Over skimming since mid December 2017

[Sashaka]

I'm thinking you would have no issue with 5in of water as long as the pump is submerged fully. I think something in the water is triggering it to foam a ton/overflow. If running it at that level for like a few skimmer cups full and it still doesn't settle then u may have some other issues... but cross that bridge when u need to

I will raise the skimmer again as suggested by you and David Drew and see what happens. It will have to wait until Tuesday or Wednesday as I won't get home early enough to mess with the tank before then. I'll let everyone know how it goes after running it a few days at that level.

What's the health of your tank like? Algae? Nitrates and Phos? Is it possible that your water is just dirtier than you think and the skimmer is reacting appropriately? I could see this happening in a new FOWLR with uncured dry rock maybe

I'm guessing you just have a lot in the water you need removed. I would raise the skimmer until you get a reliable skimmate and slowly lower it as the water cleans up. As long as the pump isn't sucking air it shouldn't affect it.

Hi bean, I did not use uncured rock, but I did use some well water and purifier when I set up the tank. I have two Marine Pure blocks in the sump along with various small pieces of rock. I have about 50-75 lbs of live rock in the MD, and I added one bag of live sand to seed a 3" bed of sand (I have wrasses and an engineer goby, so a deeper sand bed is needed). I've decorated with various artificial decorations that were taken from the 75 gal tank, sterilized, and rehomed to the 180 gal tank until I can afford more rock. My nitrates are high at a little under 20, but I'm due for a water change. I like to feed heavily, so I have to do frequent water changes. I rinse all frozen foods before feeding the tank to help cut back on phosphates, but I don't usually check for phosphates in my FOWLR tanks, just my BioCube, which has coral in it.

I will raise the skimmer as suggested and see what happens.

 

[bean2986]

I will raise the skimmer again as suggested by you and David Drew and see what happens. It will have to wait until Tuesday or Wednesday as I won't get home early enough to mess with the tank before then. I'll let everyone know how it goes after running it a few days at that level.



Hi bean, I did not use uncured rock, but I did use some well water and purifier when I set up the tank. I have two Marine Pure blocks in the sump along with various small pieces of rock. I have about 50-75 lbs of live rock in the MD, and I added one bag of live sand to seed a 3" bed of sand (I have wrasses and an engineer goby, so a deeper sand bed is needed). I've decorated with various artificial decorations that were taken from the 75 gal tank, sterilized, and rehomed to the 180 gal tank until I can afford more rock. My nitrates are high at a little under 20, but I'm due for a water change. I like to feed heavily, so I have to do frequent water changes. I rinse all frozen foods before feeding the tank to help cut back on phosphates, but I don't usually check for phosphates in my FOWLR tanks, just my BioCube, which has coral in it.

I will raise the skimmer as suggested and see what happens.

Try doing a decent sized WC first and see what happens with the skimmer. Sounds like your tank is just dirty so it's making too much foam. If it's still overflowing after the WC, then try raising it.

 

[Sashaka]

"Sounds like your tank is just dirty..."

I'm absolutely sure the tank water is dirty because the skimmer just puts all the gunk back into the tank. As mentioned earlier, my sump looks like a skimmer cup! Ugh~I have to tackle cleaning it again this week when I do my water change on Tues or Wed. The mess you see in the picture is not fun to clean.

I'm new to taking care of such a big tank. I went from a 75gal to a 180gal. I'm still trying to figure out the maintenance schedule needed for this tank. I did a 45gal water change last week 2-18-18. I plan to do another 45 gal on Tuesday or Wednesday this coming week. That's all the RODI I can make at a time; however, I can do a larger water change if I use well/tap water. Using tap means more water purifier...more excessive skimming. Sticking to RODI means smaller water changes more frequently. Either way, I'm going to need to buy more salt! Ugh. Once I get the skimmer working, I can hook up the reactor to help with nitrate issues. I may even make a DIY or buy an algae scraper, but that will be down the road a bit. First things first. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Robert_ellis]

Try doing a 20g water change. I would only use rodi water. I bet after a wc or 2 of rodi only the bubbles stop. Well water, even with clarifier has a lot of other minerals from the ground that are reacting to your skimmer bubbles.

 

[Sashaka]

I would only use rodi water.

Thanks for your response. I use only well water in my 39gal. It's been up and running about 2 + years. It also has a HOB Bio-wheel filter, a HOB skimmer, and some Marine Pure chunks for filtration. I've never had an overflow problem with that tank or that skimmer. Still, I will try to do as you suggest and use as little well water as I can.

I'm still trying to figure out how far down to drain the tank to be equal to my 33 gal mixing station-or the replacement RODI water for the 180gal. Tonight, with all the sump cleaning needed, I drained too much and had to add 5gal of well water as well as the RODI. But as the picture I posted on an earlier post shows, the sump is like a skimmer cup and it needed a good clean. I raised the skimmer up again while I was under there cleaning. The skimmer is still overflowing, but at least the sump looks clean again. I will continue to do water changes with RODI and monitor for a few weeks as suggested. I'll let everyone know how the skimmer is working in a few weeks. Thank you...and everyone who responded to my questions. I appreciate your insights!

 

[Robert_ellis]

I got a vertex 180 a year ago. Had to let it overflow for 2 weeks before it settled in and all I use is rodi. Had the same issue with my nac9 6 years ago. Sometimes it just happens. I pulled the drain plug out of the cup and just let it run. That way it wouldn't take water out of the system and refill with rodi and mess up salinity. Have to remember, were trying our best to perfect a piece of the ocean and even the ocean itself is having a hard time right now.

 

[Sashaka]

Update: I completed a second 30gal water change with RODI yesterday. It's been a little over a week with the skimmer raised. The skimmer is still overflowing, but it is slowing down. The bubbles are not bouncing the top of the skimmer cup off any more or flowing over the sides of the skimmer like Niagara Falls. A heavy flow is still pouring from the drain plug, but the cup is only a quarter full of water and bubbles instead of completely full now.

 

[Sashaka]

Last update: Almost a week later, the skimmer is calming down. I've started some medications in the tank, and still the skimmer is almost working normally. I may just leave the skimmer for good in 5 inches of water. Thanks for all your suggestions!

 

[PedroYoung]

I'm wondering if you have a water softener on your well? I have well water and a softener and it causes unholy heck in my washing machine if I don't back way off on the detergent? Wondering if maybe part of the problem could be that half well water used if it's too soft.

 

[tthouston]

I feel something wrong on the skimmer air tube, can you try to remove the top of the air box out? You will hear noisy but just experiment of the bubbles only. Make sure the air tube didn't clog.
Some of skimmer can't do wet skim, they used to put a foam in the air box to block the air a little bit, the water in the skimmer body will increase higher.