CS1 Seaside Aquatics Skimmer question

[ddaddy2420]

Just purchased this thing about 3 weeks ago and it was working beautifully. Pulling out some nice skim mate. Now it bubbles up so much it overflows constantly. What would cause this?

The only thing I have done recently is epoxy and superglue some new frags. Any ideas?

 

[sn4k33y3z]

It's my understanding with new protein skimmers, there is a break-in period... You may have to adjust the air/water flow to dial in the sweet spot. Hopefully someone with more expirence will chime in for ya. Good luck!

 

[acroholic]

Epoxy can cause a skimmer to temporarily overfoam.

And honestly, I am only repeating what I have read here, but what is commonly thought is that when a skimmer is made there are oils from the manufacturing process. These cause less foam and skimmate production initially. But then, when the oils, etc., are gone, the skimmate and foam production will greatly increase, so you may have a certain setting on break in, but then have to dial it back a good bit because the skimmer overfoams once the skimmer is broken in.

Open up the exit valve/wedge pipe from the skimmer some and wait a couple days. Make any skimmer adjustments slowly and wait several hours between any adjustments to see any changes from those adjustments.

 

[sn4k33y3z]

Acroholic;866175 wrote: Epoxy can cause a skimmer to temporarily overfoam.

And honestly, I am only repeating what I have read here, but what is commonly thought is that when a skimmer is made there are oils from the manufacturing process. These cause less foam and skimmate production initially. But then, when the oils, etc., are gone, the skimmate and foam production will greatly increase, so you may have a certain setting on break in, but then have to dial it back a good bit because the skimmer overfoams once the skimmer is broken in.

Open up the exit valve/wedge pipe from the skimmer some and wait a couple days. Make any skimmer adjustments slowly and wait several hours between any adjustments to see any changes from those adjustments.

"And now you know the rest of the story". I'm getting a reef tank education today!

 

[containerman1]

Acroholic;866175 wrote: Epoxy can cause a skimmer to temporarily overfoam.

And honestly, I am only repeating what I have read here, but what is commonly thought is that when a skimmer is made there are oils from the manufacturing process. These cause less foam and skimmate production initially. But then, when the oils, etc., are gone, the skimmate and foam production will greatly increase, so you may have a certain setting on break in, but then have to dial it back a good bit because the skimmer overfoams once the skimmer is broken in.

Open up the exit valve/wedge pipe from the skimmer some and wait a couple days. Make any skimmer adjustments slowly and wait several hours between any adjustments to see any changes from those adjustments.

+1 happens all the time if I use the epoxy sticks. Usually only last a day.
I always make sure I clean the skimmer cup really good before I use the epoxy that way if or when it over flows it does not add all the bad waste back into my system then just adj the skimmer so it is open as much as possible and the bubbles should go down pretty quick. Depends if you just used a little epoxy or half a stick

 

[ddaddy2420]

Uh I used a whole stick lol, had a lot of frags to place. Ok I'll wait to see if it calms down tomorrow.

 

[ddaddy2420]

One thing that's odd is this wasn't a new skimmer so when I put it in, it basically started pulling skim mate right away. It didn't start this overflowing thing until the next day after I epoxied those frags. It's almost as if the pump has kicked into some higher gear and is overpowering this skimmer. When I first installed it I had to put the dial on the lowest setting to get enough bubbles and now I can't seem to slow it down. It's been cleaned, I tried raising it, lowering it, I guess time will tell what is happening here. I'm just not so convinced its the epoxy.

 

[ddaddy2420]

Well this never got better so I had to put a small valve on the air intake to limit the amount of air being pulled into the pump. This has helped but why would i have to all of a sudden do this? Makes no sense.