skimmer making few bubbles

[donlankford]

I have a Reef Octotus BH-1000 HOB skimmer. its been running for about 3 weeks on a little ten gallon tank to break it in. Went today to move it to a 55 gallon tank and now it is producing very little bubbles nowhere near enough to make bubbles go up in the collection cup. I have taken it apart and put it back together the way it was and still no bubbles. i can see through the body of skimmer and before it was a cloud of bubbles. What happened and how can i fix it?

 

[Mandarin66]

RO water maybe fix that for you what type of water are you using? Tap? Or RoDI water?

And nice to see someone from maryland :P

 

[donlankford]

its tap water that doesnt have any salt in it. wanted to make sure everything was running well before i put salt in there

 

[donlankford]

there is no sand no fish no anything in the tank other then heater circulation pump and thermometer

 

[Cheeser]

Unscrew the inlet pipe that sucks water in. Unscrew it from the skimmer body, make sure the o-rings are lined up right because when u moved it, even just the smallest tug on that inlet pipe could move that o-ring out of place, and it needs to be airtight to work properly. So unscrew it, realign those orings and screw it back together snug, but not too tight because u could bust those o-rings. After that fill it back up with water n plug it in and it should be back to normal. Hope this helps.

 

[donlankford]

o rings are are there and where they supposed to be and still no bubbles

 

[Ted]

Is the airline kinked or disconnected?

 

[Mandarin66]

its tap water that doesnt have any salt in it. wanted to make sure everything was running well before i put salt in there

Try using saltwater that is RO water and see if that make a differance because for me it did

Using skimmer in freshwater without salt will do nothing because skimmer arnt made for freshwater and RO unit water will make more bubble then fresh

 

[Cheeser]

Are u sure the inlet pipe is tightened all the way? Sometimes it might not be pointing straight down, it might be kinda diaganal. Also did u close off the air for a while? It might take a minute or two. Otherwise, I would call the manufacturer during the day. There pretty helpful.

 

[Mandarin66]

Are u sure the inlet pipe is tightened all the way? Sometimes it might not be pointing straight down, it might be kinda diaganal. Also did u close off the air for a while? It might take a minute or two. Otherwise, I would call the manufacturer during the day. There pretty helpful.

Wait! Maybe he could also clean the airline tubing

 

[donlankford]

airline not kinked or dirty. ive tightened everything as tight as i could get it without cracking anything and still no bubbles probably gnna call manufacturer tom.

 

[Bifferwine]

A skimmer won't work in freshwater. You have to run it in saltwater.

 

[donlankford]

So just go ahead and put salt in there the water and let it dissolve and then try the skimmer in a couple days? I know that skimmers arent used for freshwater just didnt know that they wont work in freshwater.

 

[Amba]

Don't add salt to a tank. Mix up some fresh saltwater, let it sit for a few hours, and test the salinity. Get it as close to 1.025 as you can, then try running the skimmer. You can damage the venturi by doing it any other way.

 

[donlankford]

Ok i pulled half the water out and mixed it with the salt last night and put it in the tank this morning. when i got home form work i turned on the skimmer and poof it is working. i didnt think that the salt in the water made that big of a difference but i know now that it does. Can someone tell me why it makes such a big difference?

 

[Mandarin66]

OMG I SAID THIS SINCE THE START OF THIS THREAD X.X *ragequit*

 

[Amba]

Viscosity.

 

[Northstar24]

Salt in the water changes the surface tension of the water, which is what allows it to do what it does