HELP ... Protein Skimmer Acting Funny

specialk · Dec 26, 2016

So I have an eShoppes protein skimmer for my 125 gallon system. All has been fine and I have been pleased with it, but came back home last night to find it NOT putting out the foam and tiny bubbles as it should be and as it normally does.

Basically, the pump is putting out some tiny bubbles in the chamber, but not nearly enough as it was. To be even more desriptive, the top chamber that usually collects and where the foam goes and builds up and is displaced, now all that is creeping up to the top collection cap is water .. so no foam, just water creeping up. (Hope this makes sense in describing this)

So clearly the skimmer/pump is not putting out enough foam. And I have done nothing differently to the skimmer!

Any ideas?

twilliard · Dec 26, 2016

Check to make sure the venturi is clear of calcium and salt.
This is one of the normal routine maintenance requirements of skimmers.

specialk · Dec 27, 2016

twilliard said:
Check to make sure the venturi is clear of calcium and salt.
This is one of the normal routine maintenance requirements of skimmers.

Thanks! I am assuming the venturi is simply the "caged" looking piece that draws the water in ?

MaiReef · Dec 27, 2016

Yes and if it isn't that. Take the pump out and clean it to make sure there is no sand or mini snails in there.

specialk · Dec 27, 2016

MaiReef said:
Yes and if it isn't that. Take the pump out and clean it to make sure there is no sand or mini snails in there.

Thanks my friend .. when I came home to this I was hoping (and still am) that this is common and a easy fix. I do not feel like shelling out more money right after xmas and the money I have already dropped this month!!!

redfishbluefish · Dec 27, 2016

Pump and venture need to be clean with some regularity. Be sure to check where the air - water juncture is.....I actually get precipitation of hard salts here that need to be chipped off.

specialk · Dec 27, 2016

redfishbluefish said:
Pump and venture need to be clean with some regularity. Be sure to check where the air - water juncture is.....I actually get precipitation of hard salts here that need to be chipped off.

I have no shame in saying that I was not aware of this and have not cleaned it in like 3 years...which has me thinking this is definitely going to be a cleaning issue (or so I hope)

BlueCursor · Dec 27, 2016

Mine used to do that once in a while. I would turn it off and back on then it worked fine. Now I just have Apex reboot it every morning at 5 AM.

specialk · Dec 27, 2016

BlueCursor said:
Mine used to do that once in a while. I would turn it off and back on then it worked fine. Now I just have Apex reboot it every morning at 5 AM.

Yah tried that ...no go

specialk · Dec 27, 2016

So I just cleaned the rubber air tube as there was some small sand in there that was blocking the flow of air ...hooked it back up and it did not fix it. Basically, there are really big air bubble in the chamber and it is still lacking the very very small micro air bubbles. ... not sure if this helps trouble shoot it even more as to what may be causing this ..

twilliard · Dec 27, 2016

specialk said:
So I just cleaned the rubber air tube as there was some small sand in there that was blocking the flow of air ...hooked it back up and it did not fix it. Basically, there are really big air bubble in the chamber and it is still lacking the very very small micro air bubbles. ... not sure if this helps trouble shoot it even more as to what may be causing this ..

The venturi, you have to pull the venturi where the air goes into the pump.
Or here is a test. blow into the air line with the skimmer off.

specialk · Dec 27, 2016

twilliard said:
The venturi, you have to pull the venturi where the air goes into the pump.
Or here is a test. blow into the air line with the skimmer off.

Sorry if these are elementary questions....but I have attached the photos just to make sure I am clear on what you are referring to

specialk · Dec 27, 2016

If that is what you are referring to, I took that off and made sure there was nothing blocking it

MaiReef · Dec 27, 2016

twilliard · Dec 27, 2016

Yes take that off the pump and look inside of it

specialk · Dec 27, 2016

twilliard said:
The venturi, you have to pull the venturi where the air goes into the pump.
Or here is a test. blow into the air line with the skimmer off.

Also, in the test bucket of water that I am testing it at , I blew into the tube and air bubbles came thru into the main chamber with no problems ... so there appears to be nothing blocking the passage of air (if this is what I was testing )