DAS skimmer club

[DugJ]

It runs great with the air cut down slightly with the RO tubes. However, after cleaning the cup, plugging the pumps back in sometimes causes the foam to overflow into the cup, which I find odd because it foams higher without making any adjustments other than turning the pumps off to clean the cup. Makes me worry slightly that if the power goes out a restart might cause an overflow. I'm slowly dialing back the water level in the skimmer. I'm trying to find the perfect setting, so I can forget about messing with it. How often is everyone greasing the O-ring? I've only cleaned the cup twice and I've had to lube the ring in order to stop leaking.

[DarG]

Originally posted by DugJ
It runs great with the air cut down slightly with the RO tubes. However, after cleaning the cup, plugging the pumps back in sometimes causes the foam to overflow into the cup, which I find odd because it foams higher without making any adjustments other than turning the pumps off to clean the cup. Makes me worry slightly that if the power goes out a restart might cause an overflow. I'm slowly dialing back the water level in the skimmer. I'm trying to find the perfect setting, so I can forget about messing with it. How often is everyone greasing the O-ring? I've only cleaned the cup twice and I've had to lube the ring in order to stop leaking.

I dont think the ro water tubes do anything to restirct the air flow. The inside diameter of those tubes is probably larger than the ID of the air barb on the pumps themselves. Just a thought. You may want to add air valves or insert something with a slightly smaller ID than the air intake nipple on the pumps to see if that helps you fine tune the skimmer.

The O-ring needs to be completely clean as well as the groove on the skimmer that it sits in. Grit or other particles of stuff can prevent a complete seal. The Stock O-ring tends to stretch which also makes it harder to get a good seal. Anyway, I lubricate mine probably every other cleaning with a tiny amount of lube. I clean it and the groove first.

I posted a while back that I do have some replacement O-rings that I bought extra of when I bought mine. I got the extras in order to be able to supply a few people here who need replacements figuring I could save them a few bucks on shipping for a couple of 25 cent O-rings. Anyway, if you need or want a couple of replacements, shoot me a PM. $3.25 deposit in my pay pal account covers the cost my costs ... bubble mailer, shipping/mailing costs, paypal fees and the 2 replacement O-rings. I'm breaking even, not trying to make a profit here. So if you or anyone else needs a couple for the Ex-1 or EX-2 ... pm me.

[frazier]

does the EX-3 have the same size o ring?

[DarG]

EX-2 is larger neck and O-ring than EX-1. I'm pretty sure the EX-3 neck is larger than the EX-2.
So no, I dont think they use the same O-ring.

[PaintGuru]

Question...I'm thinking of putting in a remote DSB outside of my tank. What if I ran the output from my DAS (EX-1) to the DSB bucket? What would the added backpressure (small as it may be) do to my skimmer's performance? I'm just trying to prevent adding another MJ to my setup.

[gnatp2]

Sounds like pretty much everyone has been using mj 1200 pumps as their feed pumps for the DAS EX2. I was using the mag 5 pump and moved to the mj1200 pump and have more consistent bubble levels in the skimmer. From my experience, this is a much better feed pump for the DAS EX2

Nate

[treny]

I have great luck with no pumps at all!!

[petedoc]

Me too, just direct flow from the overflow line.

[DugJ]

Are you guys getting a consistent bubble size in the neck of the skimmer? Do the bubbles run smaller with more air then?

[DarG]

It's normal to see a few larger bubbles streaming up through the microbubbles in the neck, but yes, the bubble size is overall consistent. But I think that the bubble size is a little bit smaller overall with the air throttled back a littel bit. I have both my pumps valved down a little bit so they are drawing just about 5 LPM or a little less. The top of the indicator bead of my Dwyer air guage is right at or a hair above the 5 LPM line.

[jman77]

Direct feed from the overflow is always best... one less pump which = less heat & electricity used

You get that dirty overflow water directly fed to the skimmer.

[burton14e7]

I had to restrict the flow from my mj1200 a lot. It was overflowing the skimmer cup. Is that just normal first time usage? I have the air valves set to 1 o'clock.

[Bud's Reef]

I started using a MJ1200 on my EX-2 and also had to really restrict the flow so I changed to a MJ900 a couple of days ago which still needed to be restricted somewhat. It may be coincidence since I made some other changes to my system at the same tme, but the skimmer is pulling much darker, heavier gunk now.

[jman77]

"Is that just normal first time usage? "

no , the MJ 1200 is an over kill, as is the 900 it seems.

[gnatp2]

Originally posted by DarG
It's normal to see a few larger bubbles streaming up through the microbubbles in the neck, but yes, the bubble size is overall consistent. But I think that the bubble size is a little bit smaller overall with the air throttled back a littel bit. I have both my pumps valved down a little bit so they are drawing just about 5 LPM or a little less. The top of the indicator bead of my Dwyer air guage is right at or a hair above the 5 LPM line.

wow. 5 lpM??? I'm jealous. I'm only getting 2.5 on my dwyer. I've tried cleaning the pumps and all and can't get it above 2.5.

the mj1200 doesn't seem like overkill at all to me. I'm only throttling it back a little, but this may be a function of only getting 2.5 LPM of air through each pump.

[warr40]

Hey guys i got my Ex-1 running on my 40B with a total system volume of 80g

This pic is the day after adding the rock and sand.




I have one issue though...to get the water line that a lot of people recommend i have to put a valve on the output and nearly close it all the way, so much that the water just trickles out......is it b.c the way i plumbed the skimmer, if so how should i do it.
-I really dont want to do a feed pump b/c i feel the overflow method is more efficient.

This is how i have the skimmer plumbed

[DarG]

Originally posted by gnatp2
wow. 5 lpM??? I'm jealous. I'm only getting 2.5 on my dwyer. I've tried cleaning the pumps and all and can't get it above 2.5.

the mj1200 doesn't seem like overkill at all to me. I'm only throttling it back a little, but this may be a function of only getting 2.5 LPM of air through each pump.

Something has got to be wrong with your meter as I doubt both pumps could have a problem. The aquabee pumps on the das are rated to pull about 8 LPM ... 500 LPH. I measured them and they will pull that with the water level in the skimmer down so that it is just above the pumps outlets. With the water level higher, up where the black abs cone starts (with the recirc. pumps shut off), they pull about 6 LPM. Check your air flow meter. I guess it could possibly be something with the pumps, but both pumps with the same, low, air draw ... just doesnt seem very likely.

[DugJ]

Does anyone run their water level in the skimmer lower than the black bayonet? My cup fills in just a few hours with a very clear wet skim if I have it set at the bayonet. Currently I have the water level about an inch below the bayonet, anybody else experiencing this?

[DarG]

Originally posted by DugJ
Does anyone run their water level in the skimmer lower than the black bayonet? My cup fills in just a few hours with a very clear wet skim if I have it set at the bayonet. Currently I have the water level about an inch below the bayonet, anybody else experiencing this?

My water is right at or maybe just a hair below where the black ABS meets the clear cylinder. You may want to try some air valves. Like I mentioned before, those pieces of ro tubing are probably not restricting airflow at all because they most likely have a larger ID than the air intake stems on the pumps themselves.

[Ding2daDong]

An update with my DAS ex-1. It has been pulling tons of skimmate and I have it tuned for more of a dry skimmate so every 5 days to a week this is what I have been cleaning.



yummmm


-Matthew

[DugJ]

The ID of the RO tubing is about 70% the size of the airline tubing, I'll take some photos when I get home tonight. I guess I'm confused as to why you would want to limit the air draw on the pumps too much.

[DarG]

The restriction is going to be at the point with the smallest inside diameter. I am not talking about ID of the RO tubing being smaller than that of the flexible air line. I am talking about the little stems on the pumps that the other end of the airline tubing slides over. If the ID of these stems is smaller than the ID of the ro tubing then the RO tubing isnt doing anything to further restrict the air. If the id of these stems is smaller than that of the little ro tubes you inserted innthe airlines, then they arent helping to restrict the air any more than leaving the air lines wide open. In other words, IF the little intake stems have a smaller ID than your RO tubing, you arent further limiting the air at all.

Skimmate production and quality is fine tuned by a combination of flow rate through the skimmer (turnover), water level in the skimmer and air flow. You can have the water level at a certian level and if you have too much air you can skim too wet or have overflows of clear water. Whereas, reducing the air a little bit you can get a darker/dryer skimmate with no overflows. The more air, the higher the bubble break point in the neck and if it gets too high it will overskim. So it's a combination of air flow and water level height. It seems that the bubble size may be a little smaller and/or the balance of water level with air flow may be a little better for skimming with these skimmers with the air valved down a little bit. Some users run it wide open but it seems that most are restricting air a little bit allowing a little bit higher water level in the skimmer and getting better skimming like that rather than lowering the water level and running air wide open.

Whatever the case, if you are having issues wioth overskimming you either need to lower the water level or decrease the air (or both). Since I have a feeling that the ID of the RO tubing may be larger than the ID of the pumps air intake stem, I'm suggesting you check that and if so, realize that you are not reducing the air with the ro tubing inserts (and if you are, it's possibly not enough) and to try using a pair of the valves instead.

[DugJ]

I had completely forgotten about the venturi itself. Thank you for making me aware of this oversight. With valves, do I want the bubble breaking point halfway up the neck within the collection cup? And when adjusting the breaking point, is that something I should adjust right after plugging the pumps in, or do I wait?

[DarG]

You should be able to judge the breaking point as soon as the level stabilizes after you plug the skimmer back in. But if you just fed or had your hands in the tank or some other maintenence that normally affects skimmer performance, then you would need to wait a while for things to stabilize.
But as a ball park, with the stock valves ... if you set the water level in the skimmer with the recirc pumps off (or the air blocked) to right where the black ABS "cone" meets the clear body and then let the air flow and adjust the air valves so the indicator is at about 1 or 2 oclock, that should get you in the ballpark. From there you can raise or lower water level and/or reduce or increase air to dial the skimmer in. I would play with the water level first to adjust the skimmate and just leave the air valves at about 1 or 2 oclock. But you can adjust both to fine tune, just make one adjustment at a time, a little bit at a time. Just use the starting water level and air valves at 1 or 2 oclock as a baseline and go back to that if you think you need to start from scratch at any point. After complete break in and once you get a feel for the skimmer it's all really easy. These skimmers are pretty tame overall and it's really not too hard to get a handle on them. They really arent very fussy at all.

[DugJ]

Would the TLF valves work for air control?