Aqua C skimmer help

[bubbarockies]

Hey all, I picked up a used Aqua C EV-180 skimmer recently and would like to request some help. My system is about 155-160 gallons of water volume. I have about 30 lbs of live rock that was from a previous tank that I put in with about 125 lbs of new dry rock. My tank has gone through the nitrogen cycle so no ammonia/nitrite, with nitrate at about 5. I have some diatoms right now as well as a bunch of copepods and amphipod along with a couple of stars, so I'm making progress in that regard. Livestock is a clown goby and a purple tang as well as a few mushrooms, kenya trees and a digitata that were attached to the live rock that I put in. Now, in my sump I have some chaeto, 2 skimmers, and the return pump. The first skimmer is the Aqua C in question. It is being powered by a rio 3100 so it should be getting the 700-800 the manufacturer recommends. The pump is directly next to the input from the overflow, so it should be getting the most 'dirty' tank water before any other filtration, however, it has been running for a solid week and I haven't gotten any foam at all and still looks like boiling water. At first I thought there wasn't enough bioload in the tank, but the ASM is pulling out some skimmate while the Aqua C isn't even beginning to foam.
Anyone have thoughts/advice?
Thanks in advance.

 

[Cake_Boss]

Why is there two skimmers?

My immediate answer is that I agree with the light bioload.

 

[bubbarockies]

Essentially because I knew the ASM worked because I had it on a previous tank, and the aqua C was used so I wasn't sure if it worked well or at all so if it didn't work I wanted to have 1 that did. So I guess long story short, the ASM was a back-up

 

[jahmic]

Re: Aqua C skimmer help

What pump is on the ASM?

While the Rio will give you the gph of flow that you're looking for...the bubble plate alone may not be producing "fine" enough bubbles. A pump with a needle wheel impeller can make a huge difference in skimmer performance from what I've seen on people's tanks.

 

[bubbarockies]

So a needle wheel pump would be beneficial in addition to the spray injection system?

 

[CRW Reef]

Re: Aqua C skimmer help

I would call or email Aqua C as they have tremendous customer support or at least when I needed help they were outstanding.

 

[Cake_Boss]

Re: Aqua C skimmer help

So a needle wheel pump would be beneficial in addition to the spray injection system?

I used a mag 9.5 on my old AquaC EV180. This was "overdriving" the skimmer to get it to perform optimally. When I called AquaC, I was having the same basic issue as you, they told me to check the injector. Mine had a little chunk of carbon in it. Worked better after that. Plugging the John Guest fitting and lots of adjusting with the gate valve finally got it going good. My .02

 

[bubbarockies]

Mine doesn't have the JG fitting, but I checked the injector and it looked fine, but I will check it again as something may have clogged it. The Rio is theoretically running at only slightly more than 50 gph less than the mag 9.5 as it's max head is lower. I will give them a call after school tomorrow to try to figure out what the issue is. Thanks for the help guys!