Skimmer Going Crazy for Days...Is Epoxy this Dirty??

LilElroyJetson · Apr 4, 2019

I mounted frags to the rockwork using coral glue and epoxy on Monday and the skimmer has not stopped going crazy since. Overflowing and causing a ton of micro bubbles in the sump that are flooding the display tank. I’ve typically only used coral glue to mount frags but wanted to give the acros and plating montis some additional support. Is three days of the skimmer bugging out typical after using epoxy? I have filter socks before the skimmer as well. I wasn’t planning on a water change until Sunday but I may have to make it two this week if it’ll help.

reef lover · Apr 4, 2019

Epoxy always makes skimmers go nuts...but there was one type i used from petco i think it was made by fluval and that stuff turned my water milky and my skimmer nuts for days.
An extra wc will help.

Dkeller_nc · Apr 4, 2019

Epoxy releases amine compounds when it's curing. Those are typically a tri-functional curing agent - triethylenetetramine is a common one. In any event, these compounds are fairly readily absorbed by granular activated carbon, and another way to remove it from the system is to run the skimmer wide-open into a collection vessel, and put seawater into the ATO instead of RODI to keep the level in the sump constant. Rather obviously, this is a procedure that you have to be there for to make sure that the skimmate vessel doesn't overflow, and it will take an hour or two to foam out the amine compounds until the skimmer can be re-set as normal and the ATO setup with RODI again.

Meeetch · Apr 27, 2020

Dkeller_nc said:
Epoxy releases amine compounds when it's curing. Those are typically a tri-functional curing agent - triethylenetetramine is a common one. In any event, these compounds are fairly readily absorbed by granular activated carbon, and another way to remove it from the system is to run the skimmer wide-open into a collection vessel, and put seawater into the ATO instead of RODI to keep the level in the sump constant. Rather obviously, this is a procedure that you have to be there for to make sure that the skimmate vessel doesn't overflow, and it will take an hour or two to foam out the amine compounds until the skimmer can be re-set as normal and the ATO setup with RODI again.

Hey I'm having the same issue, ran carbon for a week now and have done about 15g of skimming. My skimmer is still overflowing pretty good. Do I just keep skimming until the foam settles down?

wrasse man · Apr 27, 2020

Try pouring off the skim in small amounts to reduce the contaminants in the tank.

Waters · Apr 27, 2020

I always connect a drain tube to my skimmer cup and let it run over top a HOB filter insert into the sump. That normally stops the overflowing withing a day or so.

Meeetch · May 1, 2020

So I'm 10 days into running carbon, wet skimmed probably 30 gallons and skimmer is still overflowing like crazy.

homer1475 · May 1, 2020

Only epoxy I've ever used that didn't make my skimmer go crazy

JB water weld.

Any coral specific epoxy, makes the skimmer go crazy.

New&no clue · May 1, 2020

Mine does the same thing, for that reason I always plan to mount corals the same day as my water change. I turn off my skimmer, use the epoxy, do my weekly water change, plug the skimmer back in and it’s happy.