Weird Skimmer Issue

[pledosophy]

I am having a strange issue with my skimmer I haven't run across before and am curious if others have and what the solution might be.

I turn the power off to the skimmer when the tank goes into feed mode otherwise the higher water level in the sump causes it to overflow.

More than half the time when the skimmer turns off, when it restarts it does not suck air. I have to take the air intake hose off the silencer, blow into it, then reattach.

I have tried cleaning the skimmer, it doesn't help. Soaked it in citric acid for 48 hours, nothing. I am about to bin it if there isn't an easy answer.

 

[LesPaulPlayer73]

I had this issue when I was using skimmers with the PSK1200. Great pump when it ran. But never wanted to restart.

What skimmer are you running?

 

[pledosophy]

Nyos. Best skimmer I have ever had... when it works.

 

[Jimbo327]

Did you check the silencer and make sure there is no blockage? Maybe salt creep in there? Also, check the tubing itself. Maybe run some hot water through the tubing.

https://reefbuilders.com/2014/04/21/forget-clean-protein-skimmers-air-silencer/

 

[pledosophy]

I had not checked the silencer... I will do that.

I cleaned the tube thoroughly; that was my very first thought.

 

[R33FERnatic]

Is the air tube above the sump water level when it’s in feed mode? Make sure you clean the air port from the pump and the air tube and nothing is blocking it.

 

[drexel]

If it's a Nyos then it's the pump. They simply don't have to power to restart, which is why I sold mine and bought a Deltec. They since replaced their pumps with something stronger, but for the older models (160) this was a big issue. Mine ran fine for a year or more, but every time I shut it off for water changes, etc I had to manually blow into the air intake. I got no response from Ecotech other than to clean the skimmer.

 

[JohnBRZ]

I had the same restart issues with my tunze skimmer and replacing the impeller solved it.

 

[pledosophy]

If it's a Nyos then it's the pump. They simply don't have to power to restart, which is why I sold mine and bought a Deltec. They since replaced their pumps with something stronger, but for the older models (160) this was a big issue. Mine ran fine for a year or more, but every time I shut it off for water changes, etc I had to manually blow into the air intake. I got no response from Ecotech other than to clean the skimmer.

How do you like your Deltec.... I'm not old to blow in my skimmer everyday LOL.

 

[drexel]

How do you like your Deltec.... I'm not old to blow in my skimmer everyday LOL.

I love it! I have two, one old school with AC aquabee pump and one newer 600i w/DC pump. What I really love about these skimmers is the lack of a bubble plate, extra parts, etc It's just an internal pump w/needle wheel/venturi and the skimmer body. The other skimmers that I like are the Tunze 9400 series (9410, 9415, etc).
As for the Deltec's, I would size up just slightly and you have a lot of wiggle room for different bio loads. I have the 600i for my 90g, but with my fish load and heavy feeding, I would rather have the 1000i, but the 600i keeps up just fine. If I upgrade to the IM 150ext, I would definitely go with 1500i. Cleaning the Deltec's is pretty easy, once a year I take them completely apart and do a long soak overnight in citric acid, but around 6 months, I just take the skimmer out and run it in citric acid for a couple hours and I'm good.
For my nano system I'm using the Aqua Vitro Division 125 with the recirculating kit. I think these skimmers have gone under the radar because they're old school tech and use AC pumps, but your sump level can change and it won't bother the skimmer at all, especially with the recirc kit. But if I were to buy a skimmer with a DC pump in mind, I would go with another Deltec or any Reef Octo skimmer with a DC pump. I think people overthink skimmers and get hung up on build quality, but the main thing to keep in mind is, skimmers aren't under any pressure, so as long as the skimmer holds water and has a solid reliable pump and is easy to clean and maintain, it works for me.
I loved the Nyos 160 at first, it did a great job, but after a year or so it started to fail during restarts and it took me a while to figure out it was the pump (which is way under powered) that was causing the issues. I believe they replaced the pumps with slightly stronger ones. But the other issue was all of the parts that you had to remove in order to clean it and the drain/output tube can't be removed either (unlike the newer Deltecs, which can be swapped). And, if you over-tighten the screw that attaches the bubble plate, you can easily break the acrylic.

 

[Sold4JC]

Giving the skimmer a good citric acid bath and inspection wouldn't hurt. I like to run hot rodi water through the airline every once in a while to knock down any salt build up.

 

[DEWreefing]

My Nyos 160 had the same issue and the 300 never has restart issues.