Skimmer will not stop creating micro bubbles….

[JamesZ.]

 

[JamesZ.]

 

[Zeal]

Now question for everyone. If the. Skimmer was working fine for months why out of no where would this be an issue

 

[Chee-tomorpha]

Can't say for sure since we only know the info you've shared.

My guess would be a cleaning of the skimmer makes it more efficient - I noticed this when I do cleanings myself. Since I have the same skimmer and went through similar trials, that's what I think is going on. Buildup in the pumps, prop, and ventury, etc. could all contribute to how much it creates the foam.

My limited understanding of how a skimmer works also leads me to believe your water level is too high. You need some kind of clearance for the foam to build and stack the protein it is skimming out. If the foam spills over immediately, you tend to get a clear skimmate and I don't believe it is very effective as a nutrient exporter when it it produces that kind of skimmate. For my setup, I have 6"-8" of clearance from water level to about the start of the cup/neck. Also the bubbles don't gush out if I remove my cup.

It should be dark IMO. I typically empty it once every 1-1.5 weeks depending on the feeding load for that week. I'm also very overstocked as far as fish goes. I have 12 fish in my 250 where it should at max. be half that, but most are smaller still, around 5-6" and will max out at maybe 8" for the Scopus Tang.

I just got home so I took pics of my unit. It's sitting in 8" of water, the valve is set to 3, and my skimmate is dark. It took me a while to tune it to this and whenever it's not producing dark skimmate. It either has salt buildup in my ventury or gunk in my prop and a cleaning usually fixes it.

8" water level


Outflow valve is set to 3


Skimmate is dark


6"-8" of clearance for bubbles to stack but not spill over in the cup, until a decent skim is made


Bubbles don't overflow the neck. With the cup on, the bubbles can reach a out halfway up the cups interior neck but doesn't overflow until a good skim is formed. That's how my setup is tuned and skims. Hope that helps. And apologies for the non-technical-terms used for the skimmer parts.

 

[Zeal]

Can't say for sure since we only know the info you've shared.

My guess would be a cleaning of the skimmer makes it more efficient - I noticed this when I do cleanings myself. Since I have the same skimmer and went through similar trials, that's what I think is going on. Buildup in the pumps, prop, and ventury, etc. could all contribute to how much it creates the foam.

My limited understanding of how a skimmer works also leads me to believe your water level is too high. You need some kind of clearance for the foam to build and stack the protein it is skimming out. If the foam spills over immediately, you tend to get a clear skimmate and I don't believe it is very effective as a nutrient exporter when it it produces that kind of skimmate. For my setup, I have 6"-8" of clearance from water level to about the start of the cup/neck. Also the bubbles don't gush out if I remove my cup.

It should be dark IMO. I typically empty it once every 1-1.5 weeks depending on the feeding load for that week. I'm also very overstocked as far as fish goes. I have 12 fish in my 250 where it should at max. be half that, but most are smaller still, around 5-6" and will max out at maybe 8" for the Scopus Tang.

I just got home so I took pics of my unit. It's sitting in 8" of water, the valve is set to 3, and my skimmate is dark. It took me a while to tune it to this and whenever it's not producing dark skimmate. It either has salt buildup in my ventury or gunk in my prop and a cleaning usually fixes it.

8" water level


Outflow valve is set to 3


Skimmate is dark


6"-8" of clearance for bubbles to stack but not spill over in the cup, until a decent skim is made


Bubbles don't overflow the neck. With the cup on, the bubbles can reach a out halfway up the cups interior neck but doesn't overflow until a good skim is formed. That's how my setup is tuned and skims. Hope that helps. And apologies for the non-technical-terms used for the skimmer parts.

Ill measure it after feeding but like I said nothing had changed prior to this happening. Which makes it extremely annoying.

Edit, my skimmer was also pulling out black skimmate prior to all this

 

[Rmckoy]

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He’s a video a full minute after startup

Looks like it’s in too deep of water .
I can’t remember the curve 5 I had what the water level was in inches .
but even from what they recommended I had to raise mine a few inches .

Imo the sump water level shouldn’t be that close to the neck .

 

[Zeal]

Looks like it’s in too deep of water .
I can’t remember the curve 5 I had what the water level was in inches .
but even from what they recommended I had to raise mine a few inches .

Imo the sump water level shouldn’t be that close to the neck .

But would that cause all those bubbles?

 

[Rmckoy]

But would that cause all those bubbles?

Are these bubbles making it to your display tank ?

 

[Chee-tomorpha]

But would that cause all those bubbles?

Is it possible something was introduced or stirred that is making the skimmer go nuts, and you just need to skim it really wet until it's removed to bring the skimmer back to normal?

The first time I washed my socks, I used detergent, and that made my skimmer go nuts. Learned quickly to not use detergent from then on. haha

 

[Zeal]

Are these bubbles making it to your display tank ?

Sadly yes

 

[Zeal]

Is it possible something was introduced or stirred that is making the skimmer go nuts, and you just need to skim it really wet until it's removed to bring the skimmer back to normal?

The first time I washed my socks, I used detergent, and that made my skimmer go nuts. Learned quickly to not use detergent from then on. haha

But that wouldn't cause extreme amount of bubbles

 

[Zeal]

Can't say for sure since we only know the info you've shared.

My guess would be a cleaning of the skimmer makes it more efficient - I noticed this when I do cleanings myself. Since I have the same skimmer and went through similar trials, that's what I think is going on. Buildup in the pumps, prop, and ventury, etc. could all contribute to how much it creates the foam.

My limited understanding of how a skimmer works also leads me to believe your water level is too high. You need some kind of clearance for the foam to build and stack the protein it is skimming out. If the foam spills over immediately, you tend to get a clear skimmate and I don't believe it is very effective as a nutrient exporter when it it produces that kind of skimmate. For my setup, I have 6"-8" of clearance from water level to about the start of the cup/neck. Also the bubbles don't gush out if I remove my cup.

It should be dark IMO. I typically empty it once every 1-1.5 weeks depending on the feeding load for that week. I'm also very overstocked as far as fish goes. I have 12 fish in my 250 where it should at max. be half that, but most are smaller still, around 5-6" and will max out at maybe 8" for the Scopus Tang.

I just got home so I took pics of my unit. It's sitting in 8" of water, the valve is set to 3, and my skimmate is dark. It took me a while to tune it to this and whenever it's not producing dark skimmate. It either has salt buildup in my ventury or gunk in my prop and a cleaning usually fixes it.

8" water level


Outflow valve is set to 3


Skimmate is dark


6"-8" of clearance for bubbles to stack but not spill over in the cup, until a decent skim is made


Bubbles don't overflow the neck. With the cup on, the bubbles can reach a out halfway up the cups interior neck but doesn't overflow until a good skim is formed. That's how my setup is tuned and skims. Hope that helps. And apologies for the non-technical-terms used for the skimmer parts.

can I see a video with it running?

 

[Zeal]

Can't say for sure since we only know the info you've shared.

My guess would be a cleaning of the skimmer makes it more efficient - I noticed this when I do cleanings myself. Since I have the same skimmer and went through similar trials, that's what I think is going on. Buildup in the pumps, prop, and ventury, etc. could all contribute to how much it creates the foam.

My limited understanding of how a skimmer works also leads me to believe your water level is too high. You need some kind of clearance for the foam to build and stack the protein it is skimming out. If the foam spills over immediately, you tend to get a clear skimmate and I don't believe it is very effective as a nutrient exporter when it it produces that kind of skimmate. For my setup, I have 6"-8" of clearance from water level to about the start of the cup/neck. Also the bubbles don't gush out if I remove my cup.

It should be dark IMO. I typically empty it once every 1-1.5 weeks depending on the feeding load for that week. I'm also very overstocked as far as fish goes. I have 12 fish in my 250 where it should at max. be half that, but most are smaller still, around 5-6" and will max out at maybe 8" for the Scopus Tang.

I just got home so I took pics of my unit. It's sitting in 8" of water, the valve is set to 3, and my skimmate is dark. It took me a while to tune it to this and whenever it's not producing dark skimmate. It either has salt buildup in my ventury or gunk in my prop and a cleaning usually fixes it.

8" water level


Outflow valve is set to 3


Skimmate is dark


6"-8" of clearance for bubbles to stack but not spill over in the cup, until a decent skim is made


Bubbles don't overflow the neck. With the cup on, the bubbles can reach a out halfway up the cups interior neck but doesn't overflow until a good skim is formed. That's how my setup is tuned and skims. Hope that helps. And apologies for the non-technical-terms used for the skimmer parts.

 

[Chee-tomorpha]

can I see a video with it running?

I'll get it for you when I get home in a few minutes.

 

[Chee-tomorpha]

Here's a vid of my setup. I had cleaned it yesterday after seeing how nasty it was after taking the picture lol. Hopefully being cleaned, it shows better.


Here's a pic of that perforated internal mixing cup. The skimmer has some film on it so it not very clear but I hope you can see the non-perforated section is over the pump outlet.

Here's a better shot from the neck down.

 

[Zeal]

Here's a vid of my setup. I had cleaned it yesterday after seeing how nasty it was after taking the picture lol. Hopefully being cleaned, it shows better.


Here's a pic of that perforated internal mixing cup. The skimmer has some film on it so it not very clear but I hope you can see the non-perforated section is over the pump outlet.

Here's a better shot from the neck down.

so from the video, you can see how the bubbles from your skimmer does not travel to the return pump like mine does

Look at mine at start up https://youtube.com/shorts/pfBD7ICjzeI?feature=share

 

[GarrettT]

I made an acrylic box and believe the cement that I used caused a plethora bubbles to form throughout my tank. I ended up just taking my skimmer offline for now. I didn’t want it to damage any of my pumps.

 

[Zeal]

I made an acrylic box and believe the cement that I used caused a plethora bubbles to form throughout my tank. I ended up just taking my skimmer offline for now. I didn’t want it to damage any of my pumps.

Thats what I did, im not running it right now. If you look at the video aove you can see how his skimmer runs compared to mine.

 

[Chee-tomorpha]

so from the video, you can see how the bubbles from your skimmer does not travel to the return pump like mine does

Look at mine at start up https://youtube.com/shorts/pfBD7ICjzeI?feature=share

What will happen if you lift the skimmer little by little while it's running until you don't get anymore bubbles coming out? Or will it continue to come out?

I remember the manufacturer recommended a water level of like 9-10" but that did work for my setup. My research back then returned a lot of threads about this skimmer and it sitting anywhere from 2"-9".

I'd try changing the height. I know you said it's been running fine till now but I can't think of anything else. GL