Coralife Skimmer-what am I doing wrong??

kkgaskin90 · Jan 7, 2014

It was running beautifully-nasty brown sludge and perfect bubbles. I turned it off for a week to treat and now it's pouring micro bubbles everywhere and the foam column isn't very foamy :/ been messing with it for 6 days now, no improvement. Any ideas? It's about 2 months old

As you can see, now I'm just getting thin pink skimmate.
Oh and please don't suggest a different skimmer-that's not cost effective right now.

kschweer · Jan 7, 2014

What did you treat the tank with? Also check to see if the pump and impeller are clean and also clean the piece that the airline connects to. Either use a toothpick or soak in some hot water and vinegar to clean it

Mtnbikedan01 · Jan 7, 2014

I have the same skimmer and after a red slime treatment mine did the the same thing. I removed the skimmer and cleaned it out, reinstalled and adjusted and it has worked great ever since.

Reefing Madness · Jan 7, 2014

I agree with above, clean it out, but most of all, check the air intake line, if it sat, its probably got salt creep in the line, and not letting in enough air.

JMSKI333 · Jan 7, 2014

+1 on it's not getting any air

Hurricane Aquatics · Jan 7, 2014

Your water level might be a bit off too. It will either overflow or not produce anything unless your level is where it should be. I have that exact skimmer and it works great.

When my water starts to evaporate though, it will quit producing. Your sump level needs to be about 6 inches deep for it to work.

kkgaskin90 · Jan 8, 2014

I took everything apart and cleaned it. I had treated with Herbtana (I know, a joke, but they lived til I could remove and copper treat so I'm happy). It seems to be foaming great now but still lots of micro bubbles. I did about a 40% water change last night while cleaning the skimmer. Should I just give it time?

Reefing Madness · Jan 8, 2014

Yea, ya need a settle time. The micro bubbles shoukd subside.

kkgaskin90 · Jan 8, 2014

Thank you!

kkgaskin90 · Jan 11, 2014

How much time to settle before I figure something else is wrong? I'm still getting micro bubbles, and while it foams great for a few hours, later it stops and foam is as pictured in the first post. Frustrated :/

Reefing Madness · Jan 11, 2014

What do ya mean it just stops foaming?

kkgaskin90 · Jan 11, 2014

See in the first pic how the foam/bubbles in the cone are only a thin layer over the water? It starts out great then when I check it again all my fine tuning beautiful bubbly skimmate producing foam is reduced to fizz.