EV-180 Protein Skimmer Driving Me Nuts!

[bluephoenix]

Ok so it's been 5+ weeks with my new EV-180 skimmer from Aqua-C and still no gunk in the collection cup. I would say this is a VERY frustrating skimmer to dial in to say the least.

The directions say to use a mag 700 pump or equiv. which I did. It also says to keep the water level at the top of the grey box, which it is. And I got nothing..... Well about half an inch of foam. So in my book that's nothing.

I have tried raising the water level in the tube and it did spill some bubbles over into the cup but stopped shortly after and has not skimmed anything since.

Now I have installed an ozinizer to help break down organics in the water and low and behold my readings were 49 for the water. Basically my fish are swimming in the east river. So threre is something to skim in the water, I just know it.

I wanted to see if anyone else bought this skimmer and what they had to do to get it to work right. Currently I have it soft plumbed outside the sump for the input and hard plumbed on the return. Water level in the sump is lower than the skimmer return and there is no back pressure issues. With the edition of the ozinizer I have added airpumps to the air intake. No super violent bubble issues.

Please help..... :uzi: :beer:

[rreddick]

Interesting,
I have an EV400 on my 180 with no problems. So the discharge pipe is horizontal out of the skimmer body, into the gate valve, then a 90 into the sump? I did not need to do much to dial mine in. Set the internal water level to just below the top of the skimmer body, just about to where the clear tube meets it. If you are not injecting ozone direct into the ozone port, then cap this off. My air valve would get caked with salt inside after about 48 hours , I extended this up about 10 inches and run the valve wide open. I get about 1qt of dark muddy crap a day. So I would check to make sure the air valve is not cakes up inside with salt creep. One other note, it, as most skimmers want very constant pressure/water level comming in via the pump. It your sump level changes in the pump pick up chamber it will effect the performance alot.

Ron

[bluephoenix]

Here is the plumbing

I have a mag 700 with 5/8 tubing going into the water intake.

I think your skimmer is a little different than my model. It has a john guess fitting for the air valve. I now have a plug in it to quick fit flex tubing from my ozonizer. I also have a whisper pump on the front end of the ozinizer to push everything through.

The return is hard plumbed level back into the sump through a bulkhead with 1 inch pipe.

There is a bubble escape issue that needs to be taken care of but I figure placing a filterbag over the hole should eliminate that problem.

With this injection model it seems that there is a 1% chance to get it dialed in right. I guess that is the drawback of injection spray. If you cut water pressure air production is drastically reduced. Too much pressure and the water level goes past the suggested point. Very frustrating.

[jeffhaag]

I had no problems dialing in my EV240. I would recommend you unscrew the grey air inlet (with blue valve), give it a good cleaning (pipe cleaner and/or vinnegar), then reinstall it. I had an issue where debris got in it and although it seemed to be flowing air, it was not flowing enough. I fought problems for days trying to solve me lack of skimmate problem before I finally cleaned it. Once I cleaned it, the overflow cup nearly overflowed within 24 hours because I had adjusted so many other things out of wack trying to compensate. Just my $0.02

[Meisen]

Yeah nine times out of ten, its either the air intake getting clogged or the spray injector gumming up with calcium/snails/nerf etc. Also check that the pump is working properly. I have a 180 right now and it skims like nuts.

After that, try running a larger pump, even if you have to borrow one. I never got good results running the recommended pump size (although I did get skimmate). Be cautious how open you run it with a big pump though, it can spray skimmate around if you dont dial it in.

[MCary]

The mag7 is underpowered for the EV180. I have no idea why they continue to recommend it.

Here's what you do. First get a Mag9.5 or Eheim 1262. I have the Eheim and I like it better.

Then if you bought the one with the J Guest fitting, (for ozone or calcium reactor), you need to make sure its closed off or attached to your ozonator or Ca reactor. You don't want uncontroller air entering your skimmer Alot of people suggest that you have a ball valve between the unit and the pump to throttle back the bigger pump. That doesn't work for me, I just run mine wide open and use the air valve to controll the foam. I also have the gate valve wide open.

To adjust it, run everything wide open. At this setting you should get really wet foam. Then throttle back the air inlet valve until it is the dryness you desire. You should get a cup full of dark stuff every 3-5 days. Maybe faster in the beginning.

Mike