Help with a Marineland 300 series Protein Skimmer

[sbshady]

I recently bought a reef setup from a friend. It is a 180 gallon tank with 200 or so lbs of live rock with a 75 gallon sump tank setup, and a Marineland light with 3 HQ bulbs, leds, and 8 t5 bulbs. Included in the setup was a broken protein skimmer. Marineland had me send the broken one in and sent me a brand new one. I am now having trouble getting this thing to run. First I had the water level in the sump tank to high. I got a stand for the skimmer so it is at the proper operating level. When I plug it in, it will bubble up for a minute or so, then it just runs straight water without bubbles and will start to fill the cup with bubbles. I used the knob to adjust the flow and the bubbles wont start back up. I unplug it and try it again and again with the same results. I checked the airlines for kinks and found none. I used the cleaning tools and cleaned the inlets and found nothing there either. Last night I kept messing with it and got it to run at one point. I ran it all night without problems. This morning I unplugged it to clean the cup out, and I havent gotten it to run properly since. Any help with this would be appreciated.

Thanks

[MarcoPolo]

When you say it does not run properly, what do you mean exactly? No foam production or what?

[sbshady]

Yep, no foam whatsoever. All it does is circulate water through through to the cup then the cup overflows. If I turn the flow down, it just swirls the water around in the main part.

[rcasey2u]

Check for obstructions in the air inlet of the pump or kink in the airline connection to the pump. Did you run the skimmer in a vinegar bath before putting in the sump?

[sbshady]

I checked all the lines for kinks an the inlet for obstructions and got nothing. I didn't run it in a vinegar bath. The setup guide mentioned nothing about that. Should I try that or is it too late since I already had water going through it?

[rcasey2u]

I think I would try the vinegar bath. Put the skimmer in a 5 gallon buchet with a 4 to 1 mixture of water and vinegar and let it run for a few hours, even if it continues to overflow the cup. If that does not help, I would talk to the manufacturer.

[AquaReeferMan]

Salt usually builds up right where the air line connects to the pump. With what you are describing thats what sounds like is happening. Remove the pump from the bottom and pull the air line tubing off. Poke inside the little nipple with a tooth pick and see if there is anything in there blocking it. When putting it back together, make sure there is no kink where the tubing slides through the plastic. Hope this helps. Also running it in a bucket of water and vinegar for a couple of hours.

[sbshady]

Ill try the vinegar run. Its a brand new skimmer, I just took it out of the box so I dont know how it would have sand in it. There a tiny amount of sand in the bottom of the sump tank, I only had the skimmer on the bottom for a few minutes. I had it on the stand for the rest of the time

[rcasey2u]

Probably not caused by sand. Make sure the air intake is fully open when running in the bucket. Make sure some of the vinegar water gets sucked into the air inlet hole by the air adjustment knob.

[sbshady]

Got it going. There was the slightest bend in the tubing. I shortened the tube some and it runs great.

[mattmaddox573]

I have a marineland 100. Its sitting in the sump in correct amount of water. Ive only had for 8 days so i understand that it might take more time to break in. Problem is the people at marineland say that if valve is turner all the way to left its wide open. (valve is all the way to left). The water level is barely an inch over the center tube part tho. If i turn all the way right it stays abaout same level. If i turn valve towards middle it gets the highest but still not even to the bottom of collection cup. Its been all the way left only for 4 hours. They say wait 5-6 hours for results but that seems kinda bogus. If its gonna make water level raise by turning valve left why would water level drop for multiple hours?

[00Warpig00]

if it's the Marineland Pro In-Sump Protein Skimmer 300 it's the same skimmer I have. i have had this happen once or twice and what I do to fix it is to cycle the knob fully clockwise and counterclockwise quickly a few times. I this has resolved the issue for me every time so far (all three times or so in the past year it has happened). You state the skimmer is new it will need to be adjusted frequently the first week or so and may put up nothing but super wet bubbles until it breaks in. You should not need a stand for it unless the output tube (the duct section just in front of and about 3 inches below the knob). If that return is under water your sump is too deep for the skimmer and should be on a stand so that output duct is above the water level. On mine turning the knob fully clockwise will lower the water level inside the skimmer body and counter clockwise will raise it. When you make an adjustment let it be for about a minute or so before making another adjustment. As for turning the skimmer off to clean the cup. I don't even bother, i just unscrew the colar holding it on and slide it off the top of the skimmer. The skimmer will gently overflow into your sump until you replace the cup. Watch out there is a rubber O ring theat may go floating off into your sump. Thats why I slide it off the neck instead of lifting it. it will help keep the O ring in place. Clean cup. Return to skimmer position and screw the collar back in. EASY! I REALLY like this skimmer so far. No external parts really easy to adjust and does a good job.

Nick

[mattmaddox573]

U say the water level needs to be below the duct? (gray tube correct)? That is less than eight inches. manuel says that skimmer needs to be in 3-8 inches of water. I often hear of wet and dry skimming. Would the water level being abve or below this duct be the difference in the two? Either way ill try ur method of skimming because the people at marineland act as if theyve never seen a skimmer before. quite frustrating. thanks

[00Warpig00]

If I remember right 8 inches is the max depth for the skimmer. Yes the gray tube duct. The top of that duct should be right about 8 inches. I have the baffles in my sump between the skimmer section of my sump and my return pump section at a 7 1/2" height and the top of that tube is still out of the top of the water in my sump by almost a half inch A little less due to the volume of water I have flowing over my baffles. If it isn't 8 inches to that duct it's mighty close. Here are some pictures.



Someone can correct me if I'm wrong here. I'm not that well versed on skimming concepts. But I believe wet skimming is when your bubbles are very wet and pop inside the the skimmer neck and dont push up the neck very far, whereas dry skimming is that your bubbles are much drier like a foam and continually push up the neck of the skimmer because they are larger bubbles and foamy and dont pop. See my second picture above. the top inch or so of the neck has darker dry skim and the whiter smaller bubbles underneath are wet skim.

Nick

[mattmaddox573]

can u hear ur skimmer sucking in air?

[ecomdesign]

I used to have a 300 before I upgraded. When this happened to me I had a small piece of airline that I uses to blow air into the little exhaust hole by the grey knob.

[mattmaddox573]

also how high up is ur water coming in ur skimmer? as of right now the highest i can get it is to the top of the bottom section (right where the collection cup screw off point is). Is that typical? Is that gonna be high enough when the foam does start to push up in to collection cup? I swiveled my valve. No luck will try after work but right now still looking like it gets most power thru valve being in middle which makes no sense

[00Warpig00]

Originally Posted by mattmaddox573

can u hear ur skimmer sucking in air?

I cant hear it sucking in air but honestly I dont know if I could anyway, the sound of water moving in my sump and flowing over my baffles makes it hard to hear my skimmer at all. I can tell the sound difference when I unplug it but I don't think Id describe the sound as it sucking air. More like the pump noise.

Originally Posted by ecomdesign

I used to have a 300 before I upgraded. When this happened to me I had a small piece of airline that I uses to blow air into the little exhaust hole by the grey knob.

Thanks for the tip. I will have to give that a try. Sounds like a great idea and the one side even has a little nipple on it. What skimmer did you upgrade to?

Originally Posted by mattmaddox573

also how high up is ur water coming in ur skimmer? as of right now the highest i can get it is to the top of the bottom section (right where the collection cup screw off point is). Is that typical? Is that gonna be high enough when the foam does start to push up in to collection cup? I swiveled my valve. No luck will try after work but right now still looking like it gets most power thru valve being in middle which makes no sense

my water height sounds just a hair higher than yours. When I clean my skimmer cup I dont bother turning off my skimmer I just unscrew the collar nut and slide the cup off sideways. Their is an O ring between the body and the cup that will float away if you dont slide it off. When I remove my skimmer cup the water from the body gently overflows from the top of the skimmer back into the sump until I replace the cup. Sorry not the exact answer you were looking for.

Nick

[Palting]

Originally Posted by mattmaddox573

I have a marineland 100. Its sitting in the sump in correct amount of water. Ive only had for 8 days so i understand that it might take more time to break in. Problem is the people at marineland say that if valve is turner all the way to left its wide open. (valve is all the way to left). The water level is barely an inch over the center tube part tho. If i turn all the way right it stays abaout same level. If i turn valve towards middle it gets the highest but still not even to the bottom of collection cup. Its been all the way left only for 4 hours. They say wait 5-6 hours for results but that seems kinda bogus. If its gonna make water level raise by turning valve left why would water level drop for multiple hours?

Originally Posted by mattmaddox573

U say the water level needs to be below the duct? (gray tube correct)? That is less than eight inches. manuel says that skimmer needs to be in 3-8 inches of water. I often hear of wet and dry skimming. Would the water level being abve or below this duct be the difference in the two? Either way ill try ur method of skimming because the people at marineland act as if theyve never seen a skimmer before. quite frustrating. thanks

Originally Posted by mattmaddox573

also how high up is ur water coming in ur skimmer? as of right now the highest i can get it is to the top of the bottom section (right where the collection cup screw off point is). Is that typical? Is that gonna be high enough when the foam does start to push up in to collection cup? I swiveled my valve. No luck will try after work but right now still looking like it gets most power thru valve being in middle which makes no sense

I have the Marineland Pro 300, same as your 100, only bigger. Let's see if I can help you, one topic at a time.

Wet vs dry skim. Wet skim contains mostly water and is relatively clearer like weak tea, hence the term "wet". Dry skim contains mostly junk and has less water, usually dark in color almost opaque, hence the term "dry".

This is wet skim. Note how high the water level is in the center tubing, and holw "wet" the bubbles look as they overflow into the cup, and the skim is like weak tea. The valve is set towards the right.


This is dry skim. The water level is less than half up the center tubing, and the bubbles are mostly junk that some of it have dried and forming solid particles in the cup, and the skim is like dark pea soup. The valve is set more to the left of middle.


Optimum water level (3"-8" for the model 100). This refers to how deep your skimmer is sitting in the water, measured from the bottom of the skimmer to the water level. If the skimmer is sitting right on the bottom of the sump, then it's the actual water depth of the sump skimmer section. If you raise the skimmer on a platform, them you measure from the bottom of the skimmer to the water level. On my 300, it's sitting in about 7" depth/water level.

valve adjustment This controls the output flow from the skimmer. All the way to the left is wide open, and the water level inside your skimmer is going to be very low. The more to the left, the more "dry" the skim, to a point where there is no skim. All the way to the right restricts the output, so that the water level inside the skimmer has to rise higer to overcome it. The more to the right, the more wet the skim, to the point where your cup keeps filling up with clear water and overflowing within minutes.

If your Maineland Pro 100 insump skimmer is sitting in 8" of water (measured from the bottom of the skimmer to the top of the water it is sitting in) and you turn the valve all the way to the right, you should be able to make the cup overflow from very, very wet almost clear skim within minutes. If you cannot, then there is something wrong with your particular skimmer, and will need to be replaced under warranty if it's new.

That's all IMO, of course. HTH!!

[00Warpig00]

Palting, thanks for the info. my skimmer always looks like your top pic. I have not once seen it look like your second pic. i usually adjust my valve so that the bulk of the super wet tiny air bubbles pop in the middle of the neck section of the cup look at my pic above for reference. If I turn it down I never get any skimmate, and if I turn it up it overflows clear water in a matter of seconds. I don't have a big load on my tank right now. I have a 180 with the fish mentioned below. Maybe this is why I never get a cup of crud like your second pic.

Nick

[mattmaddox573]

thank u all for ur help. My skimmer is only 9 days old. When i first plugged it in it would overflow all the way over the collection cup. cant remember which way valve was pointed. now if its turned all the way right water level is below the center tube where all air bubbles come from. If its pointed in middle water level gets highest but still barely shy of top of bottom section of skimmer

[Palting]

Originally Posted by 00Warpig00

Palting, thanks for the info. my skimmer always looks like your top pic. I have not once seen it look like your second pic. i usually adjust my valve so that the bulk of the super wet tiny air bubbles pop in the middle of the neck section of the cup look at my pic above for reference. If I turn it down I never get any skimmate, and if I turn it up it overflows clear water in a matter of seconds. I don't have a big load on my tank right now. I have a 180 with the fish mentioned below. Maybe this is why I never get a cup of crud like your second pic.

Nick

You're welcome, Nick. Yes, the amount of skim is directly proportional to the bioload.

Originally Posted by mattmaddox573

thank u all for ur help. My skimmer is only 9 days old. When i first plugged it in it would overflow all the way over the collection cup. cant remember which way valve was pointed. now if its turned all the way right water level is below the center tube where all air bubbles come from. If its pointed in middle water level gets highest but still barely shy of top of bottom section of skimmer

Something doesn't seem right. You should get the highest level in the center tube, to the point where water/wet bubbles readily oveflow and fill the cup, when the valve is all the way right. Doesn't matter if it's new or old. The amount of skim and obtaining a consistent output may be erratic when new, but you should still be able to overflow the cup like you did the first time.

[mattmaddox573]

well i broke my old skimmer when trying to pull the pump out. I just got the new one mailed to me. Again when valve turned all the way to left or right water level is the lowest. when pointed in the middle water will overflow in to the copllection cup. I didnt leave valve pointed in any one direction. Im not going to mess with and just see what happens i guess

[00Warpig00]

I dont know if you are aware or if I mentioned it earlier but when i make adjustments to my valve a little bit goes a LONG LONG way. I have had a couple millimeters of dial movement mean the difference of not seeing any bubbles in the tube to having the foam overflowing madly into the cup and overflowing the cup within seconds. make very small adjustments. Adjust... wait a full minute or so look and make another small adjustment.

Nick

[jeremayia1]

Originally Posted by 00Warpig00

if it's the Marineland Pro In-Sump Protein Skimmer 300 it's the same skimmer I have. i have had this happen once or twice and what I do to fix it is to cycle the knob fully clockwise and counterclockwise quickly a few times. I this has resolved the issue for me every time so far (all three times or so in the past year it has happened). You state the skimmer is new it will need to be adjusted frequently the first week or so and may put up nothing but super wet bubbles until it breaks in. You should not need a stand for it unless the output tube (the duct section just in front of and about 3 inches below the knob). If that return is under water your sump is too deep for the skimmer and should be on a stand so that output duct is above the water level. On mine turning the knob fully clockwise will lower the water level inside the skimmer body and counter clockwise will raise it. When you make an adjustment let it be for about a minute or so before making another adjustment. As for turning the skimmer off to clean the cup. I don't even bother, i just unscrew the colar holding it on and slide it off the top of the skimmer. The skimmer will gently overflow into your sump until you replace the cup. Watch out there is a rubber O ring theat may go floating off into your sump. Thats why I slide it off the neck instead of lifting it. it will help keep the O ring in place. Clean cup. Return to skimmer position and screw the collar back in. EASY! I REALLY like this skimmer so far. No external parts really easy to adjust and does a good job.

Nick

thank you i move the knob clockwise and counter clockwise and it work,now its skimming again tx again