BK Skimmer Cup Lid Question?

[Louey]

Does water evaporate though the holes in the lid of the BK?

I've had a humidity problem in my fish room lately and perhaps coincidentally when I installed my new BK 300 EXT.

There is water collected all around each of the holes in the lid, so it seems to me that water could obviously escape there.

Should the holes be plugged?

If I cover them, will it effect the perfomance of the skimmer?

BTW, the BK 300 is a skimming devil. I love it.

Here's a picture of my BK

Louey

[GTR]

If you cover the holes the air will have no place to go. Put a piece of tape over all but one hole and feel the rush of air coming form the uncovered hole. All the air being drawn into the body is exiting the skimmer through those holes.

SteveU

[scottw]

wow thats a killer skimmer . Looks like it was packed great hehe.

[fintastic]

I am planning on getting a BK, but do those holes emit a nasty smell?

My ETSS connects to a waste container which has a carbon filter on it to eliminate any odor from the skimmer.

[scottw]

I ran both the 300 ext and 400 internal. Never a smell from either of them. i run a 250 now on a small tank and can't smell a thing!

Just drain it every couple of days, and clean it out once a week and your set

[Orion76]

No smell issues with my BK300.

[GTR]

If you don't keep it clean it's gonna stink. No way around that IMO. I've had skimmers in the past with carbon filters for the output air and never used them. I think the smell acts as a reminder.

SteveU

[Louey]

ScottW wrote:

wow thats a killer skimmer . Looks like it was packed great hehe

Thanks!

And yes, it was packed quite well.

Louey

[Louey]

I'm still have problems with water getting, for the lack of a better word, splattered about the fish room.

I suspect that the BK is somehow doing this. The wall behind the skimmer has some splatter on it. The floor in the fish room has some splatter on it. And worse, my 75G refugium's stand gets wet.

In the picture below you can see where the stand of my 75 is getting wet. You can also see where I drilled a hole in the base. I wanted to see of the floor under the stand was wet. It was not. The stand is somehow getting wet from above. There is no water trail showing where the water is coming from.

The other picture shows some water spots on my step stool. The is the same type of splatter I am getting on the floor, on the side of the aquarium stand, and wall behind the BK.

This splattering only seems to happen at night. I use a box fan to blow air in the aquarium stand and dry it out. The next morning it is always wet again. The humidity in the room is also extremely high in the morning. In the 85% range. It's only in the 60's during the daytime which is about the same as the outside humidity this time of the year. Yeah, it's humid in Florida.

Any ideas?

Louey

[Travis]

That looks like plain old condensation to me. If your fish room is very humid it is inevitable that water will start condensating on surfaces in the room. What makes it even worse is where you have had salt water spilled before. I'm guessing that salt water has been spilled in your stand before. When it dries, it leaves the salt behind. In a humid environment, the water in the air is first going to be absorbed by those areas where there is salt. So your stand is always going to be the first place that looks wet. You probably need to do something to control the humidity in the fish room. Some options are a dehumidifier, a dedicated window/portable a/c for the fish room, and/or turning off the fans that blow over the sump.

[Louey]

I have a room 12000 BTU window unit in the fish room.

I now actually am beginning to suspect the AC unit. Maybe Wilma blew it out of plumb or something. I went outside to make sure it was dripping the condensation out on the ground properly and it was not. I adjusted it to make sure it was draining properly. I can't figure out how that problem would yeild this result, but I suppose it is possible. We'll see in the morning. Hopefully this was the problem.

Louey

[Louey]

Damn. It was wet again this morning, so the AC wasn't the cause.

I must have a leak in the bulkhead on the bottom of the 75G fuge. I can't see the bottom of the bulkhead because of the stand construction.

I am going to turn that tank off tonight, siphon out the water from the overflow compartment, and see how it looks tomorrow morning.

What a PITA.

The BK skimmer rocks. I cleaned it Sunday and already over a half inch of stank in the cup after one day. At least I have that going for me.

Louey