skimmer prob and questions

[ifoundnemo]

i have a 90 gal tank with a 20 gal home made sump with a goby, a rabbit fish, a a clean up crew. 9 (i had more but lost some to TS FAY). i added a skimmer (notsure of the name) not to long ago and it worked great for about a week...i would check the colection cup every time i fed the fish and never had more than 1/4 of the cup full also the cup has a over flow hose that i was running into a 2 Ltr soda bottle just in case... then one morning i wake up and the cup is FULL of water and over flowing and the bottle is also FULL of water, and not the normal brown stuff that was allways in there. i would empty both the bottle and the colection cup and every thing would be great for about 4 day then it would do the same thing...it would not be a huge deal but the bottle i keep outside the sump and water gets all over the place. any ideas to what may be causing this?

 

[Vauche]

Not knowing what kind of skimmer it is makes it hard to say. Sounds like it could be a Coralife superskimmer. They have a reputation of overflowing. Not sure why (I do run a super skimmer) and I had it happen just once myself, overflowed a 5G bucket. What I do know is they are VERY sensitive to water levels and added chemicals. Water level goes up and the bubbles go higher into the neck (without adjusting anything) and add a chemical or filter bag and you get bubbles overflowing into the cup for a good couple of hours again without adjusting anything.

Not sure if this is your issue, but hope it helps.

 

[ifoundnemo]

it does not have a name on it i bought it from a LFS for about $100... it was just in a clear plastic bag but they had lots of them...and now that store is closed so i cant even call to ask. i am thinking about upgrading my skimmer anyway...any ideas.

 

[ifoundnemo]

does any one else have a small hose that runs off of the colection cup? is it at the top of the cup or the bottom? also do you run the hose to a outside container or just back into the sump?

 

[rogergolf66]

never run the hose back to the sump you would be just puttin ght waist back into the tank. I have a hose it is at the bottom of my skimmer going to a 5 gallon bucket. it sounds like the water level is changing to much for your skimmer. an upgrade to the skimmer it good. if bought new you need to be around $200 to get a good one even if it is small, but I would check used on RC here in the selling forum