skimmer malfunction?

[tom619]

i have a ASM G2 (sedra 3500 pump) that's been running for 2 months on my 3-month-old 60g tank. It has not spit out anything to the collection cup since day 1, though the neck of the skimmer is really dirty, but never made its way to the top. The only water that ever came up to the collection cup has been the evaporated water. even more, the tank is somewhat bio-loaded with: blue tang, yellow tang, clowns, chromis. Am i missing something here??

at first, i figured i'd let it "break-in" after a few days.. but 2 months??? what!

i do water changes every other week.

thanks in advance

..

[pnguy3n]

I was having the same issue also, and I have quite bioload of fishes. For me I just cleaned the neck part I wiped all that goo out. Within a few hours it started to skim. Now I clean the skimmer every few days.

[stephj03]

How far up is the water level inside the skimmer?

[99sf]

Tom, have you tried adjusting the level of the bubbles by pulling up on the outlet tube? With my G1, I was able to get the bubble height raised by raising the outlet tube (the one with the sponge filter). I hope it works for you too. You should be getting at least 1/4 cup of skimmate per week, with your bioload.

[DaveMorris]

You definately need to adjust the water level in the skimmer as noted above by raising the outlet pipe. The skimmer is working, it is just depositing the gunk on the neck instead of overflowing it into the cup.

[pnguy3n]

I guess you do learn something everyday, I raised the outlet tube. Now there's more bubbles going up the neck. Thanks for starting this thread Tom.

[tom619]

problem fixed! thanks guys; you're the best. you're welcome paul!

[99sf]

Great! I'm glad you guys solved the skimmer problem with the outlet tube adjustment.