I just added ~ 3gal of tap water (not RO/DI water) to my tank yesterday as a top off. Now my protein skimmer is going hog wild producing bubbles like crazy.
What could possibly cause this? I haven't done anything differently.
high TDS reading on the tap water is my guess, maybe even the dechlorinator you put in (hopefully you did) binding to the chlorines/chloramines (if they exist).
Yeah, all of the dechlorinator-conditioner products (to my knowledge) will make your skimmer go nuts for a while. If you just get the Tap Water Conditioner stuff it won't do anything but neutralize the Cl...it's just a solution of sodium thiosulfate. It's also WAAAY cheaper and you only have to add 1 drop per gallon. It's what I used before I went RO/DI. Who needs all the other crap anyway? ammonia removal? nitrate removal? fish stress reducers? That's just a bunch of gimmicks that make your wallet lighter without fixing the real problem.
