Ok, I know I'm not ever going to win the war with this thing, but at least today I survived the battle.
When I emptied the skimmer cup and turned the recirculation pumps back on, one of them seemed to not be working as it should. It's been a while since I pulled the pumps to clean them so I figured some of the hundreds of limpets I have in my skimmer were probably messing with the flow. Even though I already had plenty of tank maintenance to do today after draining the skimmer to remove the pumps I pulled the skimmer out and started it soaking in vinegar water. I took both pumps apart, soaked them also in vinegar water, rinsed and cleaned them really well before putting it all back together.
Unfortunately the bad pump still was not working correctly and now the good pump wasn't working at all and worse yet it was leaking badly. I took the one that was working before but not now apart again, reseated everything, put it back together and retested. Luckily, it now worked and wasn't leaking. So after several hours I was back to the original problem of one pump not working quite right. I took it apart again, wiped it all down, reseated everything and put it back together, but it still did the same thing. Finally, I looked at the air valve and found that it was clogged, DOH! :doh:
It's all back together and working just like it should be and now it is just as clean as the first day out of the box! I know we will battle again, but for now I'm satisfied with just surviving.
When I emptied the skimmer cup and turned the recirculation pumps back on, one of them seemed to not be working as it should. It's been a while since I pulled the pumps to clean them so I figured some of the hundreds of limpets I have in my skimmer were probably messing with the flow. Even though I already had plenty of tank maintenance to do today after draining the skimmer to remove the pumps I pulled the skimmer out and started it soaking in vinegar water. I took both pumps apart, soaked them also in vinegar water, rinsed and cleaned them really well before putting it all back together.
Unfortunately the bad pump still was not working correctly and now the good pump wasn't working at all and worse yet it was leaking badly. I took the one that was working before but not now apart again, reseated everything, put it back together and retested. Luckily, it now worked and wasn't leaking. So after several hours I was back to the original problem of one pump not working quite right. I took it apart again, wiped it all down, reseated everything and put it back together, but it still did the same thing. Finally, I looked at the air valve and found that it was clogged, DOH! :doh:
It's all back together and working just like it should be and now it is just as clean as the first day out of the box! I know we will battle again, but for now I'm satisfied with just surviving.
