Elite 200S Bubbles pouring out of the tee below the adjustment pipe

Jun 26, 2017

Mike wrote

I have a brand new 200S skimmer in a brand new tank. When the skimmer runs, tons of bubbles pour out of the tee just below the adjustment pipe. The skimmer is in 8.5 inches of water. This happens regardless of the pump setting, or how open the intake is. The skimmer is super quiet and produces plenty of bubbles in the cone. I had to turn if off as my 225 gallon tank was overrun with micro bubbles. I ran it for two days before I said enough. Any help would be appreciated.

3 Answers

Jun 27, 2017

Angie Brumfield agent wrote

Hi Mike,

New skimmers typically take about 2 weeks to break in and you can't really dial them in until after the break in period and they will be erratic during this time. Also we recommend that skimmers are in no more than 6.5" - 7" of water and that is referring to the water height inside the skimmer body. That may be causing some of the bubbles that are coming out of the output vent. You can also prime the skimmer to see if that helps with the bubbles.

To prime the skimmer do the following:

1. Turn off skimmer

2. Remove air silencer

3. With your thumb, plug the air hose so no air gets pulled into the skimmer

4. Turn on the skimmer

5. Let the skimmer fill up and run for a few minutes while keeping an eye on the inside and outflow of the skimmer. There should not be any air bubbles coming in/out of the skimmer. If you do, there may be an air leak and you need to tighten up the joints (manually, never use tools)

6. Once there is only water going in and out of the skimmer and it does not overflow (as it should not), then you can release the air hose and let air back into the skimmer.

7. Install the air silencer back and make sure you mount it up above water level.

Let me know if you have any other questions and I will be more than happy to assist you.

Angie Brumfield

CoralVue

Jun 27, 2017

Mike wrote

Thanks Angie. I tried priming the skimmer with the same results. What I hear you saying is this problem will simply go away as the skimmer breaks in. Will a skimmer truly break in with no bio-load? Should I turn off the skimmer until I start producing some proteins in the tank? Can I break in the skimmer in a separate tank with some decomposing shrimp to avoid the micro-bubbles in my display tank? I know, lots of questions. Thanks again for your help.

Jun 28, 2017

Carlos agent wrote

No, if there is no bioload on the tank, then there is nothing for the skimmer to collect. If you try to run a skimmer on brand new salt water, it will never foam up. The foam is created when the organics attach themselves to the air bubbles. Then the air bubbles start to collect forming the skimmer head. Without organics from bioload, the process cannot start.