overflowing skimmer, this is ridiculous

codydemmel4

codydemmel4

Active member
okay so I have a bh-90 reef octopus skimmer. oh and it is hang on the back so I cant just let it overflow and I asked the guy from coralvue if I should just let it go back in the tank via a tube on the bottom of the skimmer and he said thats pointless and wont do anything because the skimmer is trying to skim out whatever is in the tank but I dont think he got or understood that it overflows within 10-30 seconds of it being on so it isnt skimming anything

it was working fine then I added corals with epoxy about 3 weeks ago. Now the skimmer overflows within 10-30 seconds if I have it on even if it is open all the way and if it is closed it will overflow within 5 seconds. I have a 55 gallon tank and have changed 5 gallons everyday, so a 10% water change everyday for the past 3 weeks to try to help the situation. I am also running carbon and have been for over 2 weeks and I changed that out every week.

The skimmer overflow has not changed at all and it produces a sh** ton of microbubbles in the display too. I contacted coralvue but they were no help at all and only said to wait or change the water like im doing and it will eventually get better. Well it has been 3 weeks and I have chanaged over 200% of the water and the overflow has not changed one bit. Obviously my SPS is going to die if I cant skim the sh** out of the water so I really need some help or suggestions on what to do. I also have done at least 3 days of 20-30% water changes.

I really need as many suggestions and help as possible, I do not want my fish or corals to die.
 
Your sps won't die from not skimming unless your tank is in very bad shape which im sure it's not. What I would do is pull the drain line plug and run the skimmer and let it overflow and drain back into the sump. Open it all the way up and let it run like that. I bet after a day or so it starts to run normally and you can plug the drain line and start to adjust it back to normal. I've had to do that a few time with my bubble magus skimmer on my wife's tank.
 
If that doesn't work take it out and run it in a vinegar bath for a day or two and that usually cures all problems I've had with a skimmer
 
Check to make sure you don't have anything caught up inside that pump. Even a small obstruction in the pump or venturi will make it overflow within seconds.
 
ClownsRCoo said:
If that doesn't work take it out and run it in a vinegar bath for a day or two and that usually cures all problems I've had with a skimmer
Click to expand...

Thank you, it is not in a sump as I dont have one so it is a hob skimmer. Would you recommend just running a tube from the bottom of the collection cup and just letting it run into the display tank even though it causes an insane amount of micro bubbles?

Having an insane amount of micro bubbles wont affect the tank will it?
 
Oh ok. Yeah if you can do it I would just let it drain back into the tank while its overflowing. The bubbles won't hurt anything. Just annoy you for a while
 
Boom said:
Check to make sure you don't have anything caught up inside that pump. Even a small obstruction in the pump or venturi will make it overflow within seconds.
Click to expand...


Like what and should I just take apart the pump and put it back together?
 
ClownsRCoo said:
Oh ok. Yeah if you can do it I would just let it drain back into the tank while its overflowing. The bubbles won't hurt anything. Just annoy you for a while
Click to expand...

Okay thank you, I may take apart the skimmer and see if there is anything in the pump and then put it back together and if it is still overflowing just let it overflow into my tank even though it makes it look horrible. Is this what everyone thinks is best?
 
Knew it was a Reef Octopus when I read the title of the thread.......people are still always recommending them on here too, go figure. Good luck with it.
 
I have a reef octopus skimmer,and it is extremely sensitive and has overflowed big time a couple times since starting it up back in May of this year.Anything I add to the water requires that I turn it back ,for 5 or 10 minutes,and I do that as a rule.Some things affect it more than other things.A bit of a learning curve.It is a great skimmer,but I have to keep an eye on it .It's only been by chance that I caught it fairly quickly each time it happened.It's hooked up to a 700gph pump and that can empty your sump really fast.
 
Mine is reef octopus too! Still the a great skimmer. Just remember to turn off when you glue stuff, water change, or sneeze near the tank :)
 
Glad I saw this tonight because I'm staring at a pile of wet towels. Wouldn't trade my bb for anything just keep half the linen closet devoted to "fish towels".
This time it's the "coral vue" Smart? ATO Installing a Tunze tomorrow
 
Epoxy is something I have heard causes skimmers to go nuts, so you may have to drain it into the tank for several hours.

If that doesn't work try to take it apart as much as possible and clean it out. I have a skimmer that was overflowing and when I took it apart there was calcium build up causing the issue. I flushed it out got it clear and it was fine for months.
 
okay well it hasnt been just a couple hours guys, its been a couple weeks and its still the same. it just overflows like crazy because it is producing sooooo many bubbles which i know is a good thing but this is way too much and i cant even use the skimmer at all.
 
Going back to your first post, 10% waterchanges for 20 + days. That is enough to dilute a huge amount of contamination. I can not imagine this is still related to using epoxy, that is usually a non issue before the day is up anyway.

Did you take it apart, clean, check the venturi for blocks and all the rest?
 
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