems with the standard setup. I couldn't get it working for two weeks until I experimented with an Eheim 1262 with the fine-bubble style of tuning. I shared my method with Jason, the owner of AquaC, so then he tried it at the factory, and said that this fine-bubble tuning method works great.

I think it also depends on how you want the skimmer to behave. The standard setup is less predictable and doesn't work for everyone (for a mysterious reason I haven't figured out). The fine-bubble method with an overdrive pump produces more consistent foam similar to a needle wheel skimmer.

(It really is a mystery why the standard setup does not work for everyone. It would be interesting if someone could find out why this is so. Is it some kind of manufacturing variation? A substance produced by corals in some but not all reef tanks?)

wuelfman · #**740** 05/27/2006, 04:33 PM

cool glad its getting better for u

robsmith32 · #**741** 05/27/2006, 07:33 PM

there's a lot more to these than the skimmer itself settings, and pump.. orientation of where it is located, and what water is getting to it varies what it will do dramatically.

djtodd · #**742** 05/28/2006, 12:02 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by robsmith32
there's a lot more to these than the skimmer itself settings, and pump.. orientation of where it is located, and what water is getting to it varies what it will do dramatically.

Yeah, in all fairness my MAG7 is getting raw surface skimmed water and is only on a 12" length of flex hose. It's probably ideal for the skimmer. Next month it'll have it's own chamber in th sump so that the raw water can't even get away.

CaptainCoral · #**743** 05/28/2006, 11:06 PM

Quote:

One thing, once I get this skimmer set, will it need constant fiddling all the time to get it to work?

Nope!

In fact, that is exactly one of the things I like so much about it. (for example, unlike the easily clogged venturi air intakes) I like to clean mine out every three days, but if I'm extra busy (or lazy) sometimes I'll go seven days before cleaning and It just keeps on skimming.

There should be a moment of clarity after getting it set and working. After understanding it's mannerisms, duplicating the results is easy and painless.

tatoofr · #**744** 05/31/2006, 09:48 AM

Hello everyone,
Just to give you a update, the skimmer is working pretty good now. Its pulling out a nice brown scum.
One thing I noticed is that if I remove the cover to the collection cup it seems to pull out a thicker dry foam on a more constant basis.
When I replace the cover the foam dies quite a bid.
I do have a waste container, and I do feel air pushing through it.
Thank you,
Frank

wuelfman · #**745** 05/31/2006, 10:12 AM

nice !!!how bout a nice brown scuzy picture

Nathan · #**746** 05/31/2006, 02:37 PM

tatoofr,

I'm going to have to try that.

-Nathan

tatoofr · #**747** 05/31/2006, 02:41 PM

Nathan,
Not that I want to run it with the cover off, ( stinks ), wanted to know why this happens? Back pressure?
Frank

mburnickas · #**748** 05/31/2006, 04:56 PM

I was going to ask them same

If the drain tube is 100% clear, why in the world would it matter? That is the billion dollar question.

Oh, was the hose end under water (in the container?)

tatoofr · #**749** 05/31/2006, 05:09 PM

No, the hose end is not.
Frank

CaptainCoral · #**750** 05/31/2006, 06:06 PM

Yeah, I've experienced this phenomenon also. I have designed waste collectors that have a 3 or 4 inch hole on top (lined with fiberglass window screen) I havn't actually built one yet because I'm busy with other things, but the Idea was to have a thin layer of carbon over a large hole to keep the air flowing like it should. (I've found that a normal waste collectors carbon bag gets wet and clogged within hours impeding air flow and performance.