Skimmer overflowing

[itz frank]

Keep in mind..if you vinegar the skimmer body, it's going to need some time to break in again. I think some soft of bio-film forms on the inside of the skimmer and makes it more consistent.



So are you saying that the skimmer/tank have only been running about 4 days? It often takes skimmers a while to break-in and settle down when they are first started. It's kind of hard to tell since the inside of the skimmer body looks like it's been running a while longer.

This tank has been setup since Tuesday. Skimmer was in my 60gal that was broken down same day. So skimmer has been running for awhile just not in this tank.

The skimmers behavior hasn't changed even though I did about 1hr in a vinegar bath. I'm going to try just the pump and air hose in a bath.

 

[itz frank]

Btw, if it matters, the skimmate has a white appearance to it.

 

[killagoby]

Give it time. The tank is only 4 days old. It's probably cycling like crazy

 

[oseymour]

Did you use putty to glue the rocks together? Putty makes my skimmer go nuts and I have to skim extra wet and let the cup drain into a buck and replace with freshly mixed saltwater in the tank. This could take about 7 gallons in my old 50 gallon tank.

 

[itz frank]

Give it time. The tank is only 4 days old. It's probably cycling like crazy

Tank is set up in it's current location for 4 days. It was set up in my garage cycling prior for a month with no sand.

Dry sand was used after.

Did you use putty to glue the rocks together? Putty makes my skimmer go nuts and I have to skim extra wet and let the cup drain into a buck and replace with freshly mixed saltwater in the tank. This could take about 7 gallons in my old 50 gallon tank.

I did use JB Waterweld and Superglue gel to place coral. However, I don't have the option of skimming wet. It's just constant overflow. And it's also 140 gallons of total water volume.

 

[killagoby]

Pull the black plug on the bottom of the cup out. Put the white drainage hose on it. Drain the hose into a large bucket until it stops overflowing

I had to do that after using chemicals in my tank. It took out about 3 gallons of water out before it stopped

 

[bif24701]

Relatively new tank. This is what it's been doing for 4 days. It's been set up since Tuesday. The tank that is.

I've tried checking the air tube. I've given it a vinegar bath. I've run it in fresh r/o. Doesn't do this in r/o.

Where do I go next? Is it a contaminant the skimmer doesn't like in the tank?

I have this same skimmer. And it's working well now. Needs to break in for about a week or so.

Dropping the skimmer in deeper water will not help. It needs to in between 5.5" and 5.75". That's not a lot of room for error. Also your skimmer section must be constant. As in the water level never changes, ever!

 

[bif24701]

 

[itz frank]

I've come to the conclusion it has to be something in the water my skimmer doesn't like. I ran the pump and air tube in vinegar water last night and this morning in getting the same results. It just bubbles like crazy and overflows. Now it take about 20 seconds to fill the cup.

 

[oseymour]

Skimmer overflowing

I've come to the conclusion it has to be something in the water my skimmer doesn't like. I ran the pump and air tube in vinegar water last night and this morning in getting the same results. It just bubbles like crazy and overflows. Now it take about 20 seconds to fill the cup.

Instead of doing a straight water change, I would connect the drain hose from the cup to a bucket and as water drains to the bucket, replace with freshly made saltwater, that way you get the worst of whatever is causing it out of the water first.

That's exactly what I'm doing right now after securing some rocks with putty.

 

[bif24701]

I've come to the conclusion it has to be something in the water my skimmer doesn't like. I ran the pump and air tube in vinegar water last night and this morning in getting the same results. It just bubbles like crazy and overflows. Now it take about 20 seconds to fill the cup.

Run some carbon, do not use any additives. Wash your filter socks with plain water

 

[itz frank]

I just realized this has been 10 days and not 4 as I thought. Skimmer has been on the frits for awhile now.

I'm going to get carbon today as I'm out. And start water changes. I have the skimmer running in the sump now. No drain plug.

 

[itz frank]

I did use a lot of JB Water Weld on 15-20 frags. Along with super glue gel.

 

[greg683x]

Certain Reef Octopus models have been notorious for having these overflow problems. The skimmer lets in too much air and theres no way to regulate it the way that its designed.

what you can do is attach a small piece of hose with an air valve on it and connect it to the air intake opening, this will allow you to regulate the amount of air the skimmer is pulling in.

You might notice the way it is now that the bubbles flowing up through the neck are very chaotic, its not just a nice upward flow of bubbles. Adding the air valve and reduecing the incoming air will get rid of this.

What you need to do next is find the sweet spot with your new regulated air and the water level adjustment valve on the skimmer. What youre shooting for is teeny tiny bubbles in the body of the skimmer, then in the neck (the area between the collar and the bottom of the collection cup you want really small bubbles, slightly bigger than what you have in the body, then in the area of the neck that you can view inside the collection cup, you want to have pea size bubbles. The height that these pea sized bubbles will be at will be dependant on the setting of your red skimmer intake valve, this is where you'll adjust how light or dark your skimmate is.

Hope this helps. If you do indeed have one of these problem skimmers by Reef Octopus, its headache to get it working correctly (especially since you have to mod their flawed design) but once you do get it working right, they skim great

 

[CStrickland]

I did use a lot of JB Water Weld on 15-20 frags. Along with super glue gel.

That'll do it.
You can use the little tube port on the cup to run a line into a 5g bucket until it gets all the contaminants from the jb out. That stuff is like adding this to your tank

<5 frags is a manageable skimmer issue, a whole bunch will cause your problem

 

[Skim]

Just let it run with cup off, open the gate valve all the way. Sounds like everything is fresh, skimmer and water it will take time to balance. The more you mess with it the longer it will take. Run it like I said and no water changes, you will go to check it one day and all that, that is bubbling or will collapse into a dense foam into the skimmer body and then you can start to adjust it, but for know let it be. I had a skimmer that took a month to do its final break in.

 

[Buzz1329]

I've come to the conclusion it has to be something in the water my skimmer doesn't like. I ran the pump and air tube in vinegar water last night and this morning in getting the same results. It just bubbles like crazy and overflows. Now it take about 20 seconds to fill the cup.

Have you added/made any fags with fresh epoxy lately? If so, that could be cause of skimmer overflowing.

 

[itz frank]

Have you added/made any fags with fresh epoxy lately? If so, that could be cause of skimmer overflowing.

I added coral from previous tank and secure with epoxy. Two part water weld. 15-20 corals.

 

[Kentech5]

That epoxy makes skimmers go nuts. I had to drain a few skimmer cups last time I used it.

 

[itz frank]

Ok. Well, fresh carbon went in yesterday around 6. So let's see how this goes.