skimmer confusion

[gdavis17]

First off, I have a HOB Remora Pro with a mag 3 and a prefilter box. I am using this on a 55 g tank. I noticed that over the past couple weeks my skimmate has gone from great thick skimmate to barely any and also I have gotton quite a bit of red algae. Well, after consulting an advanced friend I was directed to treat my water with a powdery chemical that was supposed to get rid of the algae. I did so in a very light dose and let it do it's magic for about 7 days with the skimmer off. During that time I decided that since the skimmer was off I'd give the impeller on the mag 3 a good cleaning. Last night after I performed a 25% water change I put the skimmer back together and set it back up in the tank. When I turned it on it started putting a little bit of microbubbles in the tank and it was foaming like crazy (the collection cup completely filled up with clean water in about 5 minutes). The treatment for the algae worked wonderfully and I know that it causes your skimmer to act up and foam uncontrollably, thats why you turn it off. The thing I don't understand is how do you stop it from acting like this. I have had this skimmer for about a year and it has always worked great. Thanks for you help and suggestions.
Graig

 

[mbbuna]

ether let the skimmer skim out the foam and then it will stop or run extra carbon

 

[gdavis17]

So you are saying that I can just let the skimmer run and it will eventually settle down? Do I have to keep on emptying the collection cup, it just fills with clean water and does so in about 5 min? Also, is this a common problem and did me cleaning the skimmer and the impeller cause it? thanks.

 

[mbbuna]

whats causing it is the left overs from using chemi-clean or red slim remover. yes empty the cup and get rid of it, you are skimming out the left overs. mix up a bucket or 2 of salt water and just let the skimmer skim it out then add new salt water, it may take a while but it will calm down

 

[gdavis17]

I did a 20% water change last night, should I do another water change? I don't understand what you mean by adding a bucket of salt water and letting the skimmer skim it out.

 

[mbbuna]

the skimmer is going to fill the cup, empty the cup in the the sink and add the same amount of new salt water to the tank. keep doing this untill the skimmer stops pumping out this light watery foam. this may take a while so make a bucket or to of new salt water so you have plenty to keep filling up you tank after the skimmer pumps it out. you are basicly doing a water change through your skimmer, but the skimmer is going to grab more of what you want to remove then if you just did a water change

 

[gdavis17]

thanks alot, I got it now. I'll give it a try. Do you have any idea about how long it will take?

 

[mbbuna]

no idea