Skimmer went crazy

[Gulrez]

I added medication to deal with a bacterial infection and skimmer just went nuts and did wet skimming. Thank God I had a bucket to capture waste otherwise floor flooding ! Has anyone experienced this?

 

[andrewey]

Yup- it's pretty common with many medications. I would just remove your cup while you're running the medication so you get the benefits of oxygenation without worrying about flooding.

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

Sounds normal to me. My skimmer overact just by changing out my filter pad.

What medication did you dose? Some medication depletes oxygen. In this case I would just take the cup off and allow the skimmer to run for gas exchange . I then run carbon after the affliction has been taken care of.

 

[ColdOceanReef]

Completely normal.
Sometimes you need to shut down active carbon as well. Perhaps it's time add a float switch on the skimmer for such incidents.

 

[Gulrez]

Yes thanks. I removed the skimmer cup and let it run wild

 

[Waters]

I am pretty sure anybody with a skimmer has had this happen many times. I normally connect a drain hose to the collection cup and let it drain overtop a HOB filter carbon cartridge. That normally clears it up within a few hours.

 

[Gulrez]

I had connected a drain hose to a Home Depot bucket which is what saved me from water on the floor

 

[Waters]

I had connected a drain hose to a Home Depot bucket which is what saved me from water on the floor

I am confused.....does your skimmer sit in your sump or is it external or HOB?

 

[Gulrez]

skimmer sits in the sump. What i did was connect a pipe to the collection cup. pipe routed to a home depot bucket.