CPR Bak Pak Troubleshooting?

[THS]

I recently bought a CPR Dual Bak Pak skimmer for a hell of a deal, and I have it on my 29. (As the guy from the LFS said, "You're gonna be doin' some serious skimmin' bruh.")

Now this think is pretty damn noisy. The whole tank vibrates from the powerheads, and when the air lines are opened, microbubble are released into the tank.

Until I can throw together a sump that includes the bak pak, I was wondering if there was any way to improve the "side effects" of this otherwise effective filter?


Thanks in advance.

[tripdad]

Hi THS, I have a Bak Pak on my nano also. It does a great job but is a bit touchy at times. I also had the micro bubbles at first, they seem to be most problematic when the water is "off" a bit, i.e. salinity, coral sliming , too much food,etc. I have had good results taking a bit of cellular sponge and cutting it into a plug that fits into the outflow tube to kind of "bind" these into larger bubbles. I have also found that opening the air mix valve all the way open(seems backwards I know)gives me no microbubbles unless something in water column is way off. I get dark,wet,skimmate and empty cup every other day. Also keeping the center tube and lid clean in the collection cup greatly improves the skim. The issue of vibration noise gets better if you "pad" where the unit sits on or against the tank with foam tape or similar, also the cup tends to rattle in the box, adjusting carefully makes this go away. Good luck with your reef.

[THS]

Tripdad, I opened up the air line and you're right, no more air bubbles! I guess more air in means less water in means less water flow out.

I also got a richer, wetter skimmate right away.

Thanks for the help! I'll work on the vibration soon.

[tripdad]

THS, glad it worked out for you, happy reefing.