Skimmer Aggravation / Floor Flood!

[Maritimer]

Deltec skimmer in a 40B sump, 220 gallon display. Has been running a couple of years and for the most part works just fine. There are times (usually when I do something identifiable and thoughtless) when it'll overflow some, and times when it'll collect more or less than expected, but not _ like _ this _ !

It started collecting more than expected last night, after I ... didn't do very much. Dosed 4ml vodka, which I've been doing to get nitrates back on the charts - had been over 180 API, beyond what Red-Sea kit could measure. Fish are in QT, tank is "fallow" (well ... okay ... there's a tiny Trimma goby who simply will not be caught...), but I feed a little bit each night for the crabs / shrimp / snails / anemones / corals.

Skimmate was out the top again this morning, so I hung the drain tube in a 5-gallon bucket and went to work. Skimmer wasn't really picking up much at the time - the bucket had the same amount of liquid in it right before I left as it did before my shower.

Got home for lunch ... there's microbubbles in the tank. There's water on the hardwood (okay ... softwood) floor, and seeping under the rug. Fortunately, my ATO doesn't hold much more than five gallons, so it was mostly the volume of my pump chamber, which isn't gigantic.

What _on_earth_ would cause the skimmer to act up like that?!

~Bruce

 

[Reefer5640]

How long have you been carbon dosing? It’s guaranteed that your skimmer will go nuts when you carbon dose. Plus your high nitrate level. Am I reading your post right? You’ve got 180 ppm nitrate level? That seems extremely high for a reef tank. That even seems high for a fish only tank. Any chance the test kit is expired or you might be doing it wrong? Doesn’t seem likely with your experience level but just asking to ask. Also are your corals, nems and other inverts doing okay at that high of nitrate levels?

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

Can you tap into the skimmer cup about a half inch from the top? Put you air hose pick-up there. If the Skimmer Lid is air tight or can’t get enough air in around the lid, drill several small holes in the lid, till you get enough air, but not more. If the skimmer cup, gets full, it will shut down the skimming action. Also it will keep the smell down.

 

[Maritimer]

Thanks for replies, Reefer5640 & SteveMM62Reef!

How long have you been carbon dosing? It’s guaranteed that your skimmer will go nuts when you carbon dose. Plus your high nitrate level. Am I reading your post right? You’ve got 180 ppm nitrate level? That seems extremely high for a reef tank. That even seems high for a fish only tank. Any chance the test kit is expired or you might be doing it wrong? Doesn’t seem likely with your experience level but just asking to ask. Also are your corals, nems and other inverts doing okay at that high of nitrate levels?

It's possible that both the API and Red Sea kits are expired - I have a new API kit (the old one was nearly empty...) which I haven't used, so perhaps I'll have a peek with that one. Been dosing for a month or so, skimmer has warmed up a little, but nothing like this. Oddly, since the lunchtime clean-up, the skimmer's collected ... maybe a 16th of an inch of skimmate and some fairly dry-looking foam. Nearly nothing. Only change was where the drainage hose was pointed.

Most inverts _seem_ to be doing okay. The bubble-tip 'nem folds itself up each evening, but I suspect that may just be a bubble-tip thing. It's relatively new to the tank though, so ... we're still getting used to one another. Corals are not fancy - zoanthids, mushrooms, a duncan and a micromussa. Tried a favia - that didn't go so well - at about the same time that I started dosing vodka. (I'm surprised _I'm_ not drinking more of the vodka!)

Steve, I think I'm getting what you're saying - when the skimmer reaches "full" status, airflow to the pump would be cut off, yes? Clever!

~Bruce

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

Yes, it will cut the Airflow off, also if there is a lot of foam, that will slow the Skimmer down, the more foam the more it will be slowed. Also I noticed I have a lot less skim, after I installed a UV. The UV is not Attached to my skimmer, it is actually on a bled from my return pump, recirculating back through my sump via the Filter Sock

 

[Maritimer]

That makes sense at some level - the UV's probably killing some of the same things the skimmer would pull out.

~B.