Aqua C EV Experiences?

[joelsaxton]

I have an Aqua C EV400 on my 240g fish tank. I am using 50mg ozone, but it still does not seem to be skimming as much as I'd expect. Especially alarming is a proliferation of red slime in my fuge and in my main tank since I switched to this skimmer. I have also noticed that it is sometimes difficult to get consistent foam with this skimmer. Am I doing something wrong? Should I have gone with a bigger skimmer?

[mtraylor]

I have the aqua C EV240 and I"m not impressed. I bought it about 4 months ago after seeing everyone on the forum giving it praise. I have a Mag18 on it and it does not skim out much at all.....At this point I get allot of foam in the chamber and with a day or so it just builds up in the chamber never getting to the overflow...

I called the company and they made some suggestions about bringing the water up a little higher almost to the cylindrical chamber...

I have done this and it doesnt help. The only thing I havnt tried is to bring the water level almost to the collection cup... I'm really disappointed with the performance of mine.

The only thing that I can think of is maybe the Mag is not performing correctly, but I have no way of measuring the flow of the mag right now...

One thing you might try is completly unscrew the air valve to see if that helps and take out the injector and clean it. Its the part the hose goes on into the skimmer....

I would buy a euro-reef, but I dont have the space in the sump. My next step will be to build my own.

[nolofinwe]

I have an older EV180, never been especially thrilled with it. Same problems as most people; tough to tune, inconsistant skimming, finicky with sump depth, etc.

I have a pretty low nutrient load, so that might have alot to do with it as well.

[joelsaxton]

Originally posted by mtraylor
I have the aqua C EV240 and I"m not impressed. I bought it about 4 months ago after seeing everyone on the forum giving it praise. I have a Mag18 on it and it does not skim out much at all.....At this point I get allot of foam in the chamber and with a day or so it just builds up in the chamber never getting to the overflow...

I called the company and they made some suggestions about bringing the water up a little higher almost to the cylindrical chamber...

I have done this and it doesnt help. The only thing I havnt tried is to bring the water level almost to the collection cup... I'm really disappointed with the performance of mine.

The only thing that I can think of is maybe the Mag is not performing correctly, but I have no way of measuring the flow of the mag right now...

One thing you might try is completly unscrew the air valve to see if that helps and take out the injector and clean it. Its the part the hose goes on into the skimmer....

I would buy a euro-reef, but I dont have the space in the sump. My next step will be to build my own.

I will try out your suggestions. I also noticed something else interesting with the external collection cup. I have a 2.5L Aqua C cup with the "ping pong ball" and "carbon chamber". I think you have seen this accessory at Marine Depot and other places that sell Aqua C stuff. What happens is that water evaporates and condenses within this chamber and coats the carbon in the carbon chamber, forming an airtight seal, which halts skimming altogether, since the bubble production falls off.

"Finicky" is right IMO.

[kjdeut]

I have the EV120 and the same as everyone else who has posted. I expected a lot more skimmate. Need to constantly clean to get it to work correctly. I just went from the recommended mag 5 to a mag 7 and it is skimming much better. Now the problem is when the power goes out and comes back on the water level in the skimmer doesnt go back to the level it was at before the power went out. I still havent figured out why.

[joelsaxton]

It is a spray injection skimmer so it does not have the same predictable characteristics of other skimmers. But it is compact and it fits in my sump. Other than that I think it's kind of wack.

I have been considering a DIY skimmer that I can customize for my tank. I've been reading the DIY forum here on RC...

[stgla]

"Wack" is bad, right?

[Beach Native]

I have an EV-180. I will be the first to admit that it's a bit finicky and you have to work a bit to get it in it's "g-spot", but once you do, I think it cranks. I found the key tuning parameters to be the water height in the sump (mine is in the sump) and the flow rate through the skimmer (which also dictates the water level in the skimmer). After I tuned those in, it's just a matter of cleaning the throat and cup on a regular basis.

I have my overflow piped into an open container, but I almost always empty and clean the cup before the skimmater reaches the level of the overflow.

[joelsaxton]

Originally posted by stgla
"Wack" is bad, right?

sorry to have degenerated into slang, but yes, that's what it means.

Wack is probably too harsh a term for it - just finicky will do.

[gcarroll]

I have an EV 400 and I have had excellent results. I run approx 60 - 100 mg of ozone. My feed pump is a mag 24. I also ordered a 1" injector to replace the 3/4" injector that is standard. I primarily did this since the mag 24 has a 1" output. The skimmer works awsome but I have found that most people who are unhappy with these skimmers simply have a tuning problem. I do run a wet skimmate approx 2 - 2.5 gallons of skimmate per day. I clean the skimmer cup once every 1-2 weeks. It skims better if cleaned every 3-5 days but I am too lazy for that.

Here is the bucket after approx 16 hours.

[Haole]

joelsaxton,
I don’t have any experience with these skimmers, but maybe these two threads can help you out...
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...hreadid=594995

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...5&pagenumber=1

[joelsaxton]

Originally posted by gcarroll
I have an EV 400 and I have had excellent results. I run approx 60 - 100 mg of ozone. My feed pump is a mag 24. I also ordered a 1" injector to replace the 3/4" injector that is standard. I primarily did this since the mag 24 has a 1" output. The skimmer works awsome but I have found that most people who are unhappy with these skimmers simply have a tuning problem. I do run a wet skimmate approx 2 - 2.5 gallons of skimmate per day. I clean the skimmer cup once every 1-2 weeks. It skims better if cleaned every 3-5 days but I am too lazy for that.

I get about 1 cup of skimmate per day. I run only 50mg ozone and the ORP routinely rises over 400 mV. My tank is 240g with an Ecosystem 3616 fuge growing lots of chaeto under lots of light. Your pic shows a pristine neck - did you just clean it off? My neck becomes opaque with sludge after about 2 days. In fact, this is where the most concentrated skimmate actually forms. The skimmate in the cup is more like thick tea than sludge.

[joelsaxton]

Originally posted by gcarroll
I have an EV 400 and I have had excellent results. I run approx 60 - 100 mg of ozone. My feed pump is a mag 24. I also ordered a 1" injector to replace the 3/4" injector that is standard. I primarily did this since the mag 24 has a 1" output. The skimmer works awsome but I have found that most people who are unhappy with these skimmers simply have a tuning problem. I do run a wet skimmate approx 2 - 2.5 gallons of skimmate per day. I clean the skimmer cup once every 1-2 weeks. It skims better if cleaned every 3-5 days but I am too lazy for that.
[/IMG]

I'll do a test tonight and see how much forms in the next 24 hours.

[joelsaxton]

I should have mentioned that I had to throttle down the pump to get the AquaC to work properly. When I first ran it, the skimmer overflowed if I had full air open and full pump power - even though the gate valve was completely opened. I even talked to AquaC and asked them why they'd recommend a pump that was too strong for the skimmer. They also recommended the Mag 1800, but I already had the 2400 so I throttled it down by splitting the outlet in two and adding a line to the refugium.

[aurorafish]

I think you need a pressure rated pump to get consistant production out of that skimmer.

[joelsaxton]

Correct, which is why I got the pump they recommended (mag24)

[mtraylor]

WEll I think gcarroll must have the answer's here and we need to find out what makes these things tick. i'm in deep with the investment as we all are and I'm not happy.


gcarroll,

I dont run ozone and the rest of use get the sludge in the bubble chamber...not the collector...Mine runs for a week and barely gets anything in the collection cup...then i have to clean the clay off the chamber.... Can you give specific details of setup. I'm running the pump reccomended on mine too.. Have you tried to run without ozone?

[gcarroll]

For me guys the key was not to back off the pump. I use the 1" injector to get as much as I can through the injector. First I close the air valve halfway. Next I close the gate valve approx 1/4 of the way to get the water level in the skimmer to the recommendedd level inside the mixing chamber. One thing I noticed is that if the gate valve is all the way open, the bubble are larger like in the above picture w/ an occational large buble every now and then (that works but I have played with it more and got much better results). If the gate valve is closed some, I notice the bubles are much finer w/ no large bubbles at all. I then open the air valve approx 2/3 of the way open and adjust my foam head by adding slightly more or less air. My goal is to get the head of foam right at the bottom of the collection cup. This adjustment will give you a slightly darker skimmate than I normally look for.
joelsaxton since you are in So Cal you are welcom to come by and I will show you how in person. It will have to be in the next couple of months though since I will be hopefully moving up to an EV 1000.

[mtraylor]

gcarroll,

thank you for the details. I was instructed by Aqua C, not to back off the air. I have not tried that yet. I'm going to make the change in a few minutes and let you know how it works out.

joelsaxton,
Have you tried to back off the air as suggested a

[moumda]

I had a lot of problems with my EV-180 until I ordered a 1 size bigger pump than reccommended. I took my outlet valve off completely and I just control wet or dry with the air valve. When the air valve is all the way open I clean the injector. I have to clean the skimmer every other day. With the bigger pump and skimming wet I don't get the buildup inside the neck of the skimmer.

[mtraylor]

thanks I have made an adjustment and will see how it works out.

[Pilot Fish]

I have an EV 240 and I got one good cup of skimmate so far. I am running it with a Mag18 and I just can't get it producing. It produces a lot of foam but little thick rich gunk, just watery stuff like he pictures that are posted above in the 5gal bucket. I adjust almost daily in hopes that it will come alive but so far it just hasn't impressed me.

[skippysmind]

I'm not at all impressed with my EV-180 skimmer. i get about a cup per week, i can't ever get wet skimmate. it just doesn't seem to be all that they claim

[gcarroll]

Originally posted by skippysmind
I'm not at all impressed with my EV-180 skimmer. i get about a cup per week, i can't ever get wet skimmate. it just doesn't seem to be all that they claim

The skimmer was not originally designed to skim wet when using the recommended pump. I would recommend that you move to the next size up on pumps if you want the wet stuff.

[mtraylor]

I'm running a MAG18 on an EVC240 and I"m not impressed. I had a ETS Reef Devil that out performed what I have now.