Anyone own Bubble Magus Curve 5 skimmer?? Help please (1 Viewer)

[Cathman]

So, purchased this about two weeks ago. Got it in over a week ago and have been trying anything and everything i can think of to get it to skim correctly. I have tried adjusting it water level wise from 4 inches to 8.5 inches in my sump...water level stays constant in the area its in. I have left it running wide open, closed some, and everywhere in between. In any and all circumstances it is either not doing anything skimmate production or overflowing, and most times it does both without even changing the setting. I have checked the pump, air inlet, etc for anything and cannot find anything out of character.

Now i realize that these take a few days to "break in", but in all my past experience owning reef octopus, ASM, Euroreef, and a couple other skimmers, i have never had such an issue. Usually set initially low and after a few days begin to adjust. I have had this thing on wide open as i said and all settings in between and it does all kinds of crazy things.

So, what am I doing wrong for those of you who own one? I am really thinking of seeing if i can exchange this thing for something else, as i am very frustrated at this point. Currently have it set on wide open..earlier it was not reaching the bottom of the neck of the skimmer cup. I just looked at it a bit ago and now its overflowing. I now just have the drain line open in the sump to let it keep draining in hopes that maybe it will settle down if i just let it do its thing.

Help please!!!

Thanks in advance.

 

[ReefMaster32787]

I have had issues with chlorine remover additives in my water that screwed up my skimmer.... that I did not put in there. Anything like that going on?

 

[James Lynch]

You may do a vinegar bath on it and then try again. Mine runs in about 7 inches of water and I start it off wide open after I give it a bath.

 

[Nam0821]

My vertex overflow for more than a week before it settles

 

[Jhwku]

I'm about 7 inches as well. I leave it off for 6 hours after a water change, then first day after wide open then close it up to get a good medium skimmate. Kind of a pain but wayy better than my previous skimmer.

 

[Jhwku]

https://vimeo.com/114665495

This is after 3 days of full skimming. I need to clean it tonight.

 

[Cathman]

Did the vinegar bath prior to using, let it run in there for several hours with it deep enough to bathe the whole inside. Also, I use RO water which should have zero chlorine, all filters are new in system.

If this thing requires this much tinkering every time I clean it and restart, I am not sure I want to own it. My previous skimmers tended to under skim after a good cleaning and after a few hours were right back to where it should be, on its own. I tend to mark settings and previously only occasionally deviated and only to get a thicker or thinner skim depending on what i was doing.

Anyway, I will check this evening to see if it has settled after running wide open all night/day. As of this morning it was still overflowing into the cup. Left drain line open to sump so it wouldn't make a mess from the bubbles up top.

 

[Andrew_B]

Did you install the red cap/plug?

 

[Cathman]

Did you install the red cap/plug?

Red plug installed. Is it supposed to be out??? Ones I looked at in videos i could find that showed, had it in.

Of note, when I have the adjuster tube in place and set to max, it so far, has most of the time caused it to overflow. I have pulled it up and out to get the level lower, and/or, raised the skimmer so there is a higher pressure head. One of my thoughts was that the exit hole opening from the pipe on the skimmer body itself is too small. Looking at the exit on the adjustment pipe and the hole on the skimmer body itself, are quite different in diameter. I realize it may not need to be as big, but i wonder if that is causing some of the overflow issues when it is 7 or 8 inches deep and the pipe is set to wide open...exit water cannot escape fast enough compared to input from pump....just a thought.