Aquamaxx Skimmer problem - Help!

ScubaRaven

Premium Member
I have an aquamaxx skimmer running on my 30g reef. It has been working wonderfully for about a month, but a few days ago, I added a very small amount of water from another source while adding a new coral (maybe 1/2 a cup max!) to my system along with the coral and the skimmer immediately started overflowing like crazy! This is a hang-on skimmer. So anyway... I ran it for a while, and withing about 30 minutes, it drained 2 gallons of water from my system. I decided to give the skimmer a break for a few days. Today, I tested everything, all good. So I turned it back on... same thing.. it's overflowing clear bubbles at like a gallon every 30 minutes... any ideas? ugh!!! I did disassemble it and made sure there was no blockage or anything like that... still no luck. When I plug the air intake, water level is good as well.

Richard
 
large water change should take care of it. A medication of some sort was probably in the small amout of water you added. You also could just let the skimmer do it's thing until it's removed everything and add saltwater to replace what all the skimmer removes.
 
I am sorry to hear about the issues you are having with your skimmer. It is very natural for any protein skimmer to have the same reaction as you did. I would agree with NaH2Ofreak, and set your skimmer fully open.

If you have the AquaMaxx HOB-1, raise the cup to its highest point and keep discarding the watery skimmate as it fills up. Top off your aquarium with new saltwater as you discard water from the skimmer. As soon as you remove the chemicals from your system, your skimmer will calm down. I hope this helps.

Dan
 
I did a 25% water change and ran the skimmer for another two hours.. It took out about 4 gallons but finally subsided... ugh!!! I literally added maybe a half cup of water from the bag the coral came in... never again...
 
If it is still doing it, or does it again, just put a piece of hose on the overflow that is long enough to reach down to the little opening and just let it overflow back into there.

I had the same thing happen to me when I started a new DIY refugium, it lasted a couple of days and then it was back to normal.
 
I'm honestly not sure what was in the water... it came from a source that I normally don't buy from.
 
Sounds like water conditioner, I have seen stores put a squirt of Stress Coat or something similar when bagging corals and fish, or they could be using them in their systems for dechlor. Most stress coat type dechlorinators have aloe in them.
 
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