Bubble King Setup, Tuning and trouble shooting thread. Post your questions here!

[m0jjen]

Originally Posted by slief

Your fish load isn't all that high for that skimmer and the Clarisea is removing solids before they become dissolved which the skimmer would use to generate the foam head. between the relatively light load for the skimmer size and the clarisea, there isn't going to all that much dissolved organics for that skimmer to keep a good foam head. I would suggest running the skimmer at 10" and maybe bump the pump to 32 watts if closing the wedge pipe more than 1/2 way is needed to get the line where bubbles turn to foam is up to the base of the neck if not a little bit higher. Cleaning the pump might help but it's hard to say as I don't know how clean your pump is to begin with.

Unfortinatly it wont make much of a difference. When opening the wedge i get this:



10" deep
1/2 open
32w

Any suggestions?

[slief]

Originally Posted by m0jjen

Unfortinatly it wont make much of a difference. When opening the wedge i get this:

10" deep
1/2 open
32w

Any suggestions?

You are closing the wedge pipe to raise the level inside the skimmer. You may need to close it more. Still, you also need to give it time to settle in after making those adjustments. Without enough dissolved organics in the system, the skimmer will not be able to build good foam. Instead it just makes bubbles that burst at the surface instead of thicker foam. I would give it a day. You can try closing the wedge pipe a bit more or increasing the sump depth or increasing the wattage. It would also be worth taking the pump apart and doing a deep cleaning on it. Make sure there isn't any salt build up in the nozzles venturi port where the hose connects to the pump. Make sure the ozone port on the skimmer pump is capped off as well so it's not sucking water in through the 2nd venturi port (ozone port). Either way, your definitely lacking on dissolved organics.

[m0jjen]

Originally Posted by slief

You are closing the wedge pipe to raise the level inside the skimmer. You may need to close it more. Still, you also need to give it time to settle in after making those adjustments. Without enough dissolved organics in the system, the skimmer will not be able to build good foam. Instead it just makes bubbles that burst at the surface instead of thicker foam. I would give it a day. You can try closing the wedge pipe a bit more or increasing the sump depth or increasing the wattage. It would also be worth taking the pump apart and doing a deep cleaning on it. Make sure there isn't any salt build up in the nozzles venturi port where the hose connects to the pump. Make sure the ozone port on the skimmer pump is capped off as well so it's not sucking water in through the 2nd venturi port (ozone port). Either way, your definitely lacking on dissolved organics.

Was salt buildup in the venturi instantly started skimming at 32w halfway at 9" after cleaning

[broadwave]

So I've had my Double Cone 200 on my 190 gallon display reef (225 gal total volume) running for about a week... and it's produced some really gross smelling skimmate even running wide open at at 50 watts.

After reading this thread, I'm now running at 30 Watts, 1/2 closed and in 8" of water. bubbles breaking right at bottom of skimmer cup connection.

Will let it run over the weekend and post results at some point next week after the new setting has run a few days.

For fish, I have the following...

Large Blond Naso
(2) large purple tangs ... yes they get along.
(4) 3 stripe damsels
(4) Fiji Blue devils
Fairy Wrasse
(2) true Percula clowns
Flame Angel
Aptaisia File Fish

[slief]

Originally Posted by broadwave

So I've had my Double Cone 200 on my 190 gallon display reef (225 gal total volume) running for about a week... and it's produced some really gross smelling skimmate even running wide open at at 50 watts.

After reading this thread, I'm now running at 30 Watts, 1/2 closed and in 8" of water. bubbles breaking right at bottom of skimmer cup connection.

Will let it run over the weekend and post results at some point next week after the new setting has run a few days.

For fish, I have the following...

Large Blond Naso
(2) large purple tangs ... yes they get along.
(4) 3 stripe damsels
(4) Fiji Blue devils
Fairy Wrasse
(2) true Percula clowns
Flame Angel
Aptaisia File Fish

30w is better. 50w reduces contact time substantially and creates more turbulence. Contact time is important as it will result in more dense foam and better skimming efficiency. We don’t even run 50w in the 250 sized skimmers. Your load is relatively light for that skimmer so the skimmate output will likely taper off a bit once the skimmer catches up at which point you will likely want to raise the level inside the skimmer a tad to wetten the skim up for better consistency. Raising the sump depth to 8.5” will help with tuning from wet to dry so you don’t have to close the wedge pipe to much. It will also be less sensitive to wedge pipe adjustments with the sump depth a bit higher. Especially at your lighter load. Having it less sensitive will make it eaier to do subtle adjustments via the wedge.

[BAJA272]

Im not sure if this is the correct place to post this question, My supermarin 250 pump (speedy RD3 50) pump controller will not turn on. The controller started to take longer to light up after plugging in for about two months now. The electrical outlet is fine and there is no blockages and the impeller turns freely. do you have any suggestions?

[BAJA272]

By the way, I live in the Ft. Myers area.

[slief]

Originally Posted by BAJA272

Im not sure if this is the correct place to post this question, My supermarin 250 pump (speedy RD3 50) pump controller will not turn on. The controller started to take longer to light up after plugging in for about two months now. The electrical outlet is fine and there is no blockages and the impeller turns freely. do you have any suggestions?

PM sent.

[BAJA272]

PM responded to.