Skimmer Foaming Issue

[Enad]

Hi all,

Recently I swapped out a mature live rock in my system for some dried reef rock, which I'm sure had its fair share of silicates and what not, but some of these rocks I also epoxied together as well, so there's that. It's been about a week now since I did this and my skimmer(RS300) still basically instantly foams over.

Previously when I used epoxy in the tank, I'd have to keep the skimmer off for a day or two and it would then go back to normal.

I'm just looking for some thoughts on when my skimmer may be able to be turned on again? Also, should I be running it, even when overflowing, to get it used to the change in water chemistry? I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to understanding skimmers so I'm just not sure the best practice here.

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[disaster999]

Im guessing whatevers in the epoxy has leached into the water and without being physically removed, it wouldnt just break down by itself. Also might be something in the dry rock itself thats causing the constant foaming too.

Try running the skimmer at its lowest setting, or have the water level as low as possible and let it collect as much crap as possible. If it still instantly foams over and overfills the collection cup, have it drain it into a 5gal bucket until it doesnt anymore and keep replenishing it with fresh saltwater. Usually 1 or 2 buckets should be enough to purge the system of whatever is causing it to foam up bad.

If that still doesnt work, then you might need to either do a large water change and/or take that rock out and soak it on RODI water for a week or 2 with constantly daily water changes to leach whatever is in that rock out. Monitor the TDS level and see if you can see a significant drop of TDS over the days. Should indicate that wahtever leaching out is almost gone.

 

[Enad]

Im guessing whatevers in the epoxy has leached into the water and without being physically removed, it wouldnt just break down by itself. Also might be something in the dry rock itself thats causing the constant foaming too.

Try running the skimmer at its lowest setting, or have the water level as low as possible and let it collect as much crap as possible. If it still instantly foams over and overfills the collection cup, have it drain it into a 5gal bucket until it doesnt anymore and keep replenishing it with fresh saltwater. Usually 1 or 2 buckets should be enough to purge the system of whatever is causing it to foam up bad.

If that still doesnt work, then you might need to either do a large water change and/or take that rock out and soak it on RODI water for a week or 2 with constantly daily water changes to leach whatever is in that rock out. Monitor the TDS level and see if you can see a significant drop of TDS over the days. Should indicate that wahtever leaching out is almost gone.

Thanks for the tips. I do already have the skimmer on the lowest setting, and I can't get the water level much lower without the sump not functioning properly (wouldn't be able to spill into the return chamber).

I'll try the buckets. I'm skeptical that it'll only need 1-2 buckets worth. It doesn't seem like the skimmer is really intaking or processing anything as it just instantly bubbles up the top and the cup fills with clear water. So, it seems like I'd just be doing a water change...through the skimmer, in any case I can still try it.

I've done 40 gallons or more worth of water changes in the week since I've added the rocks, and it's a 60 Gal Display, 20 Gal Sump.

Rocks coming out isn't an option - so I'll just keep trying water changes and the bucket method.

 

[disaster999]

your best bet would be taking that rock out but if its not possible then you can really just do water changes and hope your system breaks whatever is in the system over time.

If your corals and fish dont seemed to be bothered by it, I would just have whatever is skimmed through the skimmer drain back into the tank and just let it break down over time. Ive done that trick a few times when no amount of water changes was enough to settle my skimmer and its not feasible to continuously doing water changes hoping my skimmer would stop exploding.

 

[Solo McReefer]

I can't get the water level much lower

One could increase the height of the skimmer

Put something underneath it

Usually an inch or two is all one needs

I have an inch of neoprene under mine

My book says whatever is making the skimmer go crazy, I don't want in the water. I want to skim that out

 

[Mark Goode]

There's always the Red Sea skimmer upgrade kit, something I think is worth doing anyway. Sensors detect if your skimmer goes nuts and power down the pump until it settles. It might help. I had the odd skimmer eruption in the past, which dump skimmate in the water and cause the skimmer to go even more nuts - up to the point the entire sump fills with suds.

 

[Reeferbadness]

I use the sandwich method of super glue and epoxy on all new frags and my skimmers don't have any noticable issue with it. Not sure how much epoxy was used to hold the new rocks together but i'd just turn the skimmer down for a bit and see how things sort out.

 

[Enad]

your best bet would be taking that rock out but if its not possible then you can really just do water changes and hope your system breaks whatever is in the system over time.

If your corals and fish dont seemed to be bothered by it, I would just have whatever is skimmed through the skimmer drain back into the tank and just let it break down over time. Ive done that trick a few times when no amount of water changes was enough to settle my skimmer and its not feasible to continuously doing water changes hoping my skimmer would stop exploding.

Corals and fish have been fine throughout this process. It's not bothering them. I'll try your bucket method but if that doesn't work, I can have the cup empty into the filter socks and just let it run like that. Hopefully after a while, it will get adjusted.

There's always the Red Sea skimmer upgrade kit, something I think is worth doing anyway. Sensors detect if your skimmer goes nuts and power down the pump until it settles. It might help. I had the odd skimmer eruption in the past, which dump skimmate in the water and cause the skimmer to go even more nuts - up to the point the entire sump fills with suds.

Planning on upgrading to a Deltec in a few months but otherwise that would be a nice option.

I use the sandwich method of super glue and epoxy on all new frags and my skimmers don't have any noticable issue with it. Not sure how much epoxy was used to hold the new rocks together but i'd just turn the skimmer down for a bit and see how things sort out.

Yeah, that's how I did it, in the past it has caused minor disruptions with the skimmer but nothing too crazy. I Imagine the combination of using a lot more epoxy, and the leeching of the new rock is causing the skimmer to act up.

 

[Enad]

I ended up doing another 15g water change, and raised the skimmer in the sump which did help a lot however it's still not exactly producing 'skimmate'. It's still mostly just sudsy bubbles, though at least it's not completely overflowing anymore.

It doesn't seem like the skimmer is really functioning properly right now based on the foam it's producing but maybe after a few more water changes it'll get back to normal.

 

[exnisstech]

In your scenario I would just let the skimmer overflow into the sump for a week or so and see if it settles down. It won't hurt anything since since it's not pulling anything out.

 

[Enad]

In your scenario I would just let the skimmer overflow into the sump for a week or so and see if it settles down. It won't hurt anything since since it's not pulling anything out.

Yup that's what I've been doing. I have the hose open, so it's just been dripping out as the water level in the cup rises.

 

[DangerDave]

My current tank is a 4x8 frag tank made of wood that is coated in epoxy. Live rock from the previous system was moved in. The skimmer was added in a few weeks later, and it went nuts for a couple days. Propped the skimmer up a few inches higher, and opened the exit fully. First day was two five gallon buckets of overflow. It really died down after that. Noting in the tank was effected by whatever caused it. Good luck.