skimmer going crazy.

[thefishbuddy]

There is way to much foam. The skimmer is all the way down and the compartment it in get a 11/2 layer of it and it even comes up out of the vent tube on the skimmer. It started after using chemiclean .but that was a month and a half a go and a 10 to 15 gallon water change a week. It was dino so I took all the rock out and put them in a 5050 h202 and h20 and cleaned the sand really good .happy to say I have not seen any in almost 2 weeks and everything looks amazing.
So what is wrong with my water????

Edit: This is less than a week after putting it in a bucket of water and vinegar over night running and cleaning everything on it.

 

[ringo®]

Had to look close at that picture. It looks like you either have your drain plug in the intake or the intake hooked up to the skimmer cup?

 

[thefishbuddy]

No there about 9" apart. Sorry it looks like that.

Edit: If you look close its in a filter sock.lol

 

[thefishbuddy]

Yes i have cleaned it 2 twice since it started ill try cleaning it again. I tried slowing the air going in to. I guess ill just keep at it maybe it will all work out.

 

[ringo®]

I'm talking about the two hoses I boxed in red
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[thefishbuddy]

O ok sorry the one on the back is air in the other in the drain for the cup.

 

[j_b_]

The drain is plugged; right?

 

[ringo®]

thefishbuddy;929920 wrote: O ok sorry the one on the back is air in the other in the drain for the cup.

If that air in line has a plug in it, take it out.

 

[jennm]

Do you run carbon? If so, change it. If not, try running some.

Don't know why, but it usually solves the problem.

A skimmer can also go berserk if you've used a fair bit of epoxy (ie to mount frags). There's a polymer in the epoxy that can make a skimmer go nuts.

On a side note, that sump is awfully full. Do you have enough room for the water in the plumbing to fit, without it overflowing, if the power goes out or the return pump is unplugged? If not, that's a mess waiting to happen.

The skimmer is sitting very deep in the water. Back pressure can cause the skimmer not to work properly too, but if it worked fine before, that may not be it. I'd just be worried about an overflowing sump in a power outage.

Jenn

 

[billsfan]

Also try raising the skimmer a few inches.

 

[thefishbuddy]

No im not running any. just use granulated carbon? I have read that that 1 runs best at 7" but ill try it.

 

[jennm]

Every skimmer is different but if you ran it at that depth before with no issues, that might not be the problem.

Yes dialing it in can be tricky but the over-foaming bit should be resolved with carbon - give it a go and let us know.

Keep in mind too, while dialing in a skimmer, that after you have put your hands in the tank, and after you feed the fish, the oils from your skin and/or the food, change the surface tension of the water, and a skimmer will stop fractionating for a while after the oil is introduced. So the best time to mess with adjusting the skimmer is several hours or more after you've had hands in the water or fed the fish, and try not to put your hands in the water while you're tinkering.

Jenn

 

[thefishbuddy]

Just got some carbon. Can I run seachem phosguard and carbon at the same time.

 

[jennm]

Yes, absolutely.

 

[thefishbuddy]

Cool .....thank yall for all the help. About to put it in now

 

[ringo®]

Was that a stopper at the end of the intake ?

 

[thefishbuddy]

Yes it was the drain plug. I had it lossly put in to slow the air going in.

 

[ringo®]

To quiet it? That's your problem.....you can't restrict the intake. You can diy a silencer to quiet it down.

 

[thefishbuddy]

No just to slow the amount of air going into it so the foam was less and it worked .

Edit: It was after a problem I done that.

Edit: Its really quite.