New setup issues

[Dunamis]

I am new to reef tanks. I am in the process of setting up a 110 gallon tank with a 30 gallon sump. I put in live sand and rock and filled the tank. The protein skimmer was overflowing the top with the plug pulled. I let it run for a few day and it didn't get better. Drained the tank, filled it with non salt water, the skimmer ran perfectly. Slowly added salt (instant Ocean) and now after 48 hours the skimmer is back to freaking out again. I have the valve wide open, and have tried to let it run in less water and still won't go back to normal. Please help out of ideas.

 

[Bruce51]

most skimmers have a "break in" period. it takes a couple weeks for them to settle down

 

[ComforablyNumb]

Bruce is correct. Skimmers can take weeks to break in...and that appears to be your problem..its probably not broken in yet.
btw: a skimmer never works properly in fresh water. It will not produce any foam. When you said it was "working properly" in fresh, I assume you mean it wasn't overflowing.

 

[Dunamis]

ComforablyNumb yes that is what i mean i wasn't producing any foam i just wanted to test that something in the tank wasn't flipping it out.

 

[JUNBUG361]

Agree with the break in period of the skimmer, after that you'll need to make adjustments. the skimmer has a water line they need to be in for it skim

 

[billdogg]

^^^All of the above^^^

In addition, all internal skimmers have a fairly narrow range when it comes to water level in the skimmer section of the sump. Bot of mine need 8-9.5" or so, and perform best for me at 8.5".

I also would not expect a skimmer in a brand new tank to be doing anything useful anyway. It is something that I probably would start thinking about after the tank is cycled - say 4-6 weeks minimum.

If you could post some pictures of your setup it would help a lot for troubleshooting.