New filter foam and no more skimming

[Salty_Northerner]

Hey, I'm sure there is a simple solution but I need some advice here. The foam blocks WaterBox include in there tanks are hard to find and mine was getting wore out so as useless as WB customer service is I couldn't find replacements nor could they point me to a filter kit. So I found a 2 pack of foam blocks that were perfectly adaptable to my tank. One foam block cut in half was the perfect fit for my rear chambers. Now here's the thing. These filters came vacuum packed and after pulling them out of the package to sit for a few hrs they expanded to full size, cool!! I rinsed them under cold water and squeezed all the water out and placed them in the 2 rear chambers as their suppose to be. Well it was maybe 30 seconds and my skimmer quit skimming. The bubbles were so tiny and just overwhelming the skimmers body and filled the cup with water. I've lifter the neck and it just looks like water boiling and no change in almost a week. I totally broke the skimmer down a few days later in hopes it start skimming properly again but no such luck. I removed the foam blocks and a few hrs later the skimmer was back to it's good ol' self skimming as usual. Now I wonder after searching around the web, some say there's an oily film on the foam and it takes time for it to wash away and skimming to resume as normal.

How can I put the foam blocks back in and have the skimmer unaffected? Can I drop the foam into boiling water? Any ideas on what to do? I really rely on the skimmer to keep nutrients in check and without it the numbers climb.

Thanks in advance!

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

I would try a 10% bleach bath and then a citric acid wash rinse well and then let air dry.
This used to happen with certain filter socks when they where new.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

I would try a 10% bleach bath and then a citric acid wash rinse well and then let air dry.
This used to happen with certain filter socks when they where new.

Your brilliant! The bleach thing I used on my old filters on delicate setting in the washing machine with a small amount of bleach but it started to deteriorate it. But the citrus soak I'm sure will work! Never thought of that lol.

Oh and as for filter socks it did the same thing. My wife said didn't you Rinse them? I only use the one as my skimmer sits on the other side and I was like umm no :/ lol but it only took a day and the skimmer was back to normal.

Thanks for that