Ready to blow up my skimmer plz help

[Acronic]

I have a coralife superskimmer 220 on a 75gal with 30 gallon sump. I know I know its a P.O.S but i bought it for $60 and cant afford to buy a new one right now. I cant get it to do its job well, the bubble production is ok and it is skimming a bit but not optimal. Are there any tricks im missing. ive read the manual front to back and back again... plz help me get this thing working till i can afford a better one.

[Sisterlimonpot]

what I found to be a flaw with the corallife SS is that the adapter that plugs into the pump (that goes to the skimmer) needs to be really in there (air tight... you have to put some muscle behind it), otherwise your defeating the purpose of the needle wheel. then you will get great bubbles. like I said, I think it's a design flaw. but after you get that working right then it's the adjusting to get the level in the skimmer right. they are real touchy. I put a gate valve on mine for fine tuning and I have no problems with my corallife 250 on my 125g. it fills up with the stinkiest skimmate in about 3-4 days.

edit: and that's why I'm still waiting to hear what the exact problems with the corallifes are....

[Henry Bowman]

Keep it as clean as possible especially the pump and set it to skim wet. Start saving for a new one.

[mutateddogbone]

i use a coralife 220 and mine works great. i did do a few mods to it though. first off bore out the venturi air intake, and i did the fishline mod to the needle wheel.

take 8lb fishing line and tie loose knots every centimeter or so. the start near the middle of the impellar and go in circles around the needle wheel going over and under each of the spokes. when you make about 4 circles around the wheel then tie into a tight not. make sure you have tension on the line while you're wrapping. should look something along these lines

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/mutateddogbone/fishlinemod.jpg

i also dose vodka and have a heavily stocked tank and no nitrates

[Acronic]

Ok great thanks guys. What do you mean when you say bore out the venturi air intake, I understand the concept but how would i go about doing this?

[Zebodog]

Some of the instructions packaged with the Super Skimmers were misleading - they suggested keeping the pump intake 8"-10" below the waterline which isn't optimal. You'll want to get that pump 2"-3" below the waterline. Make sure the water level that the pump is in remains constant.

As previously mentioned a gate valve will make life much easier, although not necessary to get decent production. I found that keeping the micro bubbles just at the bottom (grey) of the collection cup worked well.

With some patience and tweaking you'll find this to be a good skimmer.

[Sisterlimonpot]

agreed, I had to move the pump just below the water line to get the best bubbles.

[mutateddogbone]

by boring out i mean taking a power drill and drill out the venturi to a larger inside hole with a drill bit slightly larger than the hole already is. and as prev. stated it works best with a constant water height and having the pump as close to the surface with it still being underwater. approx 1-2" is best