What the heck happened?

[crewdawg1981]

Okay.... for a long time now my skimmer has been rockin it. On sunday I changed the drain section to accomodate a new lid and to spread out the drainage so that it doesnt all crash in one spot.

I went from this:

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To this:

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(if you can tell, the new downpipes are angled towards the front of the tank with a 45 degree elbow.)

Ever since the minute I cranked the tank back up the foam head has been nearly non-existent. At first I thought it might have something to do with the detritus getting kicked up after the current changed, but it was still like that a day later. So, I gave the skimmer pump a vinegar bath and cranked it back up... same problem. If I crank down the output on the skimmer I can get it to build up a head of foam, however, I REALLY have to crank it down.

Did I miss somesing? There's a bubble trap between the two sections... but is it possible that the new flow (which definitely appears to aerate this section better) hurt the skimmer pump production?

Thoughts?

 

[mockery]

Just a guess but did Weldon get in the tank or maybe the fumes are messing it up.

 

[crewdawg1981]

Mockery;738528 wrote: Just a guess but did Weldon get in the tank or maybe the fumes are messing it up.

Cant imagine how. Cover was allowed to dry for a week before I put it on yesterday.

Barbara;738529 wrote: I can't imagine that plumbing change would affect your skimmer production. My guess is that perhaps the skimmer has something caught in the airline maybe?

Nice job on the re-plumbing though. I think you made a beautiful change.

Thank you! I tried cleaning the whole thing and didnt really see any obstructions? Agreed though... didnt think that this would cause a change.

 

[patrick]

The only things that should affect skimmer production is a mechanical issue with the skimmer itself....like the airline being clogged, pump intake being clogged.......or something that decreases surface tension being dissolved in the water. Foam fractionation is dependent on what is in the water the skimmer has to skim........your flow dynamics in a neighboring chamber should have no bearing unless you did something to make a mechanical change to the skimmer ops like change in water level

 

[lilrobb]

Did you put your dirty paws in the water?
Mine does it every time I remotely touch the water - ZONK - bubbles gone...

 

[crewdawg1981]

Barbara;738533 wrote: Is your skimmer still mixing a lot of air in the chamber? And it's just not bubbling up to the collection cup anymore? Did you clean the pump too?

It is definitely still producing bubbles. And if I really crank the output valve down, it will get high enough to skim.

Patrick;738534 wrote: The only things that should affect skimmer production is a mechanical issue with the skimmer itself....like the airline being clogged, pump intake being clogged.......or something that decreases surface tension being dissolved in the water. Foam fractionation is dependent on what is in the water the skimmer has to skim........your flow dynamics in a neighboring chamber should have no bearing unless you did something to make a mechanical change to the skimmer ops like change in water level

Nothing to change the water level at all.. I wonder if the pvc glue hadnt had enough cure time? Would that do it? ... Maybe I should've cleaned the acrylic?... looked clean, but who knows what i've just done!

LilRobb;738536 wrote: Did you put your dirty paws in the water?
Mine does it every time I remotely touch the water - ZONK - bubbles gone...

Ha... find me a day that I DONT put my hands in the water.

 

[dine]

id recheck that airline. i had a similar problem and while it looked clean, i stuck the tubing on my air compressor and blew a chunk of something out. problem solved

 

[chris s]

also possible the new pvc fittings had some leftover mold release on them. i'd give it a couple of days to start back up before i worried.

 

[grouper therapy]

the white acrylic could have some oil on the surface as well. If it was from the craiglist guy thatr stuff was from the trade show industry so no telling.

 

[crewdawg1981]

Well, I looked this morning and it seems that the skimmer is beginning to come back. Still not there, but about 2/3rds of the way back.

I had considered the possibility that something was on the acrylic after I installed it (yes, from the craigslist guy), but the skimmer basically never came back when I turned it on after installing the acrylic.... Maybe that didnt make sense. In other words, the skimmer production was toast before the splashing had created and dripping of water from the surface of the cover.

Either way, and a bit too late, I took it off last night and gave it a thorough rinsing.

 

[slowjazz]

Crewdawg1981;738610 wrote: Well, I looked this morning and it seems that the skimmer is beginning to come back. Still not there, but about 2/3rds of the way back.

I had considered the possibility that something was on the acrylic after I installed it (yes, from the craigslist guy), but the skimmer basically never came back when I turned it on after installing the acrylic.... Maybe that didnt make sense. In other words, the skimmer production was toast before the splashing had created and dripping of water from the surface of the cover.

Either way, and a bit too late, I took it off last night and gave it a thorough rinsing.

May not matter now being that it is coming back.....
I would guess, based on the slow water flow change making it work, that there was/is a bubble in the pipes or maybe a bump somewhere that was messing everything up.

 

[patrick]

Sounds like there is something in the water that is lowering the surface tension.......likely from the new acrylic.

Just give it time and it will resolve. Just like the time it takes for a new skimmer to overcome the film on the acrylic used to build it.