Foam?! Why?

[landon]

So I just got home from dinner at Six Feet Under after being gone for about 2 hours. When I went to turn off the sump light, the skimmer was overflowing with foam like crazy. Foam was built up in the chamber of the sump that the sump sits in from the skimmer overflowing. What would cause thsuch a reaction that would make it foam so much? I haven't added anything nor have I had my hands in the water today. The only thing that has been brought into the room is a christmas tree that really has not even gotten close to the tank. There is a new Yankee candle plug in that is just in the other room. As far as I can tell, all corals and fish look fine. Ideas as to why this woukld happen?

I went ahead and dropped a bag of carbon in the sump just in case.

 

[CoralShop]

coral could possibly have bombed your take with waste. Only thing I can think of, even if that was the case, sounds like your describing alot more foam.

 

[tehawesome]

That or if you use any other water conditioners besides prime. If you ever use aquasafe or anything similar it will make your skimmer go crazy.

 

[tehawesome]

I used aquasafe for topoff water and my skimmer went crazy.

 

[mojo]

It's possible there was something either on the Christmas tree or related to the Christmas tree that somehow reacted in the tank.

Either way, adding the carbon wouldn't hurt, and neither would a water change...

 

[jennm]

Landon;587431 wrote: There is a new Yankee candle plug in that is just in the other room.

I can't speak to this particular product but in general, plug-in fresheners that atomize/vaporize scented stuff are dangerous. Could be something in that got into the tank.

We had a customer with 2 tanks, have one completely crash after having plug-in style air fresheners in the same room with one of them (and the other tank on another storey of the house was just fine.)

The surface of the water is the tank's "lung" and anything airborne can and will get into the water. While most stuff (dust etc.) is relatively harmless, I wouldn't trust anything like an air freshener, Febreeze, etc.

Jenn

 

[CoralShop]

A skimmer also intakes air and mixes it with water, hence foam. So it could very well be something in the air.