My skimmer (ASM G3) won't foam. any idea?

[KhanhQ83]

I recently bought an ASM G3 skimmer from a buddy for a steal. It was in great condition except it's been sitting in his basement for over a year. The pump is very quiet and everything seems to work great except, it won't foam up. It constantly produces microbubbles. I did the gate valve mod last week and I have the bubble line to start at the bottom of the collection cup. It's sitting in 10" of water.

I thought maybe it needed cleaning so I soaked it in vinegar for 3 hours but still doesn't solve the issue.

Anybody has any suggestions I can do? Thanks in advance.

[TheFishMan65]

What kind of fish load do you have? I would also recommend asking mojo on the Skimmer Q and A thread - you will get much more visibility.

[Anemonebuff]

If the Sedra is old it may need a new impeller. But at that price I would just replace the pump with a sicce with a needle wheel for about $60-70 more.($109-119 total).

[KhanhQ83]

Yea I did consider a new sedra pump. its the 5000 series and cost $100 on marinedepot. the impeller costs $40. But i cleaned the impeller and the pump they both look very new and working like new so I don't think the issue is with the pump.

[KhanhQ83]

For fish, I don't have that many since I'm focusing on corals right now. I have 2 false and 1 black/white clowns, 6 chromis, 1 lawnmower blenny and 1 mandarin

[TheFishMan65]

I would think you would get something with that load, but I am no expert. I would still suggest Mojo.

[reeftivo]

no foam head?

Sounds like you need to just let it slime up after all that cleaning and modding.

Did you use pvc cement for the gate valve mod?

I'd just give it more time to settle down. A week is not unreasonable.

[viggen]

Is the chamber being filled up with bubbles?

I purchased a used ER rs250 last week, hooked it up & guessed a water level. After about a hour I had 1/4 in of black nasty stuff, it's on a 210g FO with 6-7 good sized fish. I have been doing fine tuning about every day & the only time I get zero foam head is when I feed the fish.

I would make sure airline is clear, possibly do what some people suggest & pour hot water down the hose to clean up any salt. Like mentioned not sure if the pump itself is on it's way out, the previous owner of my skimmer purchased a octopus nw impeller for my ER skimmer, looked a lot different on the nw end but still works. I plan on modding the skimmer since I can't keep my water level 7+ inches deep. I am going to get a bubbleblaster 3000 NW.... & do the RC mod to it

[KhanhQ83]

I did not use pvc cement for the gate valve mod, they are just simply connected together. Should I be using cement for water tight? I don't see any water leaking anyway.

I've soaked everything in vinegar for 3 hours so I thought that would have to removed everything that could be blocking including salt.

I'm going to try the mesh mod and hopefully it'll improve the performance.

[RotaryGeek]

How long has it been running? It will need some break in time. ASM's are getting cheap enough now that if a pump goes out it might just be better to look for a used skimmer and buy it just for the pump and spare parts. For what it's worth, I have a g3 with a sedra 9000 and it's very picky about the water level. It overflows easily even with the gate valve mod.

[KhanhQ83]

I bought it from a friend maybe 3 weeks ago? The chamber does get filled with bubbles but anything little thing can cause it go crazy like during feeding times or water level is not constant. It's so difficult to dial in.

[Anemonebuff]

I mesh modded and have the gate valve mod. It works better for a while. Sedras are OK pumps, but there are better ones out there. I will be getting the Sicce with purple pinwheel this Xmas.

[das75]

you say it's has microbubbles but is it really pulling in a lot of air?

Mine if I bend the airline into a cup a water it sucks it dry in about 5 seconds.