Skimmer problems

[justanotherfishhead]

I have the Bak Pak 2 skimmer. Over the past few weeks I noticed that it wasn't producing as much waste as before - still making bubbles but not taking the gunk out of the water. So I took it apart and cleaned it out completely yesterday. I found that the airline tube was really clogged with white stuff (salt/mineral buildup I guess). So I figured that was the problem. Now it's making bubbles but not producing any waste at all. When you totally clean out a skimmer, does it take a while to pull out waste again like before? I don't understand why that would be. About a month ago I started using PhosBan in my canister filter to help reduce hair algae - do you think that would have affected how much the skimmer is pulling out?

 

[bazza1979]

have u adjusted something on the air/breather pipe ?????? both my skimmers have adjustment taps to increase or decrease bubbles to collect waste !!!

 

[justanotherfishhead]

The instruction manual says to open the air valve completely for the most bubbles, so that's the way I've always had it. Maybe cleaning it out makes it like it's brand new again and the stuff has to build up?

 

[bazza1979]

one of my skimmers u can adjust the height of the cup and i have my breather fully open too..... so when adjusting the cup u can change the amount of bubbles that climb into the cup and the other skimmer u just alter the breather for the height of the bubbles in the base of the cup !!!