Skimmer doesn't have steady bubbles

[TorchwoodMindfreak]

I just noticed that my Reef Octopus BH 1000 HOB skimmer is not producing a steady stream of bubbles. I don't know if this is normal or not (It's my first saltwater tank). It sputters a large amount of bubbles every few seconds. It hasn't produced any skimmate either. So is this normal and if not what can I do about it?

 

[Guest]

Make sure air inlet is not blocked


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[Munguia15]

Mine will do that from time to time. Just let it run the water through awhile and it will work itself out. I started with my water low then slowly tweaked the water up till it's to where I liked it.

P.S. I've only had my tank for 2 months. But it's running great now!

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[TorchwoodMindfreak]

Which part is the air inlet? And hopefully It'll work it out it was running for about two weeks and then was off for 5 days untill thursday.

 

[Munguia15]

Do you have a pic of it?


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[BigScott]

I'm not having trouble with bubbles but I would like some pointers on dialing in the skimmer to produce correctly. Can someone post some info regarding that?

Thanks.

 

[Munguia15]

Well a pic would be nice to give a general area to start or at least where I was told


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[TorchwoodMindfreak]

Here is a pic from before it was installed. I can take one of it now if i need to but it's kinda hard to see.

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[greeneyed]

The air line is the whitish hose going for the pump to the top.

 

[TorchwoodMindfreak]

well I feel stupid. There's a cap on the white thing that adjusts the air flow. So do I want the bubbles to pverflow into the cup or just to the top of the neck?

 

[Guest]

You want want it about half way up the neck then it should slowly push the gunk into the cup


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[Shmoopy]

Give yourself a little wiggle room if your not monitoring it closely. The level will fluctuate with a change in barometric pressure and could overflow you if your not careful.

 

[Mike M]

@Shmoopy wrote:

+1 Been there, done that, crossed that off the list of top 13 ways to flood your house:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-04/tt/index.php

 

[FuDz Cwerner]

I have a BH2000 that I am hanging on the side of my sump. With my BH2000 I had to mark the water line on the skimmer with the cup removed and then lower the cup to that the bottom of the letters where the "Maximum Water Line" is printed. This allows the bubbles to be ~1/2 way up the neck like kuyatwo suggested. In case anyone is wondering, I went with the HOB skimmer because my Marineland Type 1 sump does not have a separate compartment for skimmers and the level constantly changes due to evaporation making it impossible to dial in a skimmer.