question about remora skimmers

[howdy20012002]

I have a remora aqua C skimmer in my SH tank and sometimes it foams great...then an hour later, it is doing nothing..then a few hours later foam again.
Any ideas on why it is so sporadic?
I have a maxijet 1200 on it..am I pushing too much water?
I also don't have a air hose on the maxijet, should I have one so to increase the air bubbles?
thanks in advance for any help
Neal

[mr_alberta]

If you don't have a venturi on the Maxi-Jet, how is the skimmer making foam? :question:

[howdy20012002]

i really don't know to be honest. I bought it used and it didn't have air hose on the pump..so I didn't put one on it.
I know that on my other bigger remora skimmer in my 90 g, I don't have a air hose either. I have a bigger pump on that one...(not sure what type)
that one works fine without a air hose.
So are u saying that I need a air hose on the pump?
It does create bubbles at times.

[fresh]

you don't need an air-hose to the pump... The design of these skimmers doesn't require ventury and air hoses... which is one of their advantages.

They work by thrusting water through a small openning and that is what creates the froth/bubbles/foam/etc.

[ryanfish]

It creates bubbles via a spray injector (i think). I have a remora pro and it stops skimming whenever I put my hand in my tank, when feeding or adding kalk or magnesium. Takes about 10 minutes to an hour to start up again. If it takes takes to long to bubble or doesnt bubble at all then try lowering the collection cup or try cleaning the spray injecor with the brush it comes with (pipe cleaner)

[howdy20012002]

thanks for the help
I didn't know that I could actually clean it
I will try that tonight
thanks again
Neal
has anyone tried putting a airhose on the pump? would this make it work better?

[OCDP]

Neal, I would say clean the skimmer's spray injector well.. and clean the maxi-jet. This helps so much.. also, I would not run any air hose. Just leave it be, these skimmers are very effective (at least IMO..) Just keep everything the way it is... and give the whole unit a good clean. When I clean my pump and injector I get nearly a cup of skimmate a day. (wet)

Also, Remora's are pretty notorious for crapping out for an hour or so after hands are in the tank, after feedings, dosing (as mentioned), etc, etc.. but IME it only stops producing skimmate for an hour or so.. depending. If you feed heavy, expect a little longer in delay. I know when I put a bit of garlic extract on my mysis, it stops working for a couple hours.

Overall, a sweet HOB skimmer, works very well for the price, and has such low maintenance. I have been using mine for a couple years now... not a single complaint. I have never had one problem with mine either..

It's all in the maintenance.. keep the injector and maxi-jet clean and it willl work like a charm.



Anywhoo...

[howdy20012002]

I will definitely rip it apart and give it a good cleaning
I know my Remora in my 90 gallon does an awesome job.
thanks again
Neal

[Todd]

If you do clean the whole thing, expect it to not give you anything for a few days. I cleaned all of mine a few weeks ago and it didn't give me anything for a while (alot of junk came out of the bottom of the thing though). Also while trying to quite mine down I added some strips of an old shirt (clean cotton) to the area where the spray injector is on the side of the unit under the collection cup. This not only made it MUCH quieter but it also seemed to have improved performance by about 1/3 (This was pre-cleaning).

[howdy20012002]

is there anything I can do about the micro bubbles coming out of it?
It is in my seahorse tank and I don't want the bubbles in the tank if possible

[Todd]

While on the same thread search someone mentioned putting a piece of foam over the return (similar to the ones you would see on an aquaclear). They mentioned that they just cleaned it once a week or so. Seems like it would work although I haven't tried it yet. The Microbubbles are quite annoying, and are much more noticeable on my tank now that it is a room divider with no wall behind it.

[albert_dao]

Make sure your hands are super clean before you put them into your tank. Also, if you use really fatty foods like mysis, it's going to hamper the performance for at least a few hours. Just wash your frozen foods off before you use them to minimize that.

[fkshiu]

The slit filter sponge over the output lip works very well for microbubbles.

Remoras are very sensitive to oils in the water so try to minimize that whenever possible.

[goby1]

I used to get a lot a micro bubbles with my Remora when it was new but there are none now. Also, after I clean it there's micro bubbles but after a few days there's nothing. If you give it some time they will probably disappear.

Beware of anything in your tank with any kind of oil residue- when I changed the foam pads in my filter it literally didn't skim for almost 6 weeks (and I had rinsed them well). I did water change after water change and was starting to panic but it did kick in again eventually. At the time I was really unimpressed but all in all, it's been a good skimmer for what I have (46 g).

[Raf]

I am curious,

where in the skimmer is the injector located so I can clean it?

[ryanfish]

I am curious,

where in the skimmer is the injector located so I can clean it?

Look inside the skimmer and you should see a a white plastic screw on the intake pipe. Take the screw off and stick the brush (that came with the skimmer) inside the hole and start cleaning. If you dont have the brush you can get some sort of pipe cleaner brush at your local hardware store (i think).

[OCDP]

Look inside the skimmer and you should see a a white plastic screw on the intake pipe. Take the screw off and stick the brush (that came with the skimmer) inside the hole and start cleaning. If you dont have the brush you can get some sort of pipe cleaner brush at your local hardware store (i think).

Haha , edit: relalize I basically just said everything you did :D