Octo Skimmer overflow (Not skimmate!)

[Tiger Brown]

Hello, thank-you for any advice you can provide me on this.

I have an Octo Classic 100-HOB skimmer. It has been a great fit for my tank (55 gallon), and I have no complaints on its primary skimming functions.

The problem: Recently the outlet chamber (not the chamber with the collection cup on top of it, the other one) overflowed with water (not bubbles or skimmate). By grace or good fortune I was in the room when it happened and did not lose half my water supply. I have no idea why this happened. I took the skimmer out of the tank and gave it a thorough cleaning, hooked it back up and it ran fine. Now, of course, I check it constantly. I noticed that the water level in that same chamber was rising again. I unplugged the pump and plugged it back in and the water level fell about an inch and is holding there for now.

Any one know why this is happening? I have changed nothing about the skimmer or the fish tank itself. I have always run the skimmer 24/7.

Thank-you again.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Have you cleaned the pump? Dirty pumps can run erratically sometimes. Check the air intake at the pump for blockages.

 

[Tiger Brown]

I'll do a more thorough cleaning, thanks @Flippers4pups

 

[Squirrellyman]

I'll do a more thorough cleaning, thanks @Flippers4pups

Did you ever figure it out? Like you, I luckily caught it before too much damage but a gallon or so pumped out and now I have a water stain on the ceiling below.

A couple months ago, I noticed that overflow chamber was high and took everything out for a cleaning. Seemed better, until this morning.

this is a horrendous failure mode, so I may be done with this skimmer just from a safety point of view

 

[Tiger Brown]

I sent @Squirrellyman a PM about this question but am posting my answer here in case it helps others with this skimmer.

Yes, the problem area is the plastic piece that the air hose attaches into directly on the pump nozzle. I get a build-up of calcium like white crust and it blocks some of the air going into the pump which causes the water in the outlet chamber to rise, and eventually overflow as I found out the hard way. I have to clean it every other month or so. I put a marker on the outlet chamber so I know when the water starts to rise and it is time to clean it before a flood happens.

I agree, this is a problem, there must be a better design to stop this from occurring.