Venturi skimmer operation

[paultaylor]

Hi all,

Newbie here ! I have setup my sump in the kitchen for a test, more or less as it will be installed under the aquarium afterwards. In the sump I have my heater, 50 litres of salt water and my new Aquacare 2000V venturi skimmer.

The manual for the skimmer says that the water surface inside the skimmer should be flat when operating. BUT it appears that I can't get the system to start making the small bubbles without some decent pressure / moderate air intake. When I do that the surface of the water inside is like an effervescant tablet dissolving.

Is this wrong ? Should I reduce the water pressure going into the skimmer so that the surface is flat and if so at what point will the system start making any bubbles ? only after it has something to 'skim' ? :?

Thanks in advance for your help,
Paul

 

[tangir1]

Never heard of the skimmer, but with the type of documentation I expect from this hobby, I think "flat" mean you don't want to hold the skimmer sideway or tilted.

The bubble is what makes skimmer work. With enough bubble, it will raise to the collection cup on the top.

Kitchen sink is not a good place for test if you only use freshwater for the skimmer. For protein skimmer to work properly, you need to use saltwater and have some protein/junk in the water.

 

[liquid]

Exactly what tangir1 said.

Shane

 

[Anonymous]

Exactly what Liquid said... Just to add, I thought/did the same thing.. it all works when you let it run for a week or two in the real environment.
~wings~

 

[ricky1414]

I agree, skimmers will not create a foam with freshwater. I believe it has something to do with salinity and ph.

 

[tangir1]

Not really, but kind of. It is the surface tension, which is a function of salinity, that make skimmer works in seawater.

 

[Johnsteph10]

You will get a little foam, however, in a cichlid tank...which correlates with what Tangir1 said..(because of the slight increase in salinity from replicating the african lakes)..

I agree with everyone. All a skimmer does is replicate the pounding of the waves against each other and against the shore. The first time I thought about the fact that I had walked through a foamy protein-rich waste paste on the shore when I was little....eeeeeeeeeeew.

Anyone want to hold hands and hum?

John

 

[paultaylor]

Never heard of the skimmer, but with the type of documentation I expect from this hobby, I think "flat" mean you don't want to hold the skimmer sideway or tilted.

The bubble is what makes skimmer work. With enough bubble, it will raise to the collection cup on the top.

Kitchen sink is not a good place for test if you only use freshwater for the skimmer. For protein skimmer to work properly, you need to use saltwater and have some protein/junk in the water.

Like I said I have it setup in a sump with salt water. When they say 'flat' it reads, take off the skimmer cup and look into the skimmer, the surface should not have waves etc but should be flat.

So the question is, should the surface of the water be flat when in operation or should it be effervesing (fizzing) with small bubles. Like I said the salt water currently has no proteins in it.

 

[tangir1]

No bubble, no work.

 

[danmhippo]

If that's what the instructioni reads, then I have no clue what the company is talking about.

Since you are testing the equipment now, it doesn't hurt to do some experiments. You've seen eggwhite foam right? Try mixing a table spoon of egg white into a cup of seawater, mixwell, and dump half cup of what you just created into the tank. Try various settings on the skimmer and see which setting works to create foamy skimmates.

 

[paultaylor]

If that's what the instructioni reads, then I have no clue what the company is talking about.

Since you are testing the equipment now, it doesn't hurt to do some experiments. You've seen eggwhite foam right? Try mixing a table spoon of egg white into a cup of seawater, mixwell, and dump half cup of what you just created into the tank. Try various settings on the skimmer and see which setting works to create foamy skimmates.

Thanks I did that and it works great. I think what the documentation meant was that the surface of the skimmed material should be flat and not have waves and not the clean salt water.

Cheers
Paul