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First properly planted tank

Tinytom

Member
Joined
24 Jan 2020
Messages
35
Location
Sheffield
I’m Tom from Sheffield, iv just got my first aquarium which is going to be specifically for aqua scaping
It’s an opti white 80cm x 40cm 140l, co2 art reg on a fire extinguisher, 1400 ext filter
I got the tank and kit new but unused off eBay. Iv had a good read through the site before getting set up.
Iv just finished getting up and running and put my first few plants in there, one thing I am wandering is how to properly set up my filter inlet pipe. Iv got glass lily pipe and the inlet has a combined skimmer, is this supposed to float? If not what height am I to set it at? If I go too high it sucks in air and too low it seems to choke the pump. thanks
 
Welcome and good luck!
The skimmer part floats. Lift it up and put it back in, it should trap some air in the top section which will keep it afloat.
Then you need to adjust the amount the bottom inlet is taking in. The less inflow at the bottom, the more it will skim at the top. I have to pretty much shut off the bottom completely to get the skimmer working properly.
I also add a circle of mesh in the skimmer in case it gets sucked down and takes in livestock or floating plants.
Hope that makes sense/helps!
 
Thanks I’m trying now to get it to float but it just sticks no matter what I try. Is there supposed to be air down the pipe like this?
3C360446-F0BA-4F75-930D-468EFE5984EB.jpeg
 
So are you saying the skimmer gets sucked down?
Maybe the water level isn't high enough? If you can't fill anymore, can you position the skimmer suckers lower?
I filled the tank up right to the top and the skimmer is now floating and the bottom is clear of the return pipe but it still pulls small bubbles of air into the filter, not sure what else I can do
 
So looking at the pic the floating part is low down in the glass pipe and when this happens to mine the floating part gets stuck in the glass pipe, as presumably where it T's off the glass is a touch narrower. Are you able to push the glass down further into the aquarium to give a little more room between the top of the glass pipe and the water surface?
 
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