Protein skimmer problem

Hi guys.

I'm hoping someone can help me with a problem I'm unable to solve with my protein skimmer. Its a Red Sea Prism (Yes I know, I've read a lot of negative things about them - but it came with the tank I purchased off someone).

The problem is this - I am able to prime the skimmer without a problem. Everything seem to be fitted correctly. Water is being drawn up the inlet pipe into the reaction chambers and is returning to the aquarium. This can only be achieved by placing the air pipe on the primer terminal of the collection cup. Up until this point everything seems to be going ok.

Now, when I switch the airline from the primer terminal to the hose barb terminal, all the water thats in the inlet pipe, empties out. Water ceases to flow. Some water remains in the reaction chamber, getting fizzed by air, but there is no water cycling through the system.

I've tried everything I can think of. I've download and read the instruction manual from redseafish.com. I thought maybe I was taking too long to switch the hose from terminal 1 to terminal 2, and so I pinched the airline with a pair of plier and attached it to the hose barb. Water was still flowing until I released - then all the water emptied out.

I'm pretty dumbfounded by this to be honest. Has anyone had a similar problem or know why this is happening?

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,

AK

Unfortunately purchasing the tank and all the equipment has cleared me out financially, so buying a new one was out. And I don't go down without a fight, and I wasnt about admit defeat.

I identified the problem as being too much air being sucked into the skimmer rendering it incapable of sustaining the water flow. Even leaving it connected to the barb terminal and pinching it with pliers to prime it didn't draw any results.

As soon as the pliers were released, too much air was still being drawn in. The solution? Reduce the air intake. I attached an air line valve directly to the barb terminal and the other end to the air line from the intake pipe.

The Prism is a poor design IMO. Someone at Red Sea needs a slap upside the head! I wonder how many other people have had the same problem that could be averted by the addition of a darn valve. 2 days I've been messing with this skimmer!:mad2:

As the result of diligence and logical thinking, I now have complete control over water flow and air intake.

:dance: