Skimmer Issues

[Dee]

I've got a Coralife 220 skimmer and it's been acting up the past few months. It's not producing bubbles, then we take it apart, put it back together and it does...then stops. This last time we couldn't get it to produce bubbles no matter what we did.

My husband read somewhere that part where the water comes out of the system and back into the tank (flexible tuby thingy with sponge on the end) is a piece of crap and needs to be replaced with something better. He can't find any good descriptions of what that would be though.

HELP! We've had this skimmer for a year and never had problems until recently.

Thanks,
Dee

[dustint21]

I have the 65 model and dont have the sponge/return box on it at all! I dont know if they are different but mine works fine! Does yours have the little grey valve that connects to the top of the return neck with a piece of air tubing? Mine got clog and it gave me a hard time but after i cleaned that out havent had any problems!!
Good Luck! Im going to get a better skimmer for my tank!

[ErikH]

The needlewheel is probably seizing. Take it apart again and ensure that it fits just right. I had that problem a few times.

[fishn]

I second checking the air intake tubing. Also I am not sure about that skimmer, but you may be able to do a mesh mod to get mor bubbles.

[aquasport24]

As mentioned above , check air tube for glogs and kinks, and check for the plastic piece where the tube connected to. Also , take the pump apart ,check for algae growth and soak it in vinegar for a while...good luck