I am not familiar with this skimmer. I take it is a venturi stlye? If so on most venturies you want you water level about a quarter to half way up the neck of the skimmer. The higher the wetter the skimate will be. I prefer a drier skimate.
I found a picture of the skimmer- I guess the water level should be around the base of the constricted neck at first. Foam should run up the neck, but it will depend on how much gunk is in the water and how powerful the pump is... Also they take a while to break in sometimes.
I tried cranking the level up.. but the rubber O ring making the seal to the head is a bit... not water tight. I have fiddled with it so it's not leaking now.
I'm tending to agree that the initial level may be intended for right at the neck.
I got a hang on style because of lack of room in my sump... UGH. the thing isn't adjustable to the lower water level in my sump, so I had to re-rig the pump to ride lower and the outlet to go into the bubble diffuser but off to the side. I now wish I had gotten the in-sump version
It's skimming along now but I feel the pump that came with it is a step too small. I was hoping for more violent water / bubble agitation.
I find myself wishing for an airstone or a bigger pump. Maybe I'll keep the skimmer and upgrade the Rio that comes with it to something better.
I bought this thing for $129.00 from aquadirect. It took FOREVER for it to get to me and they have a tendency of not always answering their calls and emails. When I finally got hold of them they told me they had sent me 2 emails about it being backordered..... ?!?!?@? I didn't get them.. but I got one that said part of this order was unavailable and they would credit my card back for the appropriate amount. That was ok, but the overall purchase was a hassle.
In retrospect I kind of wish I had forked over the extra $60 or $70 for the ?Kent? (I think that was the one) skimmer my kind of local fish store had in stock. I could have had it sooner, I'm confident that it there would be more bubble / water action. When will I learn it's not always best to cheap out?!?!?!
