so I bought a seaclone skimmer

[ajm]

So I made the mistake of buying a sea-clone skimmer about a month and a half ago when I started my tank because I didnt know better. To this day I still have not had ANY sort of foam collect. I the manual says the little airvalve should be open 3/4 - 1 1/2 turn. I cant even open it up about a quarter turn before it starts making the GRRR GRRR GRRR GRRR sound from the air and bubbles are entering the tank. Anyone have some sort of suggestion as to how to get this thing to work. And...no buying a new one isnt an option. I dont have the money right now.

[squibley2]

I have one that I run on my 20Gal nano and it does the job on a small tank. I would stop by petsmart or something similar and get a better control valve for the air intake, should only be a couple bucks. Then open the valve all the way while the skimmer is running and then start closing it slowly just until the air pocket in the top of the intake tube gets pushed down into the chamber. The bubbles in the tank are caused by the flow being too high so opening up the air valve further and allowing more air into the skimmer will produce more foam and stop the bubble problem.

[ajm]

Thanks. I have to go to the pet store tomorrow for some cat stuff so ill pick up one of those valves. Hopefully itll work.

[subzero420]

Seaclones are loud. Also Ive heard a airline with a wooden airstone at the bottom of skimmer helps skimming a lot. As soon as you can though I would get a new skimmer. Dont feel to bad I bought one also.

[ajm]

I gave the air pump + stone thing a try just now. As I did have time to get one of those air valves from petsmart this weekend. Nearly as soon as I put the airstone in bubbles started to snake up "tube" in the middle of the collector and into the collection area around it and kept on comming fairly quick. Is this normally how fast this should happen?

[swashbuckler]

i tried the airstone thing- didnt work b/c all it did was pull out water...

save up for something better instead of trying to mod this thing

[RichConley]

The main problem with the seaclown, is the maxijet venturi is awful. Its about 85 times more restrictive than it needs to be, and the pump just sits there cavitating. You need to restrict the air so that some water actually moves through the pump

[Big Boy69]

Open the air valve all the way.
SLOWLY start shutting the valve until you see a big water bubble go down the tube. You should be good right in that area.

[bebitte70]

Something I did after I realized it's a piece of...
Remove the foam on the inlet of the pump and that black plastic piece that goes in the pump, the sides (where the water enters) are not big enough. Just dremel a little bit wider so more water can enter. The result is more water goes in and it's easier for the foam to exit.

Cheers.

[SnowboardKid26]

take out the impeller and drill one small hole in each blade. it will skim 1000x better.

[saltyESQ]

my dog stole my foam and airline tubing section for my seaclone and I think he buried it........thats where it belongs.