Skimmer help

[Animal-Chin]

I just bought a Vertex Alpha 170 skimmer used. It has the big external red dragon pump, the thing is a beast.

I've set it up in 10 inches of sump water per the instructions.

Been running 4 days so seems broken in.

Last night the water level in the skimmer started going nuts. It'd be skimming normal, the water level was only a small way up the cup neck, making froth, then all of a sudden the skimmer would go nuts and overflow. I'd have to open the gate fully and decrease the air fully just to get the water level back in the neck.......5 minutes later the water would be way down in the body and I'd have to ramp it all up again..........hour later super overflow.........

Any experience with this? Am I getting some sort of air lock somewhere in the lines or something? By the end of the night it calmed down and skimmed all night but it took me hours to get this thing to just work properly. Is this common? I've never had a super skimmer like this....

[Galizio]

I had previously a RE alpha 200, those skimmers are great but a bit finicky to deal with, but when you find the sweet spot just don't touch it.. sometime when I was feeding the fishes, or corals or just put my hand in the sump the skimmer was not skimming for a few minutes and back to normal after a bit


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[vanreefer]

I run mine (300) in 8" of water... Helped with the same problem

[Gp Scott]

There are a few things I would check make sure all your connections are ok your air and suction also that your pump is working properly is it clean and even power draw how much stuff do you have plugged into the same receptacle maybe it's not getting enough power when something else turns on
Happy hunting