unusual skimmer performance

[hammy]

ya.. it is a routine water change with marine environment...

i change about 10 % of the water and change PURA complete media in my canister...

all is done within 30minutes.

and the unusual skimmer behaviour occurs; it keep skimming out clear water nonstop...

sg: 1.024

ammonia:undetachable

nitrite: undetachable

phosphate: undetachable

nitrate:about 2.5-5 mg/l

temp:27

the rest not measure

added phosbuster in the morning( my monthly routine)

coral and fishes look okie ... but skimmer just will not skim propery ... even i just allow a bit of air through, the cup will be overflow in no time .

what should i do. feed with cyclopeeze during water change.

help

[hammy]

it has never occur to me for at least past 4 months amd the skimmer i am using is aquamedic biostar flotor for a 2 feet cube.

it all happen like 45 minutes ago ....

[Dazza]

did u mix any water treatment additive eg nutrafin to the new water? some brands do cos the skimmer to go crazy but after a few hrs will be ok

[hammy]

did u mix any water treatment additive eg nutrafin to the new water? some brands do cos the skimmer to go crazy but after a few hrs will be ok

i added seachem prime... but the funny thing is i have been doing this too for the past dunno how many months...

unless my seachem PRIME expire !

anyone added seachem prime and experience this...

appreciate ur input....

thanks Dazza

[Dazza]

seachem prime shdnt cos this prob... i switched to prime frm nutrafin ... maybe best to just off yr skimmer for the nite .. tom morning then on again n see what happens... u dont want it to overflow n wet yr floor overnite ... one nite no skimming shdnt be big prob

[hammy]

the water just look very slippery IMO... sigh

[iantoh]

hi there hammy,

did you observe to see if your water level fluctuated significantly during this process? such that the water level post water change was higher than prior to the water change? this could significantly impact skimming activity and cause over-skimming, or more technically, skimming without sufficient drainage of fluid.

i wouldnt be too concerned about it though ya. sometimes, a water change also stirs up detritus or what not thats sitting on the base of your sump, or introduces additional organic particles that cause greater foamage within the skimmer.

like bro dazza mentioned, maybe simply turning off your skimmer during this water change process will avoid the overflowing issue?

cheers,

ian

[colinsoon]

sometimes my skimmer goes crazy after a water change too. i was initially quite freaked out, and was asking for assistance high and low, but after a while i realised that it will stabilise down. so in the mean while, check if your water outlet pipe is blocked. if it is, i think it may be the reason causing the fluctuations. if now, juz tune it down for a while. till it stabilises.

[jervismun]

Any better this morning bro?

[hammy]

Any better this morning bro?

*expletive*... no any better. just wash the whole skimmer and realise it is quite clog up inside ... now seem to better ...

change out 50% water ... still waiting for further result. hope it will stabalise in a while. might be the clogging like what bro colinsoon said.

thanks bro

[hammy]

sometimes my skimmer goes crazy after a water change too. i was initially quite freaked out, and was asking for assistance high and low, but after a while i realised that it will stabilise down. so in the mean while, check if your water outlet pipe is blocked. if it is, i think it may be the reason causing the fluctuations. if now, juz tune it down for a while. till it stabilises.

i start to believe that after i off my skimmer for maintainence, it clogged out the water outlet and right now must clean my skimmer regularly.

thanks bro iantoh and colinsoon for sharing ...

[madmac]

the water just look very slippery IMO... sigh

Does it look slippery or feel slippery? You know its something to do with what you did during the water change/ PURA complete or phosbuster.

My guess is the phosbuster. This explains why in some areas, soap is prevented in rivers leading to a water fall... excessive foaming results. If you can look up "surfactant", the additive makes water easily skimmible. If it didn't happen before, it could be an application issue. I'm only guessing that maybe the bottle it comes in wasn't shaken before use, the remaning contents consists of a higher concentration fliud.

[minireef]

Hammy, did you feed golden pearl or cloopzee.

I did that and my deltec all hell broke lose.

You can clean the chamber or turn over the air intake for a few hours and it should be ok later

[hammy]

Does it look slippery or feel slippery? You know its something to do with what you did during the water change/ PURA complete or phosbuster.

My guess is the phosbuster. This explains why in some areas, soap is prevented in rivers leading to a water fall... excessive foaming results. If you can look up "surfactant", the additive makes water easily skimmible. If it didn't happen before, it could be an application issue. I'm only guessing that maybe the bottle it comes in wasn't shaken before use, the remaning contents consists of a higher concentration fliud.

ya ... the phosbuster does increase skimming activty , however this time seem to be more serious than the other . cannot remember whether i shake the additive . the unusal activity stop and the kH drop to 6 after 50 % water change with marine environment.

it could be lower before water change.now using reef builder to correct the Kh.

thanks bro madmac

[hammy]

Hammy, did you feed golden pearl or cloopzee.

I did that and my deltec all hell broke lose.

You can clean the chamber or turn over the air intake for a few hours and it should be ok later

u are right minireef.

i feed cyclopeeze while i clean my canister and all hell break loose .

i guess it is the combination of a lot of factors that happen at the same time to cause the skimmer to overreact.

will not feed cyclopeeze. flooding is no joke

[minireef]

Because of that incident, now everything for me is in-sump!