Skimmer just stoped producing foam

[davidwillis]

Something really strange just happened. My skimmer just stopped producing foam.

This is on a 300 gallon tank with a large bio load. However just a week ago I plumbed a line from outside to go into my skimmer and ozone. I have seen a good ph jump, which is what I was looking for. I am also using an air pump, which pushed a little more air into my skimmer. For the last week it has been producing more than normal. But yesterday after I cleaned the sand, I noticed it was not producing anything. I thought it was because I put my hands in the water, which can do that. However it has been 15 hours, and still nothing. It usually takes less than an hour for it to start working again.

Skimmer: Bashsea 8-30
Salinity 1.026

I dose vinegar, but reduced it a little last week.

Do you think it was something on my hands, or is it due to increasing air in my skimmer plus reducing vinegar dosing? I reduced the air to the skimmer for about 10 minutes, but I don't see any change.

 

[griss]

Hard to say. Could be any one of the changes made or a combo of them. Like you observed, my skimmer stops producing when I work in the tank and sometimes production drops when I feed the fish.

 

[polywise]

no bubbles in skimmer at all?

check these:
skimmer pump running?
air pump off?
fresh air line clogged?

 

[davidwillis]

no bubbles in skimmer at all?

check these:
skimmer pump running?
air pump off?
fresh air line clogged?

The skimmer looks like it is functioning correctly, there are a lot of bubbles. It just is not creating any foam.

 

[wvned]

I would clean the air Venturi. I can see white water inside the skimmer but I can't see the size of the bubbles.
Do you run ozone continuously?
Ozone can make a skimmer not foam.
I run ozone into a second skimmer as a reactor because of this. This skimmer rarely adds anything to my collection bucket.

 

[davidwillis]

I would clean the air Venturi. I can see white water inside the skimmer but I can't see the size of the bubbles.
Do you run ozone continuously?
Ozone can make a skimmer not foam.
I run ozone into a second skimmer as a reactor because of this. This skimmer rarely adds anything to my collection bucket.

The skimmer is working like it always has, I cleaned it just to make sure (this skimmer is a beckett skimmer) I do run ozone continuously, but not in the skimmer, I use a separate reactor for ozone. I did however increase the amount of ozone and water going into the reactor. All water and ozone goes through carbon, and I don't smell any ozone. Also the output of the ozone is close the the input of the skimmer. Do you think the increased ozone could be causing this?

 

[wvned]

The skimmer is working like it always has, I cleaned it just to make sure (this skimmer is a beckett skimmer) I do run ozone continuously, but not in the skimmer, I use a separate reactor for ozone. I did however increase the amount of ozone and water going into the reactor. All water and ozone goes through carbon, and I don't smell any ozone. Also the output of the ozone is close the the input of the skimmer. Do you think the increased ozone could be causing this?

I don't think so
Do you measure ORP or how are you controlling your ozone dose?

Perhaps there is nothing to skim right now?
You have air in water.
There is either nothing to foam or something is breaking the foam that doesn't degrade with ozone over time.
I have never seen that. I have sprayed pliers with PB Blaster and used them underwater to tighten bulkheads. Even that got skimmed. I could smell it in the skimmate. DO NOT ATTEMPT, professional fish keeper on closed course.

 

[davidwillis]

I don't think so
Do you measure ORP or how are you controlling your ozone dose?

Perhaps there is nothing to skim right now?
You have air in water.
There is either nothing to foam or something is breaking the foam that doesn't degrade with ozone over time.
I have never seen that. I have sprayed pliers with PB Blaster and used them underwater to tighten bulkheads. Even that got skimmed. I could smell it in the skimmate. DO NOT ATTEMPT, professional fish keeper on closed course.

I use an orp meter just to shut off the ozone if the orp gets too high (It never does), but the orp stays about 300-350 (assuming it is correct). When I plumbed in the outside line, I had to remove my dryer, so if anything that would reduce the ozone. I also increased the air flow into my ozone generator, which pushed more ozone into the reactor (maybe that is not the correct wording, maybe it just pushes more air, and the actual ozone is just diluted). I also increased the water flow into my reactor. By the way I am using an avast marine mutiny ozone reactor.

That is one of my thoughts. Since I was dosing at a higher level of vinegar, and increased my air flow into my skimmer, it was skimming a lot for the last week or more. Maybe I just don't have much to skim? However I have a lot of fish (6 fat tangs, a trigger, clowns, 3 dwarf angels, a wrasse, damsels). I also feed them 4 times a day, plus algae strips, a couple of cubes of frozen food. So I would think even if everything was skimmed out, it would build back up quickly...

Even though I have carbon on the output of the ozone reactor, I am wondering if I should add some carbon for a few days just in case there is something?

By the way, nitrates are 15-20, and po4 is about 0.1 (I use LC to keep the po4 down).

Corals and fish look fine.

 

[wvned]

Turn off the ozone for a few hours the next time you feed and see if skimming resumes.
I do not capture my ozone in any way. A controller with an ORP probe reads the water coming out and controls the ozone going into the skimmer. It's a 30 inch LifeReef. I keep the ORP coming out at 400-430.
I put my dryer in the outside air line for my ozone.
I do not push my system ORP that high either. I try to stay at 280 or so. I read that with another probe on my Hydros.
Your bioload doesn't seem that high to me for 300 gallons.
I have 2 large snowflake eels and they are probably as messy as all of your tangs together.

 

[davidwillis]

I think I may have figured it out. Let me know if this makes sense...

I just filled up my vinegar container two days ago, when I did I turned off the valve going to the doser pump, and forgot to turn it on. So I have not been adding any vinegar for the last two days. Maybe without the vinegar and the added bacteria in the water column, the skimmer just does not have anything to pull.

 

[wvned]

I don't know. I don't dose carbon. I would think some foam would form even it it didn't rise to the cup.

 

[davidwillis]

I am not sure what the cause was, but I started dosing vinegar, and now a few hours later it is skimming again. Not as much as normal, but not bad. The water in the bottom is just from my daily water change, it flushes out the skimmer cup.

 

[griss]

I’ll hypothesize that you’re used to dosing a carbon source so you’ve dialed your skimmer in based on that. Not introducing the carbon led to the skimmer “not producing” because there simply isn’t enough (bacteria) in the water to skim out.

 

[mellotang]

Seems like you figured it out

Lots of things going on in that system
Lanthanum
Carbon dosing
Ozone

What are the benefits of ozone beyond clear water?

 

[davidwillis]

Seems like you figured it out

Lots of things going on in that system
Lanthanum
Carbon dosing
Ozone

What are the benefits of ozone beyond clear water?

Mainly just the same benefits as activated carbon, but I don't have to change out the carbon every few days. I think my tank has been healthier with it, at least it looks healthier.

 

[mellotang]

I always thought yellowing agents in aquarium water were caused by dissolved organics, which carbon can remove when dissolved organics are caught up in the pores of carbon


If the ozone results in clearer water what happens to the dissolved organics causing the yellowing? I get that the ozone can oxidize them , but aren’t they still present in the aquarium until the carbon removes them?

I guess im Just trying to figure out what ozone is actually doing

It seems to me that the carbon, post ozone, is probably still responsible for removing Disolved organics


What exactly do the 3 oxygen atoms do to benefit the aquarium water?

 

[wvned]

I always thought yellowing agents in aquarium water were caused by dissolved organics, which carbon can remove when dissolved organics are caught up in the pores of carbon


If the ozone results in clearer water what happens to the dissolved organics causing the yellowing? I get that the ozone can oxidize them , but aren’t they still present in the aquarium until the carbon still removes them?

I guess im Just trying to figure out what ozone is actually doing

It seems to me that the carbon, post ozone, is probably still responsible for removing Disolved organics


What exactly do the 3 oxygen atoms do to benefit the aquarium water?

You are asking something that has a complex answer because ozone accomplishes several things at once.

the simple version

Ozone is used in aquaculture applications to improve water quality, reduce pathogens, and increase efficiency of the water treatment systems.​

All three of these are important in their own way.
The dissolved organics are changed to other compounds that aren't coloring agents in water and are more easily removed by skimming.
I have used ozone for several years and my system doesn't use carbon. None of the result can be attributed to it.
I do not use charcoal because of HLLE and tangs.
Clear water and no disease outbreaks despite never quarantining new additions.
These have made it something I consider important in my systems filtration method.
Carbon is easy on a small talk. It is a giant headache and a significant expense on large ones.
LaCl is used for the same reasons. GFO is nice on a small tank and a hassle on a big one.

 

[mellotang]

Ok
So I thought there was an earlier post saying with ozone the skimmer production is reduced so the theory of ozone making it easier for skimmer to function doesn’t jive

Does the extra oxygen molecule have the ability to kill parasite? Is that proven?

What is the oxidation process doing?

Ozone is used in aquaculture to improve water quality is pretty broad statement
How does it improve the water quality?
What’s the science?

How does it make water treatment more efficient?

 

[davidwillis]

These are complex questions. It may be best to read some ozone threads or start one. There are some people that understand it a lot better than I do.

However I think to answer your question on if ozone will kill parasites, I think the answer is no, at least at the concentrations and time we use in our systems. UV is better at killing parasites (which I also have). At least that is my understanding.

 

[wvned]

Ok
So I thought there was an earlier post saying with ozone the skimmer production is reduced so the theory of ozone making it easier for skimmer to function doesn’t jive

Does the extra oxygen molecule have the ability to kill parasite? Is that proven?

What is the oxidation process doing?

Ozone is used in aquaculture to improve water quality is pretty broad statement
How does it improve the water quality?
What’s the science?

How does it make water treatment more efficient?

Ozone equipment manufacturer and ozone system integrators Ozone Applications Ozone Integration Experts

Ozone has a wide range of uses in many industries. I am just using the hobby version of one of them.