another freaking skimmer question

[sanababit]

hello guys, i have a 150 recirculation octopuss skimmer, running for about a month, i have it hooked up to my overflow box which is rated for 600gph, anyways, im not getting a lot of skimmate, i read instructions and it says to run 1.5 times the gallon capacity of tank thru the skimmer which is 46 gals+23gal=69 gph, but if i do this theres almost no water coming out of the return pipe of the skimmer, anyone out there with same setup, meaning you have a recirculating skimmer and you are moving water really slowly thru it???? if i run water slowly thru skimmer will i get more skimmate????, i tend to run it with the water level about 3 inches below from the top of tube going into collection cup, any ideas, hints, help, diagrams, calls, etc would be apreciated. thanks

sana

[sanababit]

anyone???

[an411]

I have a recirculating skimmer and I think that the more water that is ran through it the faster the water will go to the return pipe. I would try to adjust the venturi valve if you have one to where you get a wet skimmate which is very watery and then just tone it down till you get less watery skimmate. That is what I did to mine and its been working pretty good. I dont have the same exact skimmer I have a euro reef RC 180 but I figure that its gotta be the same procedure.

[luke33]

You can't have a real low water through. I'd suggest haveing around 150gph and see how that works. I run 250gph through my skimmer and it works very well like this. I did run significantly less(accidentally) and with 250 i get much more skimmate.

[Ryeseedboy]

You know Sanababit... I had the exact same question. Although I have a Octopus 110 Recirculating and also have it fed only buy the overflow and have also noticed that it does not seem that much water is being pumped through it. I have been trying to find out if I should add a in-line pump to push water through the skimmer instead of just letting gravity take its course. The overflow I have is rated for 600 gl per hour and I have it split going into my sump. Some goes into the refu and the balance goes through the skimmer. I have tried to reduce the amount of the split so very little goes through the refu and almost all is directed to the skimmer but that does not seem to change the amount that the skimmer pushes through.
Any one with experience, help would be greatly appreciated!!!
You know now that I think about it... Maybe it is becuase the feed going into the skimmer seems to be very narrow in diameter, so with the small feed that may be all that it will push through, will a pump help to push more through or will that make it not work the way that it is designed????