Tip of the Day – 10/28/2010

Even though you regularly inspect and perform maintenance on your equipment, something small could go unnoticed, causing the equipment to under-perform. Case in point, I was tinkering with my protein skimmer and kept running into the same issues. The skimmer would take in a lot of air right after cleaning, but after a day or so the air intake rate would drop off, as would the bubble quality. I took apart the pump, cleaned the skimmer body, inspected everything, but I still ran into the issue. The air lines weren’t clogged, but a tiny buildup had developed in the tiny air adjusting valve. I removed the buildup, which sort of looked like a solid ball of salt, and the skimmer began performing at its best again. So, when doing any maintenance or if you run into a problem with your equipment, be sure to check everything. You might miss the cause of the problem the first time around, but you’ll eventually find it.