Cant tune Alpha 200 skimmer if my life depended on it

G

Genoks

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#1
i have a 240 gallon lps tank with heavy bioload tons of fish

big ones too, i feed 3 times a day

been running for 4 months now

and my problem is i can get my alpha 200 skimmer to

pull black nasty black skim it always come out like light tea color

its on 8 inch deep of water no restrictions on flow


pls haaaalp! :)



 
N

newtothis

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#4
I had this skimmer in the past. Great skimmer. Have you played with the adjustable venturi? I found that 1.5 turn on the venturi was really the sweet spot on my system
 
russ13

russ13

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I like to keep my bubble line when right about where the skimmer forms the neck(on your skimmer I would try putting it right where the grey connector is). Then as waste builds up it pushes up a nice dark foam and gives me that real dark green skimate I like to see
 
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Emac909

Emac909

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#6
russ13 said:
I like to keep my bubble line when right about where the skimmer forms the neck(on your skimmer I would try putting it right where the grey connector is). Then as waste builds up it pushes up a nice dark foam and gives me that real dark green skimate I like to see
Click to expand...
In wide neck skimmers this method won't work.
 
Emac909

Emac909

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#7
I say leave it. The Germans believe the wetter the skim the more phosphates u will pull out.
But if your heart is set on a dark coffee skim then I would try lifting it up a half inch or a inch so that u will pull more air into the body.
 
OGFrenchHorn

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newtothis said:
I had this skimmer in the past. Great skimmer. Have you played with the adjustable venturi? I found that 1.5 turn on the venturi was really the sweet spot on my system
Click to expand...
This. I had an Alpha 200 with a red dragon pump and I ran it for years. I loved it! I used to get really thick dark skimmate when the bubble line was half way on the neck between the screw rim and the bottom of the collection cup.
 
B

Bart

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Had a similar problem with the omega 150. The right baffle should be 8-9" so that when water evaporates you can top off in a separate section of the sump and have a stable depth where skimmer sits. Then dial it in
 
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