Red Sea Prizm Skimmer

[casperice]

I bought a Red Sea Prizm skimmer 1 week ago for my 65L tank. Normal one without media basket or surface skimmer attachment.

Till today it has failed to produce any skimmate. I thought it needs time to run in.. but 1 week is too long i suppose.

Problem I encountered/encountering:

1. Lots of micro bubbles entering tank.

2. Been tinkering with the water input very frequently in the hopes of getting the right setting. Currently set at 10 o'clock position. any higher and will cause flooding.. any lower and confirm it will not skim. Water level at this position internally is just below the rubber O ring.

There are lots of bubbles produced internally but just not the foamy type in the chamber... Does that mean my tank water is too clean ?

Anyone with same experience or knows how I can tweak it to produce skimmate and also stop micro bubbles?

Ps. Tank using 1400L/HR external canister filter connected to CL450 chiller. Media: carbon, sorb4 and biohome.

Thanks.

[tanks51]

I bought a Red Sea Prizm skimmer 1 week ago for my 65L tank. Normal one without media basket or surface skimmer attachment.

Till today it has failed to produce any skimmate. I thought it needs time to run in.. but 1 week is too long i suppose.

Problem I encountered/encountering:

1. Lots of micro bubbles entering tank.

2. Been tinkering with the water input very frequently in the hopes of getting the right setting. Currently set at 10 o'clock position. any higher and will cause flooding.. any lower and confirm it will not skim. Water level at this position internally is just below the rubber O ring.

There are lots of bubbles produced internally but just not the foamy type in the chamber... Does that mean my tank water is too clean ?

Anyone with same experience or knows how I can tweak it to produce skimmate and also stop micro bubbles?

Ps. Tank using 1400L/HR external canister filter connected to CL450 chiller. Media: carbon, sorb4 and biohome.

Thanks.

Hi Bro,

Wat is you SG level?

[casperice]

Hi Bro,

Wat is you SG level?

Forgot the exact reading. Using the floating glass hydrometer. most of the green portion above the water level.

[nwyk153]

I bought that crappy skimmer 2 months ago. It skim normally for the first 3 days then it failed on me till now. I quickly upgraded to Aqua medic Biostar flotor and very happy with the results.

Maybe you would want to wait for another week(or so) for the skimmer to break in. Who knows maybe you could be the lucky ones to get the skimmer up and running.

Goodluck!

[angelfishlover]

Same goes here.I found it crappy and i should have bought Reef Octopus instead.The micro bubbles is you need to lower it again.Mine now working fine but then skimmer wise try not to get this brand.Cause i found out that if the water level is just below the rubber ring,It will overflow.Try to lower the water level to produce skimmate.

Just my cents

[peacemaker]

Well... there must be a reason why this skimmer is so often sold in the sales thread.

[tanks51]

Forgot the exact reading. Using the floating glass hydrometer. most of the green portion above the water level.

Hi bro,

Unless you willing to spend some $$ to change the skimmer if not try these method ensure your SG level at 1.022 - 1.024, take your whole skimmer out buy 6 bottle of white vinger and soak it for and hour. Then fire it up again and see the result, reason for doing that is u will see a thin flim of oil floatring on the water for some new skimmer...... rem to rinse is with water hor dun just take out and dun wash ur PH hit rock bottom not my problem huh.....

As for the micro bubble...erh.... sorry bro..... no cure.

This skimmer used for a nano tank is okay but u need to spend some time to tune it. This skimmer is consider a decent skimmer, alternative you can consider the reef octo skimmer, if u had deep pocket Tunze 9002.

[markietan]

i too own this skimmer and find the skimmer okay. i bought it 2nd hand from someone on this forum... he did a little mod on it which i find quite useful... he drilled a hole on the top of the skimmer cover, just big enough for an airpipe. then he insert the red sea wood block thingy into the reaction chamber and connect that to an external air pump through that hole.

that way more bubbles is created in the reaction chamber, and i can slow down the water flow out from the skimmer, which in turn reduce the number of microbubbles flowing back into the tank. it also reduces the noise of the skimmer (the tank is in my bedroom).

i find the surface skimmer quite useful. i also think cleaning the gunk accumulated on the 'funnel' regularly aids in the skimming efficiency. overall i think its performance is decent, vs say a weipro skimmer.

[Ah-lim]

Consider the price, okay lah, not so bad.

As seen in the picture, add a air valve, 50 cent from LFS. then ya can control more or less bubbles.

Supporter of octopus though.

[limsc]

I have being using a 2nd one for almost a year. So far so good.

The water level below the o-ring is just right.

If the water level is above, you will get more watery skimmate, depending on your requirement.

As for the microbubbles, it occurs to me during feeding time, but it will goes off after 1 hour.

For your case will be the run-in of the skimmer but 1 week is a bit too long though.

But is your tank stocked?? Cos if no LS, should not have much skimmate..

My humble opinion.

[Kalib]

I have this skimmer and microbubbles is a big problem but I find the skimmate quite alright. You can try inserting some filter wool at the outlet to reduce the bubbles, i did it and it worked in reducing the number of microbubbles entering the main tank.

[EdwinAw]

I have same experience as Bro. Kalib. So far so good for my skimmer & I have used this skimmer for more than 2 years.

Edwin

[jyoon]

I been using 2 of the RedSea skimmer in 2 of my quarantine tanks and they work fine. Good skimate. However need fine tuning.

[casperice]

Thanks everyone for your advice

Today did a 30% water change with salt water made with higher salinity. After water change, skimmer actually started to skim! Foam is now coming out which is a good sign!

Must be the SG... I think my hydrometer not accurate leh... before water change reading 1.024, did water change with 1.025. Floating glass type no good horr? Think I should go get the better one.

Micro bubbles are less but still present and acceptable.. will monitor for couple more days

Cheers!

[limsc]

Thanks everyone for your advice

Today did a 30% water change with salt water made with higher salinity. After water change, skimmer actually started to skim! Foam is now coming out which is a good sign!

Must be the SG... I think my hydrometer not accurate leh... before water change reading 1.024, did water change with 1.025. Floating glass type no good horr? Think I should go get the better one.

Micro bubbles are less but still present and acceptable.. will monitor for couple more days

Cheers!

Good for you...

I think at least the swing arm type of hydrometer should fare better than the floating type.