skimmer overfull

[Sydoriakp]

man I screwed up in the design of my sump / stand...... so stand was too short to house skimmer with sump had 12 inch water height so I had to take out last baffle n bring water lvl down.... now my top off.... airpressure ato.... the whole volume of the water just before top up switcheds on is about 7 inches ...when its topped its about 8 inches that inch caused my skimmer to overflow(really nasty full cup too) last night (in sump skimmer) I came down this morning to find cloudy water a foam head over my whole sump(no more baffles....) and my skimmer cup leaking water out the top...... aHHHHHH end of the world tested nitrates. less than 5 ppm still. got skimmer cleaned and back on line. now heres my question. I have my 20g of nsw made up do I do a water change right now..... I didn't want to mess with the tank all at once.... figured let skimmer do its thing(skimmer going crazy right now....) for a night and change water tomorrow... just don't wanna cause to much stress on corals. fish etc... ty for suggestions

 

[wildman926]

This is why I use an ato that is gravity fed. It keeps the level constant, only feeds water by drips, no fluctuations, which keeps my skimmer running at peak efficiency all of the time. If it ever gets stuck open, it will stick in the OFF position, as that is where it stays. It has only stuck on me once. My water in the sump got lower, and I just cleaned it, and let it refill the sump at the rate it feeds, which is slow and good for getting the salinity back in order slowly.

 

[vette.tech]

+1 to the above. Same deal here, i have had my doubts on the gravity fed for whatever reason but in all i like it. I had the same problem once with it not dripping, now i just make it part of my once in a while routine

 

[Sydoriakp]

ty so much can u guys suggest a brand? ive heard a lot on tunze that it will go on like 20 times a day instead of my ...once a day...

 

[vette.tech]

Seeing as we are both gravity fed, our brand is DIY, but if you want a "real" ato system just do so e search on the site I'm sure you'll find plenty of info

 

[Breadman03]

I used a float valve from spectrapure, black air tube, and a suction cup to hold the tube in the bottom of my reservoir.

I tried power boat jim's method, but my evaporation fluctuates from about 2 gallons per day to nearly 10, and I needed something self adjusting.

 

[power boat jim]

The way my gravity system works is with a piece of airline tubing and an airline valve. Simply adjust the drip rate at the valve to equal out the approximate evaporation loss. Total cost of about $3.00 and as stated above when it fails it tends to slow down and not overfill the tank.

 

[Sydoriakp]

hey thanks for the replies guys im going to look into all the recommended ideas ty

I also need to set up a baffle in the new sump im going to build to keep one sections water level constant so I can tune in the skimmer cuz everday I have to adjust it cuz my sump is all one water level

ahhh very nice jim airline drip tube smart a little scary as I feel ill mes the math up but I check my tank several times a day so I should be fine

 

[power boat jim]

ahhh very nice jim airline drip tube smart a little scary as I feel ill mes the math up but I check my tank several times a day so I should be fine

Dont over think it, Its not an exact science. It usually puts out about 1.5 or so gallons per day at 1 drop a second.

 

[Sydoriakp]

awesome ty

and yes 1.5 sounds fair for what I evap anyways I think it is around 1.5 so thatll be nice and cheap. and im going to set up a new sump with baffles so the skimmer can have its own stable water level.