Skimmer overflows randomly

[Tezzie]

Hello

Wondering if anyone knows why my skimmer randomly decides to fill with water and overflow out of the blue after weeks of working fine. It’s now happened 3 times after weeks in between each overflow

 

[Isaac Alves]

I’ve read that local air pressure changes can cause this, as well as chemical spikes from coral excretion or warfare at random times.

 

[IOAOI]

Hello

Wondering if anyone knows why my skimmer randomly decides to fill with water and overflow out of the blue after weeks of working fine. It’s now happened 3 times after weeks in between each overflow

Post some pictures of the tank and the skimmer please, we'll help you to figure it out.

 

[Tezzie]

Post some pictures of the tank and the skimmer please, we'll help you to figure it out.

Red Sea reefer 170

Bubble Magnus curve 7 skimmer

 

[OctaviusBrine]

Water levels in these sumps change and will throw skimmers into a fit. The factory drain valve is trash. I have the newer version which is supposed to be improved but it is not. I’d say keep your eye on your overflow box and watch the level. If it changes up and down a lot that is likely your problem.

 

[IOAOI]

The skimmer is way too big for your tank.
BM-Curve 7 can deal with 200 Gals water but the total system volume of Red Sea reefer 170 is 44 Gallons.
It seems that your aquarium is super clean but actually the skimmer does not match your tank.
There is not that much waste for that big skimmer to handle with, so it results instability in water quality, and this leads to overflow.
(Most overflows are caused by the sudden change of the water quality. The stability of the skimmer varies with changes in water quality.)
At the same time, too big skimmer takes away the necessary nutrients when dealing with the waste and it may also lead to a lack of nutrition in your aquarium.
Try a smaller skimmer, maybe your corals can grow even better.

 

[Krampus]

I’ve read that local air pressure changes can cause this, as well as chemical spikes from coral excretion or warfare at random times.

I’ve had everything from air stone to Venturi to needle wheel skimmers and this seems to be the only explanation that makes any sense to me. My skimmers will be rock steady for months at a time, then overflow the cups in about an hour for no reason. Has to be something that’s upsetting them or making them go nuts.

 

[Doctorgori]

The skimmer is way too big for your tank.
BM-Curve 7 can deal with 200 Gals water but the total system volume of Red Sea reefer 170 is 44 Gallons.
It seems that your aquarium is super clean but actually the skimmer does not match your tank.
There is not that much waste for that big skimmer to handle with, so it results instability in water quality, and this leads to overflow.
(Most overflows are caused by the sudden change of the water quality. The stability of the skimmer varies with changes in water quality.)
At the same time, too big skimmer takes away the necessary nutrients when dealing with the waste and it may also lead to a lack of nutrition in your aquarium.
Try a smaller skimmer, maybe your corals can grow even better.

yeah I’m using a Curve 5 under my 170 and to mitigate wet floors I installed a Neptune optical switch that cuts off the skimmer if the bottle fills up with gunk…

in addition to the above theories, I also suspect 2 pt epoxie causes overflow also

 

[Krampus]

The skimmer is way too big for your tank.
BM-Curve 7 can deal with 200 Gals water but the total system volume of Red Sea reefer 170 is 44 Gallons.
It seems that your aquarium is super clean but actually the skimmer does not match your tank.
There is not that much waste for that big skimmer to handle with, so it results instability in water quality, and this leads to overflow.
(Most overflows are caused by the sudden change of the water quality. The stability of the skimmer varies with changes in water quality.)
At the same time, too big skimmer takes away the necessary nutrients when dealing with the waste and it may also lead to a lack of nutrition in your aquarium.
Try a smaller skimmer, maybe your corals can grow even better.

Out of curiosity, what’s the reason that a skimmer being oversized would result in too clean of water and thus instability in skimmate production? If it’s oversized and an influx of junk to clean out was introduced to the water column then wouldn’t it be able to process it no problem? Not dogging you, trying to understand your logic here.

 

[IOAOI]

Out of curiosity, what’s the reason that a skimmer being oversized would result in too clean of water and thus instability in skimmate production? If it’s oversized and an influx of junk to clean out was introduced to the water column then wouldn’t it be able to process it no problem? Not dogging you, trying to understand your logic here.

The waste generated by fish and coral is relatively constant, but the processing ability of the skimmer is far greater than it. (The power of the skimmer pump is constant)
So when there is not that much waste in the aquarium but the skimmer is still operating, the skimmer takes away more necessary nutrients and less waste than usual, thereby causing instability in water quality. Also poor water. The stability of the skimmer varies with changes in water. Overflow is just a form of expression.