Help!! Skimmer overflowing in stand!!!

[CHILL]

Help!! Twice in the last week I have had a mini-flood in my stand due to the output from the skimmer. I have a Reef Concepts Aerofoamer driven by a Gen-X PCX40 pump. Twice in the last 5 days I've gone down to find a 1/4" of standing water in my stand (its acrylic so its watertight) and the collection jug for the skimmer if overflowing with water. I use a large tomato juice jug for collection, but both times the overflow is water only - no skimmate. The skimmer is air fed through a becket valve and water level is controled by a gait valve. Both the air and the gate are wide open.

I have had the system running for 3 weeks and up until last Thursday never had an issue. The only change that was made was to turn on the lights for a 3 hour period on Thursday (the first flood day) and now the MH lighting for 8 hrs yesterday (the second flood day).

I don't know what is wrong. Can turning the lights on have this kind of effect on the skimmer? I have heard about a break-in period for skimmers, but pulling over 3 gallons of straight water out and overflowing the collection jar just doesn't seem right.

Any suggestions on what the cause could be?

Thanks
Chris

 

[smgerard]

Hey Chris:

I am very new this also so I do not know how helpful my help will be, however, after reading the directions for my skimmer until I could practically recite it word for word......have you read yours to see where they suggest the water level in your skimmer should be???....Foam should be rising up the column, not water....

STEVE

 

[Len]

You haven't been using any underwater epoxy, have you? Is the water level in the skimmer set adequetely low (with the outlet valve open enough)? Is there a lot of foam being produced?

Break-in may be responsible for some/most of the overflowing, but it shouldn't be this bad. It'd be a good idea to throttle back the pump in the meanwhile.

 

[ticker]

??? can you lower the water presure that is being forced in the chamber were the bubbles are forming...and if so reduce it so the bubbles just reach the bottum of the collective cup...it could take hours or more but the bubbles will collect the protein and stuff to the top and work it's way in the cup...don't know if this will help, but if you can reduce the preasure that should help...if you can't lower it you might be able to install a ball valve...seem to be to much water flow...

 

[J.Howard]

Wow, that's a big pump for a skimmer (it's like 1200gph on that model right?) Slowing the flow as previously mentioned is a good start. As Len said, water level is key...too high and it's just a slow fountain, not a skimmer.

 

[CHILL]

Thanks.

I reread the owners manual (several times) and spoke to the gentleman who makes the skimmers (a very nice guy to talk to) and no ideas are to be had. The skimmer requires a pump of at minimum 900 gph, the manual actually recomends a Mag 18 - 24, so the Gen-x @ 1100 gph should be fine. If the beckett valve were blocked it would lessen the flow, not increase it as the overflow suggests. The sump does evaporate about 3 gallons per day, so this should reduce back pressure and actually drop the water level in the skimmer (not he opposite and cause flooding).

I went into the LFS where I purchased the skimmer, and he runs the exact same configuration (pump and skimmer) on 2 tanks with no issues for last 4 years.

I can only throtle back the amount of air going into the becket and hope that it is all part of the break in period. I don't think the Gen-x has adjustable flow, so I cannot slow that one down.

I'll try and keep you posted as to the success of this latest trouble.

 

[electrikat]

I don't know your skimmer but I do know that some skimmers overflow when you use a dechlorinator that has a slime producing agent. It also can cause excess bubbles being released back into your tank. My LFS suggested Prime. It has a slime agent that does not overactivate your skimmer.

 

[CHILL]

UPDATE:

After several conversations with the manufacturer (who again was extremely polite and eager to help) we were still at an impass. We called Pacific Coast (makers of the Gen-X pumps) to see if maybe the pump fluctuated its output based on a change in electrical input (the overflows only happened after the lights went out), they do not. The only guess was that my water chemistry fluctuated drastically at night and caused the overflows (I was not happy with that guess).

So I figured what the heck, I'll play around with the only thing I can - the air inlet. In my conversation with Frank (the skimmer manufacturer), he told me that by adjusting the flow of air into the beckett valve, I would change the size of the bubbles that are generated. The harder the beckett has to pull to draw air in, the smaller the bubbles would be. This was a good idea anyway as more of the smaller bubbles will swirl around longer and provide more contact time for the proteins and other nasties that the skimmer is supposed to remove.

Well, I think it worked!! I made those adjustments last night at 8:00, and when I woke up this morning at 7:00, I HAD SKIMMATE! I've not been this excited to see slimy foam-like bubbles ever! The tank has nothing but cured live rock in it right now so the skimmate is not all dark and stinky, but it is there (something that never happened before - it's been running for a month).

I will not give up!