Air intake on Turboflotor...

[Wild Child]

I have a Turboflotor in my sump with a small air pump feeding the air intake. It was fine for over a year, only clogging the intake once, now in the last 2-3 weeks, the intake has clogged 3 times with salt buildup. Any recomendations on how to alleviate this? Skimmer works great otherwise...

TIA,
Dave

 

[Garry thomas]

Why are you running an air pump, you will lower performance not raise it, and you definatly did NOT read that in the instructions? as for slt build up , yes you run a marine tank, clean the pump behind the impeller more often a pipe cleaner and vinegar will sort it.
And by the way i'm not attacking, the complete range of turboflotors are excellant skimmers straight from the box! and yes i do speak from experiance

 

[esmithiii]

Garry:

I am not sure if you guys get the same units as we do because on my T1000 with needle-wheel impellor it would not suck air unless you added an air pump.

WildChild:

My unit did the same thing. I eventually replaced it with a better skimmer. In the mean time, I would use a syringe to push hot water or a small amount of vinager (heat it in the microwave) through the air line. It is the easiest and quickest way to clear the line. Once I started adding kalkwasser though, I had to clean it every other day.

Ernie

 

[Garry thomas]

Smiffy thats interesting to know! but i cant see them changing spec! thats all i had on my first 1000 multi was the aqua b pump with pinwheel impeller an air silencer and thats it. It worked straight from the box. I have had many a conversation with paul davies in great britain (aqua medic importer) and i can assure yuom that apart from one of the large 5000 style skimmers that one is the only one to use external air pumps being obvious with the latter one because it has lime wood diffuser's in the bottom!

 

[Wild Child]

Garry:

Why are you running an air pump, you will lower performance not raise it, and you definatly did NOT read that in the instructions?

How is that going to lower performance if I am adding more air to the skimmer than without the pump? Not that I don't respect your opinion also, but I have heard the opposite from some other pretty respectable authorities...

And by the way i'm not attacking

????????? Usually when somebody has to say that, then they realize they could have phrased it a better way, and should have.

esmithiii:

I am not sure if you guys get the same units as we do because on my T1000 with needle-wheel impellor it would not suck air unless you added an air pump.

Actually, mine does/did suck air without the air pump, but not a great deal.

My unit did the same thing. I eventually replaced it with a better skimmer. In the mean time, I would use a syringe to push hot water or a small amount of vinager (heat it in the microwave) through the air line. It is the easiest and quickest way to clear the line. Once I started adding kalkwasser though, I had to clean it every other day.

Thanks for the tip, a lot easier than pulling the tube out and unclogging with a pin. BTW, which "better skimmer" did you go with? Besides the clogging issue, mine has been a workhorse.

 

[esmithiii]

I purchased a skimmer from Andy at MyReef Creations (http://www.myreefcreations.com/) I love it. It is a monster!

Ernie

 

[Garry thomas]

the reason that i said it would lower performance is that the pinwheel can only mash x amount of air, if you put to much in you will increase bub size making skimmer less efficiant!

 

[LFS42]

As far as skimmers not sucking air, I've noticed that I have had to open the venturi valve with a drill bit. (make the hole diameter bigger)
Not by much, but I've seen poor assembly (not necessarily on the Turboflotor) where a dab of glue or something like the sort is blocking the valve.

Check the line by triing to blow through it.

 

[pardsie]

No flames please!
I also have used the turbofloater in the past and it performed well for a relatively inexpensive skimmer. I used a RIO 600 for the second pump. Never found that pulling water from the tank surface to feed the secondary chamber to work. I also have always dosed kalk. The skimmer performed OK then I added a Tetra luft pump to the airline intake tube and it performed a tremendous amount better. The tetra had to be tuned down somewhat. If I ran the tetra at maximum it would overdrive the skimmer. As far as clogging goes I found that if I cleaned the skimmer and the pumps with a solution of muriatic acid mixed with water until as clean as I could get them and then cleaned the air intake weekly it ran very well. Once a week I would take a glass measuring cup and fill it with water and a small amount of white vinegar. Then stick it in the microwave and bring it to a boil. Take the cup with hot water over to the skimmer and insert the air tube in it. The air tube will suck the water with vinegar down into the skimmer and remove the majority of the calcium deposits. If done weekly this always kept the skimmer running well.

HTH
Pardsie

 

[Anonymous]

My turboflotor started giving poor air performance as well. It was also cured with a small air pump.

 

[spawn_e_git]

I too have had to add an air pump to the air intake of my T100multi.

The pump was drawing air ok for the first year then decided not to anymore. I had to re-route the main plastic feed pipe to the skimmer to get it to fit the tank. Now if the pump is placed in the water at the normal place, no air is drawn in, if the union in the plastic pipe is uncoupled air is drawn in. One thing worth remembering is that all pumps loose a lot of efficiency after the first year of running.
The other porblem that you may have with the T100 is that if you switch the pump of to empty the collection cup, when you switch back on NO air will be drawn in. You then need to remove the pump and drain the water out of it and put it back. This will usually get the air intake working again.

I have to disagree with Gary about the bubble size issue. If you pump too much air through the intake you will notice that the flow rate of water through the skimmer will reduce. If you keep adding more air, the pump will stop pumping water and air will escape from the water inlet.

I would also recommend a word of caution with the UK Aqua-Medic importer. I have had many dealings with them and found them to be very arrogant and quite often wrong. I have had a very dissatisfying and very expensive experience with Aqua-Medic which resulted in me purchasing a piece of euipment that does not work as good as they said it will and they never offered me any refund/replacement. Also the LFS I brought it from said that because I brought it on the direct recommendation from Aqua-Medic, they would not refund me any money either. We are taking over £400 here!

If I was honest, I wouldn't touch them with a barge-pole. even some of their stockists don't speak too highly of them.

It's just an opinion though..........with the added experience

 

[Garry thomas]

spawny git if you'v had runnings with a/medic i'm sorry to hear about that, and yes although i said i'v spoke many times with paul, yes you are write he is very arrogent on the phone and not very helpfull although he eventually sorted me out! if adding an air pump works i will be telling friends and spreading the word over here? but my 1000multi worked excellant. Do you have the same pumps running them over there? correct voltage ect only a thought?

 

[spawn_e_git]

Garry.

Yes had big run-ins with Aqua-Medic. I brought one of their Nitrate Reducer400 units. The unit is rated for 400L tanks. The unit did produce nitrate free water but on manual adjustment it kept crashing. I was then told by Aqua-Medic that buying the MV computer and perristaltic pump would solve the problem. They knew the type of fish I kept and the tank size etc and said it would work. Alas it did not. The unit kept cloggin up with "snot" that stopped the circulation pump working and therefore made the unit work even less effectively. I tried many times to get responses from Aqua-Medic and got half hearted answers and blatant palm-offs. Anyway I've vowed never to but their equipment again on this basis and he better hope our paths ever cross 'cos he waisted £400 of my money.

T100

I had to re-route the pipe-work to get it to fit my tank as the hood cannot be cut. The pump sucked in air for a while but then I noticed that there was less and less foam being produced until there was nothing. I then added the air pump and I now get a much better swirl and lots of foam when I feed the fish. The foam is a wet foam 'cos the food is frozen prawn and cockle etc. This has a lot of protein in it. I just by the food from Tesco's.

I'm in the UK. The same as you. The pump is the 200l/hr Aqua-Bee

I agree that the Turboflotor is well made and will probably last a long time as it is German-made. I would advise ANYBODY in the UK NOT to buy Aqua-Medic because of the poor customer service they supply not just to the end user like you and me but to the retailers who sell the stuff.

The only thing you have to be carful with addding an air pump is that sometimes when the pump is switched back on after emptying the collection cup, water will be pumped back-up the air line so a non-return valve is essential.

How long have you been running the T1000? Some pumps can loose up to 30% output in a year. If you are having a good experience with them then ok but I would not hold my breath if something goes wrong.

 

[esmithiii]

My understanding is that there is a huge difference between the t100 and t1000. I will never buy their skimmer again, but I don't live in the UK either.

No flames please!
I also have used the turbofloater in the past and it performed well for a relatively inexpensive skimmer. I used a RIO 600 for the second pump. Never found that pulling water from the tank surface to feed the secondary chamber to work. I also have always dosed kalk. The skimmer performed OK then I added a Tetra luft pump to the airline intake tube and it performed a tremendous amount better. The tetra had to be tuned down somewhat. If I ran the tetra at maximum it would overdrive the skimmer. As far as clogging goes I found that if I cleaned the skimmer and the pumps with a solution of muriatic acid mixed with water until as clean as I could get them and then cleaned the air intake weekly it ran very well. Once a week I would take a glass measuring cup and fill it with water and a small amount of white vinegar. Then stick it in the microwave and bring it to a boil. Take the cup with hot water over to the skimmer and insert the air tube in it. The air tube will suck the water with vinegar down into the skimmer and remove the majority of the calcium deposits. If done weekly this always kept the skimmer running well.

Not a flame but who wants to clean their skimmer weekly!?? I had to run hot water/vinager through the air line every 2-4 days. Never again. I clean my skimmer from MyReef Creations whenever I feel like it. After a couple of months its performance slows down until I clean it again, but I am pleased overall.

Ernie

 

[pardsie]

Ernie,

The original question was not what skimmer do you recommend. It was can you help me out with my current skimmer. That was what the originator of this thread asked. That also seems to be what most of the respondents did.

Pardsie

 

[esmithiii]

pardsie:

Did you read my orignal reply?

WildChild:

My unit did the same thing. I eventually replaced it with a better skimmer. In the mean time, I would use a syringe to push hot water or a small amount of vinager (heat it in the microwave) through the air line. It is the easiest and quickest way to clear the line. Once I started adding kalkwasser though, I had to clean it every other day.

Ernie

I gave my advice on how to clean the cligged intake. My recommendations on changing skimmers is my opinion of the best solution. I struggled and struggled with my turboflotor and finally replaced it with a real skimmer. Cleaning your skimmer every week is not my idea of a solution. That is like saying "I love my Chevy Cavalier. As long as you change the transmission every six months it runs great!"

Also, was your skimmer a hang on unit? I understand that there is a big difference between the in-sump model and the hang-on model.

Ernie

 

[Wild Child]

Mine is the in sump model. I have since shot hot ro/di water thru the intake pretty much daily now, and what a PITA that is. I'm a little wary of adding vinegar daily. Unfortunately, I can't afford a new skimmer right now, but if this keeps up, I will have to find a way.

Pardsie:

The original question was not what skimmer do you recommend

True, but I did also ask in my second post what skimmer he had "upgraded" to. And I ask the same question to anybody else. Thru searching I have found that most people like the euroreef and the Aqua-C.
The urchin pro is nice due to the footprint, anybody with experience there?

The euroreef's footprint is pretty big plus not sure if I like the idea of a specific pump.

The only advantage of these over the My Reef Creations skimmer is that I can go pick them up at marinedepot and save the shipping.

Any avice is appreciated. Thanks

 

[Wild Child]

Also, I did want to mention that I tuned down the feed pump a bit before the excessive clogging, think this is causing it? I tuned it down because it seemed to be making less bubbles at a higher rate.

 

[pardsie]

As a last post. I found the turbofloater to be an OK fairly inexpensively priced skimmer. I no longer use this skimmer however because it was way underpowered for my 300 gallon reef. I now use euroreef and love it. The turbofloater ran fairly well with the adjustable air pump to boost it's output. I would remove the skimmer and take apart both pumps monthly to clean. If you remove the impellors and internal parts and soak them in a diluted solution of water and muriatic acid to remove calcium deposits and thoroughly clean the skimmer then it works pretty well for the price. If you turn it on and never clean anything then you cannot expect the skimmer to perform anyway near capacity. Hey you get what you pay for sometimes. As I said it is a fairly inexpensive skimmer, but it is far superior to say a Berlin.

HTH
Pardsie

 

[fisheye1]

I have had good luck with both types of turbo floaters, but you must make sure they are correctly adjusted. As for inflow: Make sure the water level rises to the upper collar. You should be able to pull off the faom cup and have the bubble rise to the top of the collar. If you slow it down too much I think you drop the eff. I think these skimmers are recomended for up to about 250 gallons. As for too much air input, it's def. possible. Just try blowing into the house and it will stop functioning. If you are geting salt creep up the venturi make sure you sump level is not to high up on the unit. Good luck