Skimmer pump going limp!?

[toyota44]

I have had a skimmer simmilar to the Sea Clone for about a year. The skimmer pump hangs on the inside of the aquarium with the nozzle facing straight up which is supposed to shoot the air saturated water into the column, causing it to foam at the top. It came with a RIO 800 pump which worked fine for a while, but stopped "foaming" after a couple of months. I immediately replaced it with a new RIO 800 pump and the exact same thing happened again. Finally I started thinking it was the pump brand and replaced it with a Maxi-Jet 900 which has almost exactly the same GPH output and IT DID IT AGAIN!!!! WHAT IS GOING ON? It foams for a while, then just pools. HELP! Has anyone had this happen to them? Could it be the orientation of the pump? All of the skimmer parts,pipes, and cup are free of anthing to hinder it's performance....what do I do??????

 

[SPC]

Have you cleaned the pump?

Steve

 

[MediaOne]

As Steve said, try cleaning the pump and its impeller... and also check to see that the airline is not clogged with anything (sand etc.)

it should work ...

 

[Anonymous]

Hate when that happens.

 

[EmilyB]

I don't think I have ever seen a skimmer such as you describe.

While it is good to have a nozzle pointing straight up, I suspect it would tire being forced into this as a permanent position.

 

[Anonymous]

It is putting up the good fight though. Doing the best it can to keep up. That's a good pump. Almost as good as my favorite little giant!

 

[Anonymous]

Try Viagra.

 

[lesbill]

A similiar thing happened with the pump that came with my CPR Backpack about 1 year after I started using it. I cleaned it out real well (so I thought) and it started working so, so. A few months later I took it apart and dug out all little pieces I could get to with the end of a paper clip and I found calcium deposits I didn't think existed. This was before my tank was a reef tank and I used ESV B-ionic but I did not dose with Kalk or anything. Good luck and I bet if you look hard enough you'll find something...later

 

[Anonymous]

Hi les, welcome to the board!

And I'm sorry, I saw that people said t oclean the pump, but I didn't realize that no one said to use vinegar. Soak the impeller and anything else you can in white vinegar. That gets rid of the calcium deposits.

And if you live in an old house and noticed a drop in water pressure, try soaking your shower head and aerators in vinegar as well. Love my shower now.

If you need any other Mrs. Fixit home advice, let me know!

 

[EmilyB]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by tangirl:
<strong>
And if you live in an old house and noticed a drop in water pressure, try soaking your shower head and aerators in vinegar as well. Love my shower now.

</strong><hr></blockquote>

Excellent advice tan..

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Em. It's one of my pet projects. Every once in a while, the water pressure in my shower drops to nothing. Soak the showerhead a little bit, get out the chunks and it's good as new.

 

[Jawbone]

The way that sea clone works is on a venturi... a way of building a vacuumm by rushing water past an orifice and the turbulence or speed of the rushing water will cause a vacuum and in this case the vacuum is being used to force air into your water stream. (that is my honest made up sophisticated wild ass guess on how the venturi works)... anyway if the air stream gets plugged which I dont think is happening here. or if the pump slows down its flow from 70 GPM or whatever it is rated then the calculated venturi cannot be acheived and the only solution would be to clean the pump impeller from algae and slime buildup or run hot water through the air line to break up salt buildup