SWC 160 skimmer

[that0neguy1126]

One of my 2 did this last weekend too.

 

[daveydoodle]

Can I sneak a quick question in here about mine too? First time ever using a skimmer (never did in FW tanks) and I have the SWC 150. I'm in 9" of water (8"-10" recomended) and I don't know how to dial this in right. I ran it wide open for a few days to "break it in" as people had suggested, but I don't know what level to set the bubbles to rise to, and how much air to let in. I don't have a bioloaded tank as of yet so I don't expect heavy skimmate, but should I be getting anything yet? I have brown algae (diatoms?) growing on all the rocks now and my live rock had coraline and green algae (unknown?) when I bought it. In the pictures, how high should I have the bubbles at? If I open the muffler (as I read it called in here) all the way the bubbles overflow, if I shut it down, no bubbles.

 

[Cake_Boss]

Leave it wide open, you really shouldn't be getting any skimmate if you don't any bio load in your tank...well, maybe a light brown like you have in the pics. It will start producing more that more bio load you add to the tank. Seems to be working great!

 

[daveydoodle]

Do I set the bubbles to be at the level the pictures shows, and the skimmate will just continue to puch over into the cup? Or do I need to raise the level closer to that of the cups lid?

 

[Cake_Boss]

Nope, just leave it for the time being. You don't have anything for it to pull out right now, once you add more fish you'll notice the bubbles start to rise. Eventually they'll overflow the crud into the collection cup.

 

[Zooid]

I like to keep the bubbles higher in the neck. With the bubbles that low, it tends to start a gunk buildup inside the skimmer body. I don't mind the gunk building up in the neck because I can just clean that out when I empty the cup but inside the body means I have to clean it out of the skimmer. Personal choice I guess.

 

[Kindafishy]

I adjust my 150 to have the water line just barely above the lowest part of the cone. (where the cone and main "cylinder" meet). This produces THICK nasty crud.

Mine sits in exactly 8" of water, which seems to adjust to where the spot on the knob almost lines up with the hole in the "flow cylinder" cap. (not sure if that was intended) Also I find I need to clean the salt buildup out of my intake "cap" thing about every 4-5 days. Which seems a bit excessive to me, and quite annoying to come home to after forgetting.

 

[Cake_Boss]

Update, my skimmer was inconsistent with producing bubbles. Sometimes it was great, sometimes overflowing. A few bio balls got sucked up against the volute, now it works better than ever. It's quieter as well

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