Tunze 9410 problem...

[Jeff000]

I have a Tunze 9410 skimmer and it worked great for 5 months now, but the last 3 weeks it has not performed, it fills up with mostly just green water rather then the thick sludge it used to. And it fills with water in like 2-3 days, where as before I could go close to 10 days between cleaning.

What's wrong?

 

[rvitko]

Most likely nothing, green water, especially if it has a smell of capsaicin (think sliced jalepenos or similar peppers) just indicates there was some sort of algae bloom or a die off of a macro algae. The skimmer responds strongly to this and produces watery skimmate, the smell of peppers is distinct to this type of skimming reaction, within a week or two it should settle down.

 

[shawnz28]

Another thought might be just to verify the pinwheel and the venturi are both clean. When these get dirty it can cause the skimmer to pull more water and raise the water level thus collecting more water and less sludge

 

[rvitko]

That is also a good point.

 

[Jeff000]

Another thought might be just to verify the pinwheel and the venturi are both clean. When these get dirty it can cause the skimmer to pull more water and raise the water level thus collecting more water and less sludge

They are clean.


Would this be a response to the fact that I started to feed the algae sheets?

 

[shawnz28]

It could if it is adding new waste to the tank. Could be increasing surface tension a bit and thus getting more water in the cup.