Aqua-C EV180 Adjustment Question

[Rovert]

This is a question for those of you who own an Aqua-C skimmer.

I'm a relatively new owner of an EV-180 running off a Sen 700, and have been experimenting with the settings. I recently cleaned the injector after a tank move and noticed that a shell got caught in the nozzle because I'm not using any sort of prefilter.

Naturally, this has knocked my settings out of whack, but it raises the question of whether or not I had this thing working right in the first place, because of the blockage.

I find that I can get the foam adjustment right in one of two ways:

1) Turn the air down about 1/2 full open and keep the pump running full blast, which raises the water level about 1/2" above the internal baffle.

2) Throttle back the pump about 1/3 of its total output (I have a ball valve installed) and turn the air up, which puts the water level to about 1/2" (give or take) below the baffle.

Just curious to know what you guys who own this skimmer and pump combination have found to work best. Would you recommend the fully open pump and reduced air settings, or the reduced pump output and more air?

[wuelfman]

i have a 240 i run a mag 24 on it full blast and i have taken the air adjustment off. i run both full blast
water level sits at the start of the riser tube or right above it
sounds like yours is to low
i have a photo in my gallery

[gabe3d]

With all the pumps i've used on my EV180, i've always ran the pump full blast and adjusted the air intake. By the way, don't forget to clean the air intake valve as well. Mine always has a build up of salt. Didn't see you mention anything about the gate valve, do you just leave it open all the way?

[Rovert]

Yes, the gate valve is open all the way. When running the pump full open, the water level is ABOVE the internal baffle, not below it, so I didn't see a reason to mess around with that.

[gabe3d]

Sounds like you might have something impeding the output of the skimmer (plumbing or too submerged). I had a mag9.5 and quietone4000hh, both around 1000gph, and i always have to slightly close it to get good results. In my gallery i have a pic of the EV180 with a QuietOne4000HH and you can somewhat see how it is setup. You also can see that the air and gate valves are slightly closed.

HTH

[Rovert]

Or the opposite... maybe the pump I have is more powerful than is really necessary, and it's overtaking the design. The skimmer is raised about 6" above my sump, so that's not it - there's nothing impeding the flow out.

Another thing that happened in the last couple days, I added some carbon to the system, but didn't rinse it thoroughly, and some of the dust has been flowing into the tank. The skimmer has taken some of it out, but I'm wondering if there might not be a coating of it in the mixing box that is having some sort of effect.

I'll try to clean the air valve and see if that does anything. How often would you recommend this be done?

[wuelfman]

the air valve just unscrews. then clean with warm water, it usually clogs at the at the elbow part.
i would leave the pump wide open turn down the air. then from there you can open up the air as time goes on
the gate valve on the box is above the water line?

[Rovert]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9792097#post9792097 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by wuelfman
the air valve just unscrews. then clean with warm water, it usually clogs at the at the elbow part.
i would leave the pump wide open turn down the air. then from there you can open up the air as time goes on
the gate valve on the box is above the water line?
Well, actually I just sprayed the opening with some RO/DI water, rather than removing it.

Yes, the gate valve is about 2" above the water line. I'm using an old Amiracle wet/dry (removed the bioballs) as a sump, but the configuration of it has forced some design changes.

Sheesh. Dunnow why I didn't think to do this before. A picture is worth a thousand words. As you can see, the 'sump' is sectioned into three partitions. Rather than lose space to run carbon and reduce water volume in the middle section (where the bioballs used to be) by putting the skimmer in there, I moved the skimmer external to the sump.

The problem is that the pump pulls more water than my overflow can deliver. So I came up with this whacky arrangement that redirects just enough flow to the right hand compartment to keep the water level up. Yes, there's some 're-skimmed' water, but that's not a big deal. This arrangement is free-flowing... no back pressure at all, because the water level in the skimmer body doesn't change whether I have this 'T' on or off.

Turns out that the foam is getting more dense now. I think it had more to do with cleaning the nozzle than anything else.

This picture was taken three weeks ago, before I cleaned the nozzle:
http://www.gothammarketing.com/rck/images/tank/skimmer1.jpg
http://www.gothammarketing.com/rck/images/tank/skimmer2.jpg

[gabe3d]

Take a look at the AquaC club thread, a lot of helpful information about the skimmer.

During the 4 years i had the skimmer, my experience is that having anything connected after the gate valve impedes skimming performance. A common upgrade that people do to these skimmer is connecting a larger pump. The sen 700 (~700gph) is a little weak, people who uses thisskimmer usually recommend the Eheim 1262 (~900gph). I've tried 5 different pumps and ended up sticking with the QuietOne4000hh.

[Rovert]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9793697#post9793697 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by gabe3d
Take a look at the AquaC club thread, a lot of helpful information about the skimmer.

During the 4 years i had the skimmer, my experience is that having anything connected after the gate valve impedes skimming performance. A common upgrade that people do to these skimmer is connecting a larger pump. The sen 700 (~700gph) is a little weak, people who uses thisskimmer usually recommend the Eheim 1262 (~900gph). I've tried 5 different pumps and ended up sticking with the QuietOne4000hh.
I'll take a look at that thread.

One thing, though, I think you're mistaken about the pump. If the pump is powerful enough to raise the water level above the baffle, by inference, it's more than enough for the skimmer. The level of the water in the skimmer is the same whether or not the PVC after the gate valve is present.

So, if I already have a pump that I need to throttle back with a ball valve to reduce the internal water level, I don't know how a more powerful one is going to help matters any.

[gabe3d]

The purpose of getting a more powerful pump is to get more pressure from the injector nozel, not to bring the water higher (this is accomplished by the tuning the gate valve). If you compare the bubbles you have in your column with mine or wuelfman, you'll notice a significant difference in bubble size and density (this is due to a larger pump).

Here is the link to the AquaC thread.

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=9794147

[Rovert]

Sorry, I should have been more clear. The photos are from before my unit was broken in. I looked at the photos you both had up, and that's the way mine was working before I cleaned the injector. I'm beginning to think this has more to do with cleaning the nozzle and/or the possible carbon powder residue than anything else.

[gabe3d]

That's good to hear. I usually clean the nozel and the air intake every month, since it is so easy to detach from the body.