PLEASE HELP! Skimmer going nuts

[zenn]

My luck is really bad this week. Just about a half hour ago, i noticed a lot of micro bubbles in the display tank. I looked down in the sump, and my ASM G2 skimmer was producing so much foam that it had filled up the collection cup with water, and was shooting micro bubbles in the billions out of the riser tube. I've never seen it do this.

I took the skimmer out and examined it, cleaned it...took the pump apart and can't find anything wrong. I tired raising the riser tube up and down to help adjust the skimmer, but that didn't seem to do anything. I unplugged and replugged the skimmer in a bunch of times and that didn't help either. I'm really at a loss of what to do at this point. I'm going to have to leave the skimmer off unless I can figure this out. Of course, I don't want to leave the skimmer off too long because....so can anyone help me?

 

[DonW]

My luck is really bad this week. Just about a half hour ago, i noticed a lot of micro bubbles in the display tank. I looked down in the sump, and my ASM G2 skimmer was producing so much foam that it had filled up the collection cup with water, and was shooting micro bubbles in the billions out of the riser tube. I've never seen it do this.

I took the skimmer out and examined it, cleaned it...took the pump apart and can't find anything wrong. I tired raising the riser tube up and down to help adjust the skimmer, but that didn't seem to do anything. I unplugged and replugged the skimmer in a bunch of times and that didn't help either. I'm really at a loss of what to do at this point. I'm going to have to leave the skimmer off unless I can figure this out. Of course, I don't want to leave the skimmer off too long because....so can anyone help me?

Push a coat hanger through the venturi air hole and see if that fixes it.

Don

 

[zenn]

you think there's something clogging up the venturi hole?

 

[DonW]

you think there's something clogging up the venturi hole?

Yup. Calcium plugs the bottem end of the venturi tube and salt plugs the top.

Don

 

[auqua man]

I put the venturi hose in a glass of ro water let it suck it through it worked on my eur skimmer. good luck.

 

[zenn]

i did that. I've got it to at least not fill up the collection cup every 5 min. by lowering the riser tube. The micro bubbles are still coming out of the riser tube though at a fairly ridiculous rate. Basically, the sedra pump is making so many micro bubbles, that they're coming out of the riser tube. If you can imagine that, you know what's going on. The riser tube gets fed water from the bottom of the skimmer, usually the bubbles never make it that far down. But there's so many bubbles in the skimmer, that they're actually getting sucked into the riser tube feed in the bottom of the skimmer. Any ideas on why it's doing this all a sudden? Should I run carbon since there might be something in the water causing this many bubbles?

 

[trido]

Have you added anything to the tank? Epoxy can cause a skimmer to go nuts. My G-3 was notorious for clogging the venturi every two weeks. I really had to hone it out with a coat hanger good. Almost to the point of scraping plastic off the sides.
My first thought is not the the sedra is making more bubbles but pulling lees air and in turn pulling more water and not letting the air rise to the surface in the skimmer. It pulls the air out the bottom because of increased flow.

 

[DonW]

Yup you have to shove a coat hanger through it. Rodi water will do nothing for calcium. If you look into the hole you wont even be able to see the ca precip. So make sure the hanger goes all the way through.

Don

 

[zenn]

ok, that makes sense. I really looked at the venturi tube and couldn't see anything in it. But I can see how CA buildup would be hard to see. I'll find a coat hanger and jam it down the tube.

One other question....you are talking about jaming the coat hanger down the plastic tubing right.....not the grey pvc type fitting that the venturi fits onto?

 

[ronj]

yes, he means the 1/4" plastic tube.... i would have guessed that you added something....food, anything????

 

[DonW]

The Ventruri is the grey plastic thing attatched to the pump inlet. The tiny grey fitting that the hose hooks to is what your pushing the coat hanger into, not the hose.
Also look at the skimmer body and see if the bubbles are below the pump outlet. There should be a few inches of space with no bubbles.

Don

 

[zenn]

ok.

Actually, i didn't feed my fish today. I didn't add anything recently. The only thing that happened is I had a cuke nuke two days ago in which i had to do a 50% water change. Yeah, it's been a bad week.

 

[auqua man]

The Ventruri is the grey plastic thing attatched to the pump inlet. The tiny grey fitting that the hose hooks to is what your pushing the coat hanger into, not the hose.
Also look at the skimmer body and see if the bubbles are below the pump outlet. There should be a few inches of space with no bubbles.

Don

Don you are always full of good information I would have never thought of that I am going to look at mine this weekend.

 

[zenn]

well, after using a coat hanger to bore out the venturi hole, it's running a bit better. But there's still quite a few micro bubbles coming out of the riser tube. Something is making the pump push more water than normal. I'm not sure what it is. I might have to bore out the hose some too?

 

[DonW]

well, after using a coat hanger to bore out the venturi hole, it's running a bit better. But there's still quite a few micro bubbles coming out of the riser tube. Something is making the pump push more water than normal. I'm not sure what it is. I might have to bore out the hose some too?

The hanger went all the way through right, you could see it come out the other side?

Is there a few inches of reaction area without bubbles?

If the answer is yes to BOTH then let it run and go to bed.

Don

 

[zenn]

the hanger went all the way through...but there are not a few inches of reactor space without bubbles. The bubbles are still getting sucked up into the riser tube.

 

[trido]

Hmmmm. Have you cleaned the impeller lately (in the last two months)? Also, my G-3 is very finicky about the water level in the sump. Is it higher than normal?

 

[DonW]

the hanger went all the way through...but there are not a few inches of reactor space without bubbles. The bubbles are still getting sucked up into the riser tube.

Then your still lacking air. I guess the next step is to soak the pump.

Don

 

[zenn]

Woke up this morning and it was almost back to normal. very few bubbles were coming out of the riser tube. Looks like it's fixed. I really don't know why it took so long for it to correct itself. But at least it's better now.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Do you use sock filters?