Why does my skimmer do this after every water change?

[ArchXIII]

Using a tunze 9004 on my jbj45. Once it's running, it runs fine. Wet skims, empty and clean it once a week, etc. However, when I do my weekly water change (which I shut it off for) I'll go to turn it back on and.. All I get is a tiny hum, nothing else. After messing with it the first time this happened i had it plugged in, started to lift it out of the water (way, way above the point where it should be, won't skim that high, way above the water line, although still partially in the water) and it kicked back on like normal. And it does this every time now. Is there a reason it does this or any way I can fix it? I find it highly annoying. Skimmer was purchased new, fairly recently.

 

[onegreenray]

I would check the impeller. It sounds like it might have warped or expanded. That's why when you shut it off it will not start again. I've had this happen many times on my sedra pumps on my euro reef skimmer.

 

[ArchXIII]

I would check the impeller. It sounds like it might have warped or expanded. That's why when you shut it off it will not start again. I've had this happen many times on my sedra pumps on my euro reef skimmer.

If that ends up being the case, would it be as simple as replacing the impeller to fix?

 

[ATB USA]

Some pumps like the ones on the older Deltecs would start backwards. you unplug them and plug them back in and they would be fine.

 

[ArchXIII]

Some pumps like the ones on the older Deltecs would start backwards. you unplug them and plug them back in and they would be fine.

Unplugging and plugging hasn't fixed it, only lifting it out of the water half way, then putting it back in.

 

[HB AL]

I've had a Vertex skimmer for 5 years that does that occasionally when I turn it off. At first I thought it needed some internal cleaning of the impeller etc.... so I took it apart and cleaned it all up. The issue continued randomly like before. I tried various different things to get it to work as soon as its plugged back in and out of pure luck found the solution. All it takes is when I plug it in if it doesn't start bubbling and doing its thing right away I put my thumb over the intake to cover it and after a few seconds I unblock the intake and it starts bubbling and doing its thing right away. Although it doesn't happen that often it was nice to luckily find a quick and simple solution.

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

Sounds like it’s Air Bound. By picking it up and putting it back down you break up the Air in the pump. Would it be possible to put a small relief hole above the water line?

 

[dhnguyen]

Try blowing into the airline next time

 

[onegreenray]

If that ends up being the case, would it be as simple as replacing the impeller to fix?

Yes. But when you check it see if it has rub marks on the impeller body or a crack.

 

[ATB USA]

Try blowing into the airline next time

I thought I was the only one who had done that.