Why is my skimmer going nuts?

[SallyWho]

All I did today was clean the cup, suction some detritus off the bottom of the sump, and use gel super glue on four small frags. Could it be the super glue, even though I didn't use much? Do I pop the top and just let overflow until it gets its act back together? It's an SCA-302. I usually run it at around setting 3, but I took this vid at setting 1. Thanks!

 

[Medic58]

Following. I did the same thing yesterday water change clean skimmer cup and moved some bio ball out and I woke up and the cup was going crazy.

 

[Water Dog]

It’s the superglue. Cyanoacrylate will drive your skimmer nuts... very typical. Give it a few days, it will pass.

 

[Dom]

It’s the superglue. Cyanoacrylate will drive your skimmer nuts... very typical. Give it a few days, it will pass.

I never wold have guessed...

 

[GoatmealJones]

The glue is the culprit. I believe it increases the surface tension of the water causing the water column to rise. I turn my skimmer off for a few hours after adding any exopy/frag glue to my setup.

 

[RobW]

Good to know. I would have never guessed.

 

[SallyWho]

So do I open the top and let it overflow, or keep the skimmer off for a couple of days? I'm amazed that such a small amount of glue would result in what looked like an over-sudsed dishwasher! I'd cleaned up all the crazy foam already when I took that video, but it was a mountain of giant bubble bath bubbles!

 

[Waters]

So do I open the top and let it overflow, or keep the skimmer off for a couple of days? I'm amazed that such a small amount of glue would result in what looked like an over-sudsed dishwasher! I'd cleaned up all the crazy foam already when I took that video, but it was a mountain of giant bubble bath bubbles!

Anytime my skimmer is overflowing, I hook a tube up to the skimmer cup and let it drain back into the sump through some carbon. I normally just place a HOB filter cartridge in the sump and let the drain tube flow through that.....skimmer is always back to normal by the next day.

 

[SallyWho]

Anytime my skimmer is overflowing, I hook a tube up to the skimmer cup and let it drain back into the sump through some carbon. I normally just place a HOB filter cartridge in the sump and let the drain tube flow through that.....skimmer is always back to normal by the next day.

Um, how do I hook up a tube to the skimmer cup? There's a small tube- like airline tubing- already installed on the bottom of the cup that terminates in what I've thought is some kind of air inlet (?). Do I try to pull that off and put an unimpeded air line on there? But the foam will simply sit over that hole at the bottom of the cup without draining squat. Do you have a picture of how you set this up? Thanks!

 

[Waters]

Um, how do I hook up a tube to the skimmer cup? There's a small tube- like airline tubing- already installed on the bottom of the cup that terminates in what I've thought is some kind of air inlet (?). Do I try to pull that off and put an unimpeded air line on there? But the foam will simply sit over that hole at the bottom of the cup without draining squat. Do you have a picture of how you set this up? Thanks!

You should have a drain covered by a small blue cap on the bottom of the cup that allows you to continuously drain the cup into a larger bucket, so that it doesn't have to be emptied constantly. Does your have anything like that? I just connect some tubing to that drain and allow the cup to keep draining into some carbon, in the sump, above the waterline. You can temporarily adjust the skimmer to skim wet to speed things up if the foam alone is not draining out. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures but I can take some after work today and post them if you need me to.