0pius Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 This is the first time I have used a protein skimmer so I thought I would document it and hopefully have others who have used the MCE600 tell me what I am doing wrong and hopefully point me in the right direction. Day 1: Set up skimmer as per the very brief instructions and pretty poor diagrams. It said something about set the air valve at 2 oclock not really sure how that applies to the air valve but have set it to what I think is 2 o'clock. Am seeing a alot of bubbles in the tank and the skimmer, more than I was expecting in both. Tried to throttle the air back but decided to leave it to see if it is just a initial run in period. 4 hours later checked tank even more bubbles now wondering if the degassing plate does anything, remove it and put spong in place hoping it will stop or minimise the bubbles. Play with the air intake again to make it quiet and cup overflows now wondering what the overflow pipe on the cup is for if it doesn't overflow the cup, looked closer at the cup and it was bubbles not water that overflowed the cup. Checked deltecs website they mentioned it will be new salt syndrome where the conditioning agents don't let the bubbles pop, now wondering if ASW is a good way to go, They do state that it will go away and that all clients that have complained about this have never come back saying it did not go away,they suggest either live with it or turn the skimmer of for a couple of weeks, well I am not going to turn it off and I am not going to go a couple of weeks without a water change either, now wondering why I decided to use a skimmer, decide to perserve. Day 2: Checked skimmer after work and discovered that the setting it was originally on is now not enough, slightly happy as maybe this means it is settling in, change setting to allow more air, still wondering what the 2 o'clock setting is. Let enough air in to make the bubbles rise half way in the cup. Decide I am not happy with the amount of bubbles in the tank as I suspect that they are going to eventually cause salt creep on my brand new lights swap sponge with a elbow joint and direct bubbles at the wall, resonably please with self, give pat on the back. Come back later cup is overflowing with bubbles again, check reef central deltec thread and the american importer for deltec recommends putting vasoline around the air hole to make the bubbles pop, now wondering why they don't just make it better or at least supply vasoline and call it a bubble degassing cream, decided not to do this as I do not know what will happen if some should get into the aquarium. Day 3: Check tank still alot of bubbles but not as much check skimmer obviously needs adjusting will do tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 you need to wash the sponge as this will cause bubbles. something on new sponge can cause bubble. leave tap fully open for a week and then set at 2 oclock, it takes time for the skimmer to build a slim coat, afetr this you should have no bubbles. raise the cup high and let the skimmer settle in, afetr a week lower the collection cup as required. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0pius Posted February 27, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 If I open the valve all the way it will overflow the cup,or am I supposed to let it overflow until it builds it slime coat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogmatix Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 you need to wash the foam (thoroughly) Then open it up fully Then raise the cup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0pius Posted February 27, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 wash the foam you mean sponge? What about the overflow when the air is opened fully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misnoma Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 It'll stop doing that after a while - mine did the same thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Mine put bubbles in the tank when new also, don't worry it will go away, but may take longer than the suggested week. Set it so the collection cup is only collecting a smallish amount of skimmate, not filling up real qiuck. Other than that, it's just patience & watch the slow improvement. BTW many new skimmers do this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0pius Posted February 27, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 So is it true about the conditioners in ASW, will I always have bubbles due to ASW or is this a "hey its not my fault its the salts fault" type response Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 No you won't always have bubbles, just keep skimming, the frothy stuff will get removed. But give it time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 You might have done some of these things, but this is what i suggest. Clean the blue sponge in freshwater. raise the collection cup as high as possable. open the air fully The skimmer takes tome to work as it needs to build the slime coat inside it . After a week drop the collection cup so that the foam slowly overflows in the cup. Set the air tap at 2 oclock. adjust cup as required. Air bubbles should stop, but you might get a small amount for a longer period. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misnoma Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 What is this magical blue sponge of which you speak? I don't think I have one of those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 good point, i will check, i might be thinking about the mce500 which has a blue sponge. If no sponge then you wont have to worry about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0pius Posted February 27, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 The magical blue sponge is one that I have lying around from other tools for the tank that I am not using, it didn't come with the skimmer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speed Posted February 28, 2006 Report Share Posted February 28, 2006 My new Aquamedic Biostar Flotar skimmer returned heaps of bubbles into the tank when i set it up initially but after a week, it releases no bubbles at all into my tank and it also took me a week before it started producing any skimmate in the collection cup. You just need to wait for the skimmer to "break in" <-- tat's wat they call it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachy Posted February 28, 2006 Report Share Posted February 28, 2006 So what happens when you clean the skimmer? does it produce fine bubbles again until it has the slime coating? and how often should they be cleaned? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted February 28, 2006 Report Share Posted February 28, 2006 you would only clean the whole skimmer one a year if that. all skimmers will produce extra bubbles until they break in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0pius Posted February 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2006 Okay update time Day 3 cont: Check skimmer no overflow, but still alot of bubbles noticed that the level of bubbles is not as high as it was in morning. Opened air intake a little bit more and bubble level has returned. noticed some brownish bubbles in the catchment area possible skimate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted February 28, 2006 Report Share Posted February 28, 2006 Opened air intake a little bit I did suggest that you leave it fully open for a week, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slappers Posted February 28, 2006 Report Share Posted February 28, 2006 i have the AP701 when i first got it,it was doing the same apart from no bubbles in the tank just the cup filling up all the time it took a good month to prime in with the tank, now there's no stopping it all sweet just amazed with it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0pius Posted February 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2006 Reef, Like I said previously if I open the intake all the way the cup overflows. However all keen to have this thing going. Update Day 3 cont: After a bit of spakling with vasoline I have managed to get the skimmer to run full throttle without any leaks, so far. The best thing about that is at full throttle there is only a miniscule amount of microbubbles in the tank not even enough to complain about, pats self on back for pseudo plastering abilities. If you should see carpet or skimmer on trademe tomorrow that will be due to the fact that it exploded and spilt water everywhere Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted February 28, 2006 Report Share Posted February 28, 2006 Opening the air valve full will lower the water in the reaction chamber. Close the valve and the water level rises, Did you move the cup as high as possible?? If this does not work then raise the cup has high as possible, then close the air tap so it is just open. This should fix it as I just did it on a mce500. The reason it could be overflowing is that your tank is full of nutrients. Which is likely if you have not had a good skimmer on the tank for the last 6 months? Give it a try and let us know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0pius Posted March 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2006 Day 4: Re spakled some areas, after a the overflow overflowed. Still at full throttle. minimal bubbles but still bubbles present. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0pius Posted March 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2006 Day 5: Throttled back to around the 2:30 position or at least I think it is, may be its 2:45 or 2:57. Still microbubbles in the tank. Lowered the collection cup (does that mean it is not far off from being run in) also added a hose to the top collection cup hole to let any bubbles go into a bucket instead of the carpet. So far so good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted March 2, 2006 Report Share Posted March 2, 2006 can you post photos so we can see if it is set up correctly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0pius Posted March 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2006 I'll see what I can do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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