Prizm deluxe skimmer setup question

Z

zar

AC Members
Nov 22, 2004
46
0
0
I just added my prizm skimmer on Saturday. I had no problems with the assembly, placement or startup, but I'm not sure it's working correctly. If anyone with experience can answer these questions, I'd appreciate it.

1) The directions say to turn the flow down until there are no microbubbles in the output. If I do this, the water flow is down to about zero. In fact, I saw it dry up and stop completely once this weekend. If I turn it up to the bare minimum (see #2 below), I still see a moderate number of microbubbles in the water. Nothing troublesome (to me, at least), but I'm trying to stay true to the directions. Suggestions?

2) The directions say to turn the flow up until the foaming occurs at the "throat of the reaction chamber". Do they mean the throat in the square part of the reaction chamber, or the throat of the circular part of the collection chamber? The two are connected somewhat. If I turn the flow up until the square part fills, I get more bubbles than expected (see #1 above), but if I turn it down lower, I get almost no foam.

3) At what point will I start seeing foam push up into the collection cup? Right now I'm not seeing anything. The collection cup currently has some tank water from the startup process. Should I empty that first? Or is my new tank just not generating enough bad stuff to see any foam?

thanks much!
bruce
 
Ignore question #3 above -- the foam started coming in this morning. Good icky brown stuff. :) I still have open issues with the first two, however.

thanks,
bruce
 
Well, I also just installed my prizm saturday, and so far so good... I followed the directions word for word, turning the flow down(no bubbles in the output), then I slowly starting adjusting... I have mine set around 3/4 output, and the foaming is just above the o-ring in the throat(the throat is the circular part in the middle that "spits" up into the collection chamber), and the output has a minimal amount of micro-bubbles. I'm also seeing some good "stuff" in my collection cup so far, so its seems to be working ok. Don't expect to fully eliminate the bubbles, a small amount is ok, its when its full open that the tank gets TOO many... Hope this helped a little, i'm also somewhat new to this stuff...

Doug
 
Prizm

You'll never get rid of all the bubbles but they do decrease the longer your tank is skimmed. I adjust the flow to where the foam is bubbling @ the very top. Make sure the bubbling is not to wet or you get to much waste to quickly. watch it on water changes, you'll have to readjust it.
JAKE
 
Having set up my tank yesterday, I to am having some problems with this skimmer.

I am happy with the flow (so far) but every 10/20 seconds the skimmer seems to spit out a load of micro bubbles :(

DSC00747.jpg
 
Hey, lampshade...

I don't know if I have the definitive answer for you, but mine was doing something similar upon startup, but after a couple of weeks, it settled down.

There is definitely a "sweet spot" on these skimmers. I notice that if the water level is about the same, and if the general chemistries are the same, then the thing is pretty consistent. But change any of variables and it starts acting differently.

For example, I recently added a new coral to my tank. In the process of adding it, I accidently dumped the bag of water in with the coral. This raised my water height considerably (it was a big coral) and about 30 minutes later, I noticed that the prizm had started to puff and bubble like I had noticed in the "early days" when I was setting it up. Sure enough, the reservior was full and it was recycling tank water. Not a big deal (I just shut it down, cleaned it out, scooped out a couple of pints and then it was all back to normal), but it illustrates how sensitive it is to change.

In my case, the microbubbles decreased significantly when the skimmer was consistently building a head of bubbles in the reaction chamber. In addition, I noticed many more microbubbles when the intake was set too high, resulting in a higher (vertically) head in the reaction chamber.

I think you just need to dial it down a bit, monitor and see how it works. Just be prepared to monitor and adjust as time goes on. Unlike the rest of the tank, these skimmers seem to require constant twiddling.
 
All this reminds me that I have another question of my own...

I've noticed that I'm getting quite a build up of algae at the exit of the skimmer. Literally, under the waterline, and attached to the plastic exit point on the prism. I haven't done anything about it, because:

1) It doesn't seem to be harming anything, and aside from the growth of algae on that piece in particular, I'm not noticing any faster growth of algae anywhere else in the tank.

2) I've seen the same kind of algae growth on the exit of a homemade AquaClear refugium at my LFS. I figure if they're okay with it, then I should certainly be okay with it. :)

So my question is: do other prizm owners notice this kind of algae growth at this place on the unit, and what do you do about it (if anything)?

thanks!
bruce
 
Mine has been set up for almost 2 weeks now, and it is just starting to produce thick foam. I have it turned down quite a bit. There are almost no bubbles going into the tank.

Because the air intake is related directly to water flow, I found on the web some mods. I drilled out where the air intake tube attaches from 3/32 to 7/64. I may go the next size up in a little while. It seems to produce more bubbles in the chamber (more air intake) while not getting swept away by the higher flow (less flow means more contact time).

I also noticed that this skimmer is extremely sensitive to any water level changes,a nd if you touch the water. Mine usually does nothing for a few hours after a water change.
 
Hey cool! I haven't heard of any mods -- can you post a link to them so I can read about them?

thanks,
bruce
 
I don't have the link, I just typed "prism mods" in the search. There wasn't many, drilling the hole was one, and another was to put foam on the outtake, to limit bubbles, but I found this didn't work that well. Maybe some really fine mesh?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom