Skimmer acting up. Hyper bubbles and now no bubbles.

Loki · Jun 7, 2012

I have an ASM G3 with a sedra 5000 pump. Last night I added a rock that has been in my garage for 6 months to my fuge. This morning my skimmer was going crazy. I figured it was from me adding the rock and just adjusted accordingly. About an hour later I go to check on it and it isn't producing bubbles like it is supposed to. So I adjust it back to previous level and the bubbles don't even reach the neck of the skimmer. I take the pump out and take it apart. Everything seems to be in working order. I cleaned it about 2-3 weeks ago. Does anyone know what could cause the lack of bubbles?

The skimmer is currently not running.

Loki · Jun 7, 2012

I just started it up again and it is working at about 50%. I guess I'll just let it run

reefhobo · Jun 7, 2012

Just check make sure you don't have anything stuck in the air tube or on the pump's impeller.

laynframe · Jun 7, 2012

mine use to do the same thing when i would crazy glue something in the tank or just moving things around. should come back to normal after a few.

Loki · Jun 7, 2012

I took the pump apart and checked the tube. It was the first thing I did before posting. Just to rule out the obvious.

It went crazy at first so I assumed there was something on the rock I put in the sump, but I was unsure if anything could cause it not to bubble correctly. There are even more bubbles at the moment, but it's not back to normal yet.

Thank for the advice!

Loki · Jun 7, 2012

Well. It seems to be running normal again. I am unsure what happened to make it not bible as much.

I checked the normal stuff (air line, pump) and it seemed normal. I let is sit not running for ~7 hours while doing other stuff. Plugged it back up and it slowly fixed itself. All in all it was about 10 hours from when I first noticed it until it was working again.

E.intheC · Jun 8, 2012

The above advice is very solid.
You probably had a very high level of organics in the water. I'd leave the water level very low in the skimmer for a few days. If it starts acting up again, you can either add some carbon to the system, restrict the airline, or both... Carbon helps if you have something in the water like Epoxy or similar. Good luck.