skimmer overflowing cup

B

Bayou

I am setting up a new tank and I just installed my skimmer. I got an ASM G-4+. I put a gate valve mod on it, but when I turn on the skimmer the water colum goes up the cone, thru the neck and quickly overflows the collection cup and boils over.

Is the water level in the sump too deep?
Do I need to put a cap on the exhaust riser above the gate valve?

I looked on Reef Central at the ASM thread, but it is 120 pages. After 20 I got tired head!

Any advise would be appreciated.

Thanks
 
Sounds like your gate valve is closed too much or all the way. make sure it is open all the way and start adjusting from there. Adjust it to where the bubble column is about half way up the riser and let it run for a while to stabalize. Adjust it more from there.

Good luck. Hope this helps. If the valve is open all the way and you are still flooding the cup, the sump level is probably too deep. Try either lifting the skimmer up some how or raise the output level by making a shorter pipe.
 
Ditto with Bret.

Also, if your tank hasn't cycled, I might not even worry about running your skimmer until it has.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I have the gate valve all the way open, and it overflows the cup in about 1 minute. When I close it it overflows considerable faster!
The water level in the sump is 13" and the skimmer is on a 1.5" stand. So it is in about 11.5" of water which is only 1.5" more than recomended. That does not seem like too much.
Does raising the output level really make a difference?
Would putting a cap on the exhaust make any difference?

Thanks
 
I had the same problem with one of the tanks.You just need to raise the skimmer level up more above the water line and that will take care of the issue.
 
I raised my skimmer up so that it sits in 9" of water. I pluged it in hoping for the best and it took about 45 seconds to overflow the skimmer cup. I have the gate valve wide open.
I'm at a loss here. Any suggestions?
Please.
 
Can we see a picture? I think you may have installed the gate valve mod incorrectly. You don't want to have the water level too high in the body of the skimmer, and by opening the valve fully, it should lower the water level.

Here's an example on my Euro Reef.
er_mod_text.jpg
alt="">
 
I think I have it installed correctly. Gate then T for exhaust and drain.
Here are pics of how it was first installed and how it is after being raised. Only difference is height in water.

Thanks
 
Skimmer outlet is too high, you need to shorten the pipe to below the top the reaction chamber at least 2". Are you sure that is G-4?
 
I was a little confused by Ken's post so I will try to explain a little better.

The problem you are having is due to the height of the return. With your gate valve wide open you will never get the water level below the height that your Tee is at. Don't worry about the Tee being too low though. As long as the Tee is as low or lower than you want the water level in the skimmer to be since you can make the water level higher but not lower than the Tee by closing the gate valve. It is actually best to place the Tee a little lower than you want the level in the skimmer to allow for adjustment higher or lower if needed.

The return Tee that is just above your gate valve needs to be 2-3 inches below the top of the reaction chamber (main body of skimmer). You will need to cut some pipe out from below your gate valve and re-attach with a coupling, or replace the entire tube under the gate valve with a shorter one if possible would be best. I am not sure which will work as I don't have experience with ASM skimmers. You can see what I am explaining in Marc's picture above.

Sorry for the rambling, but hope this helps.
 
What they said. And I'd remove that piece of sponge foam as it does nothing now.
 
I got it! :D
I could not cut any pipes so I took the gate valve assembly apart and put it back together like this:

Skimmer riser pipe to T;
Vent out top of T and 90 out side;
Gate valve placed on other end of 90;
Discharge pipe out bottom of gate valve.

This allowes the T to drop in elevation 4" and be under top of reaction chamber, I still have ability to control water flow with a dry gate valve.

And it is a G4 plus. I bought it new and the box was labeled accordingly.

Thanks to everyone for your time and advise.
Membership to the club is always the best $15 I spend each year.

Also -
Gate valves rock!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top