sro 5000ext keeps overflowing some help needed

aufo8mycat

New member
Hiya all,
I am having some problems with my skimmer, it seems to run fine and then usually when i am not home or asleep it decides to overflow,(I have had to add about between 10 and 40 liters back into my system a day) a total of about 350 liters in the last 10days that it has been running i have checked with reef octopus here in sydney and they have said it is plumbed in ok,
well here are some pics if any one can make any suggestions,
it was being fed by opt3000, which i changed to eheim 1260 (600liter reduction) RO here are saying to reduce it down again to a 1000 liter pump. which has me wandering why they recommend a 3000 liter pump on the box

first pic is the plumbing of the sump it is raised 10cm off the floor of cabinet
photo-1.jpg


This is the water level with no power to feed or bubbleblaster pump
allpoweroff.jpg


This is with the feed pump on still the level is quiet low
feedonlyon.jpg


This is were it will run for about 3 or 4 hours it will produce a good strong foam which it seems to have trouble pushing over the lip into the skimmer,but once it does it doesn't stop, just keeps slowly flowing over at a rate of anywhere between 1-4 liters a hour
allpoweron.jpg


The skimmer is new and has been running for about 2 weeks
 
i think it will be fine once the skimmer breaks in. but also check the the air hose going to the venturi if the air hose gets kinked it will cause issues.
 
i think it will be fine once the skimmer breaks in. but also check the the air hose going to the venturi if the air hose gets kinked it will cause issues.
so how long is the break in peroid, i was told about a week it has now been 2, this skimmer has cost me 100's + an extra couple of hundred in salt an industrial fan to dry carpets and to have carpets cleaned, as i am sure you can imagine the other half is far from impressed and now having to have buckets in foam boxes in the middle of the living room is not helping the situation
 
lower your water volume till it stops overflowing and leavel it there. after a few days, readjust to get better skim.
 
lower your water volume till it stops overflowing and leavel it there. after a few days, readjust to get better skim.
I cant, the gate is completely open, i cant raise it any higher or should i buy my 3rd pump to feed this thing
 
I'm running a xp5000 ext and it took about 3 weeks to finally settle down and keep a constant level. My tank is fairly new (3 mo.) so its not pulling alot right now.
 
I'm running a xp5000 ext and it took about 3 weeks to finally settle down and keep a constant level. My tank is fairly new (3 mo.) so its not pulling alot right now.
Thanks
ok well hopefully it is soon, what pump are you using to feed it..
 
I'm using the Water Blaster HY-3000. I have it throttled back a little bit and the gate valve is about half open.
 
You may want to post this question, or ask the mods to move this thread, to the Coralvue/Reef Octopus sponsored forum. They're very good at answering questions over there.

I believe this came up before and there were some questions about additives of some sort in the tank, but I'm pretty hazy. If you search for overflow on that forum you may come up with the answer.
 
you have to much water flowing to the skimmer i have the same one and use a mag 5 to feed it, and that is the biggest pump i would recommend.
 
also get rid of th external collection cup for now. the skimmer is set up stop skimming if before the collection cup overflows if you don't use a external collection cup which is a nice feature and the head is so big it is not needed anyway.
 
take your union apart and make sure its a full flow union.
if its not, then the inside diameter of the union will have a smaller hole then the plumbing pipe.

if its smaller, then it will create too much back pressure on the exiting water flow.

(you can stick your finger inside and see if there is a lip on the inside of the union. )
 
also, is there a tee on the inside of the sump where the water flows in the tank? if not, drill a hole so the plumbing can breath. i know if you stick a pipe in the water, it makes it quiet, but it also produces back pressure which is not a good thing for gravity feed.

if there is a tee on the inside with the 45 sticking in the water, then leave it alone.)
 
it is definitely not back pressure, most of the time the level looks good, and produces a firm solid skimate, which seems to have problems pushing overr the lip into the skimmer cup, but as soon as it does it just keeps trickling over
the return is above the water line, with a T to allow air to escape and the other end submerged to stop water splashing sound, with or with out the T makes no change in water level
 
You can NOT submerge the return pipe on these Skimmers, Once you correct that it will work correctly. I have 3 of them and had even more at one time!
Bill
 
You can NOT submerge the return pipe on these Skimmers, Once you correct that it will work correctly. I have 3 of them and had even more at one time!
Bill
I ran it for 3 days with out the T and was no diffrent. there is no way i am going to have the sound of waterfall in lounge room i will be shot
 
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