ETSS 800 Help Please

[Medicine Man]

I own the ETSS 800 Pro and using a Pan World 150PS pump with it. I have owned it for 2 weeks and still cannot open the ball valve between the pump and the skimmer all the way without it overflowing within 20 minutes. This is an upgrade from the ETSS 600 with Iwaki 40RLT. The water level with the pump off is about 1-1 1/2" inside the black box (well below the red handled output valve). Is the pump too strong? The Pan World 150PS is the equivelant of the Iwaki 55RLT which is the recommended pump for this skimmer. Do you have any suggestions? I have heard that you can knock the flow down some by adding additional bioballs. Any truth to that? Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

[miketay89]

Try raising the skimmer up. I have an ETSS 1000 and it was easier for me to adjust when I had the entire skimmer above the water level in my sump.

[speedracer02]

^

[saltyfun]

I had the same problem till mine "kicked in".

I have mine above the water line of my wet/dry. I also heard that you can tie the two air inlets together and add a ball valve to control the skimmate.

I haven't had good luck with the production of alot of skimmate but I think I have a very low bio load for a skimmer of this size.

Dave

[scooter86]

I agree with mike tay. Raise the skimmer up so that it will drain more easily. Y
This is an AETech recommendation. Also, try not to have any 90 elbows going from skimmer to sump. The elevation helped me tremendously.

[Medicine Man]

I have it elevated as high as I can. My stand is only 32" on the inside. For the drain I have it directly connected to the sump with only a 1 1/2" union between the skimmer and the sump. What do you think about adding more bioballs to the chambers? The tech at AEtech said that adding bioballs cuts down on the amount of air added to the water. Wouldn't that be a bad thing?

[saltyfun]

Its a straight shot to the sump no 90's, good. I had 2 90's and it couldn't get rid of the water fast enough.

Can you lower the water in your sump so the skimmer drains when its off?

I'm not sure about the bio balls, I'm going to take some out of mine to get more foam.

[miketay89]

Is the return under water?

[Medicine Man]

The water level is just barely above the return. The water line touches the very top of the bulkhead. I made a 40 gallon breeder into a sump/refugium. Right now I have my baffles (water level) at 9". I could lower the water level by cutting the baffles down some but how much should I keep in there to keep the refugium functional. My refugium has Chaeto macro algae in it just FYI. Thanks for the help!

[saltyfun]

I have my bulkhead 1/4 ways under water.

[Douglas LEHMAN]

Hello
For maximum flow through you need the drain/gate valve above the water line ? Double check that their are not any internal obstructions ( broken bio balls, snails, sticks or rocks) in the drain/valve exit. Failing that you'll need to throdle back the pump or swap it out for less flow ?

[jkapit]

I have an 55RLT and ETSS 800 with a AETech Sump and cannot run the pump wide open even with the foam adjuster valve wide open even after having the tank up for 2.5 years.

AeTech recommended to raise the skimmer, but I cannot do that and keep it in the stand so if that is the case you have two options.

1)Put a gate valve on your panworld and adjust the pump power to match the skimmer. This is better than a ball valve which is hard to adjust in small enough increments.

2)Put two small ball valves and slightly restrict the air intake and you will get smaller bubbles in the skimmer body and be able to get the foam height where it needs to be. I used a 2" piece of 3/4" tubing and stuck a blue/white ball valve from home depot on the end and the other end on the air injector barb. Each one I keep about 3/4 open or so and it works great.

Let us know what you decide to do.

[Medicine Man]

I would think the smaller bubbles would be better anyway. I think I will try the to restrict some of the air like you suggested and see what happens. Thanks again everyone for the help! I will let you know what happens.

[Sparkysreef]

I blocked off both of my intakes on my etss 800 with iwaki MD55.
HUGE difference in performance and bubble size. I will post pics this week of before and after.
BTW are you using an auto waste container? There is an air mod with that too.

[Medicine Man]

Yes, I have auto waste container. I put the ball valves on the air intakes of both columns and still had to restrict the pump. Do you think restricting the air intakes helps with performance? Like I said earlier, it makes since that the smaller the bubbles the better the performance just like with NW and CC skimmers. Pics of the mods you have done would be great!!

[saltyfun]

Any pics of the mods?
TIA

[Sparkysreef]

before

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y136/sparkysreef/equipment/abdc7b07.jpg

after
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y136/sparkysreef/equipment/PICT0233.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y136/sparkysreef/equipment/PICT0236.jpg

keep in mind this is a macro shot of first riser
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y136/sparkysreef/equipment/PICT0234.jpg

[saltyfun]

I see you just used tape. Was that for testing?

I was going to tie the 2 inlets together and use 1 valve.

Do you use the carbon filters on the auto waste?

[Sparkysreef]

Grab a coffee or beer and be sure to read ALL posts. Especially jdieck


http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=439257&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

[saltyfun]

mmm beer. Thanks, will do! thanks for the pics

[Medicine Man]

Hey Sparky, Works great!! I just put a ball valve on the air exhaust of my waste container and after some tweaking its working great! I have one problem though. After doing the mod I developed a leak around the base of one of the intake tubes. I used some weldon 16 but it is still just a slow leak. Any suggestions as to how to better seal the acrylic tube? Also an occassional drop from around the o-ring of the first flange.

[saltyfun]

MD man, Did you completely block off the air intake ?

I did. I have a 1/4 hole in black tape on my waste container and its working pretty good. I need a little more tweaking.

[Sparkysreef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6854311#post6854311 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Medicine Man
Hey Sparky, Works great!! I just put a ball valve on the air exhaust of my waste container and after some tweaking its working great! I have one problem though. After doing the mod I developed a leak around the base of one of the intake tubes. I used some weldon 16 but it is still just a slow leak. Any suggestions as to how to better seal the acrylic tube? Also an occassional drop from around the o-ring of the first flange.

Please tell me EXACTLY where the leak is and BE SPECIFIC.

Rob

[Medicine Man]

I can take a picture of it if it will help. If you are facing the skimmer with the output facing the left, intake tubes (with bioballs inside) are to the right. The tube closest to you on the inside edge. Between both tubes but the one closest to you is the one that is leaking. Thanks again for the help! Did you block the air intakes and the air output on the waste container? So far I have only blocked the waste container air outlet with a ball valve.

[Medicine Man]

I have to tell on myself a little. I didn't let the weldon 16 set for 24 hours like it says to. More like 3-4 hours. Do I need to redo it and let it set the entire time before restarting it?

[Sparkysreef]

Please tell me EXACTLY where the leak is and BE SPECIFIC.

Please read that again.

Ok Now, are we talking about the threaded 90 degree air intakes? Are whe talking about the injector housing that fits inside of both downdraft tubes? Are we talking about where the downdraft tubes meet the skimmer mixing body?

give me some more info so that I may be of more help.

I'm a little :hmm4: sometimes so that is why i am aking all this

[Medicine Man]

Sorry about that. Its hard to explain. Main leak is at the base of the two intake tubes where it joins the large black box. Here is a picture. Thanks again! :D

http://home.mchsi.com/~richardbaker1/Aquarium_126exp.JPG

[Sparkysreef]

OK now your talking. I had the same exact problem with the dual downdraft tubes. I think I may have had the same problem around the main riser tube. Other ETSS owners told me (as well as ea tech which is 15min from my house) HAVE to use acrylic glue/cement whatever, AND that the salt creep/leak was from where the injector housing sits in the downdraft tubes. WRONG! I used silicone that i use in refrigeration. I used clear for looks and you could probably find something similar in HD or Lowes. Mine is rated for -80 to +500 degrees.
Anyway, I cut the tube very small and put a nice clean small bead around downdraft tubes and riser tube.
That was the end of salt creep.

As far as you outlet gate valve.........take apart union. Remove gate valve. Get a very bright flashlight and check female thread in skimmer for any hairline cracks. Also check gate vale threads for any burrs or damaged threads. If ok then rewrap gate valve threads. Technically you are not supposed to use anything on thread as they are tapered and supposed to seal themselves.
Forget that if you want to stop leak. Make about 4 complete wraps around male threads and reinstall. IMPORTANT! make sure to wrap teflon tape properly. This means if you are holding the valve witht the red valve pointing straight up and male thread that go into skimmer facing you............you want to wrap clockwise.

[Medicine Man]

Ok, I'll give it a shot! Thanks again!!

[saltyfun]

Ok, My turn..

No leaks here but...

Am I supposed to block the intakes completely and put a valve on the exhaust or..
leave intake wide open and valve the exhaust?

[Sparkysreef]

You either want to mod the intakes OR mod the otlet air IF you have an auto waste container. One or the other.

One important thing I forgot to note. If you do the waste container thing make sure air control is secure and reliable. I did a half-arse way when trying it out for first time just to see how it would work. Well It came loose while at work which caused the 800 to turn into a fountain and pull ungodly amounts of water from tank.
Oh did I mention the flood part?
Switched to intake mod and worked great. I think which mod you have to do will depend on pump used. I used an iwaki MD55.
Then again you could just do as my signature says LOL

[saltyfun]

Trust me, I'm ready to do what your sig says..

mean time, I'll give it a try. Thanks