Clams bad for skimmer?

[GarrettT]

Those who feed clams to their fish, are you experiencing skimmer issues? After one feeding, my skimmer instantly stopped producing bubbles. It’s been 3 weeks now and still no bubbles.

 

[Bucs20fan]

I feed clams 3x a week to my triggers and puffers and ive seen no ill or any affect on my skimmer.

 

[GarrettT]

I feed clams 3x a week to my triggers and puffers and ive seen no ill or any affect on my skimmer.

Grocery store or LFS bought? Do you pre-rinse through a net? I didn’t rinse mine and believe the added juice inside the clam affected the surface tension.

 

[Bucs20fan]

I feed on the half shell from LFS and I buy whole clams live from the seafood counter at my grocery store. I only defrost the half shells in some tank water and feed directly to the tank. As far as live clams, I just use a screw driver and punch a few holes in the shell and plop em in. Nothing that is crunchy lasts long in that tank.

 

[Bucs20fan]

If you are referring to LFS bought clam strips, I follow the same process as the half shell clams, except I cut the strips up and hand feed via tongs.

 

[Lasse]

It’s been 3 weeks now and still no bubbles

I would look for other reasons - like clogging air intake down at the inlet

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Tonycass12]

It may be the oils preventing the bubbles from staying intact. My skimmer will shut down like you are describing feeding meaty foods sometimes.

 

[GarrettT]

I would look for other reasons - like clogging air intake down at the inlet

Sincerely Lasse

Like blowing on the tube until bubbles start to come out of the pump? If so, I did that, but it didn’t seem to matter much.

 

[Andresnyc93]

You might have to take your skimmer apart and clean up a piece of food clogged somewhere, it’s happened to me before and they were stuck somewhere inside the pump.

 

[ying yang]

I've been feeding clams for little over a year now and skimmer never stopped producing bubbles until 2 days ago ,blew through tubes,but to no avail but disassembled skimmer and gave little clean and all good again,I think just coincidence/not took skimmer apart in a while is all

 

[Falcar]

Looks like a lifereef? Did you try to remove that blue venturi plug (forget the actual term for it) and make sure there is no blockages in the venturi?

 

[GarrettT]

Looks like a lifereef? Did you try to remove that blue venturi plug (forget the actual term for it) and make sure there is no blockages in the venturi?

Well… well…

Up and running again. Thanks all!

 

[Lasse]

Now we can state - snails is bad for skimmers Glad you solved it

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

You guys are just to good. Another community win