Skimmer help

jpontier212 · Apr 23, 2016

Guys i need your help. I'm a true newbie and my skimmer had gone psycho. It had been working just fine and today outta the clear blue it started spewing water for the top, foam from the discharge tube. It was set between 2 and 3. I just set it to 1 and it's still pulling a good amount of clear skimmate. How do i solve this.

. Its a sac 301.

andyg1960 · Apr 23, 2016

Did you add anything to the tank today, maybe epoxy down a coral or rock work?

jpontier212 · Apr 23, 2016

andyg1960 said:
Did you add anything to the tank today, maybe epoxy down a coral or rock work?

I did a water change. The system was down for like 30 minutes.

Reef_Chief · Apr 23, 2016

There could have been some residue on your w/c equipment that is reacting with the bubbles. Did you mix your own water or buy it from an lfs?

jpontier212 · Apr 23, 2016

Reef_Chief said:
There could have been some residue on your w/c equipment that is reacting with the bubbles. Did you mix your own water or buy it from an lfs?

I buy my salt water from my LFS.

Reef_Chief · Apr 24, 2016

How long was it running normally before the w/c?

jpontier212 · Apr 24, 2016

Reef_Chief said:
How long was it running normally before the w/c?

4 weeks i think. It was pulling nasty brown skimmate but now it is 3x more and clear

morpheas · Apr 24, 2016

Something is probably making it go wild. In my case it has been the epoxy for corals, carbon dosing (specifically NoPoX) and coral food (red sea reg energy two part).

So did you add/change anything except for the water change?

Also I'm gonna ask the obvious, has the water level for the skimmer changed (moved the skimmer higher for example)?

Reef_Chief · Apr 24, 2016

if you turned the skimmer back on after the sump reached normal level, my best guess is some kind of residue in your water jugs or some difference in the water you received. I'd open the release all the way and wait for it to normalize

FishOfHex · Apr 24, 2016

jpontier212 said:
Guys i need your help. I'm a true newbie and my skimmer had gone psycho. It had been working just fine and today outta the clear blue it started spewing water for the top, foam from the discharge tube. It was set between 2 and 3. I just set it to 1 and it's still pulling a good amount of clear skimmate. How do i solve this.

. Its a sac 301.

The cause be from several things, either you have added something new and the skimmer is trying to remove it or maybe you put your hands in the tank while they had been dirty or had soap or something on them. the air intake line could be clogged and be forcing the water level to rise. ( this happens to me due to biopellets) I recommend taking a closer look at the skimmer to see if any air intakes and or water intakes are clogged.

jpontier212 · Apr 25, 2016

FishOfHex said:
The cause be from several things, either you have added something new and the skimmer is trying to remove it or maybe you put your hands in the tank while they had been dirty or had soap or something on them. the air intake line could be clogged and be forcing the water level to rise. ( this happens to me due to biopellets) I recommend taking a closer look at the skimmer to see if any air intakes and or water intakes are clogged.

Thank you. I figured it out. It was from a phosphate reducing pad that i replaced in the sump.