Haywire skimmer?!

[SaltmanBasssa]

Hi all - yesterday evening, after some routine tank cleaning, I noticed my skimmer went berserk. It began producing very wet foam and within moments was overflowing. I turned it off to control the detritus flowing back into the sump, however, upon 7 or 8 attempts, I am unable to restart with the original skimmer output balance from before.

The unit is a ReefOctopus Regal150 internal. I am running a Red Sea 450.

I wish I could isolate what caused this. I can report that the bio-load has increased (5 days ago) by a large cleanup crew. However the incident yesterday was rapid, not sudden and required immediate attention - there was no "build up" to this event.

I have 2 clowns, 1 Desjardin, 1 Tomini in the tank - half dozen soft coral, bubble and open brain.

Parameters seem normal - ammonia 0, nitrate at 10ppm.

When I cover the skimmer "second" air Inlet with my thumb I can control the unit - but that would be an exhausting and impractical fix!

To note: I have noticed more detritus on the floor/base of the sump - the 6 month old tank is in full swing.

HELP!

Thanks

 

[A sea K]

When I cover the skimmer "second" air Inlet with my thumb I can control the unit - but that would be an exhausting and impractical fix!



Thanks

I think your referring to the ozone port, if so then it should have a cap closing this off and no need to hold it closed with your finger.

I have the same skimmer but AC pump driven instead of DC pump. Cleaning and tank maintenance will release more organics into the water column causing the reaction you witnessed. Just turn the skimmer down a bit when your doing your cleaning.