Skimmer keeps on over flowing.....plz help

[porksoda]

Hello everbody, Well my problem is i turn my skimmer on and it works good for a couple of days but all of a sudden it just starts to overflowing. Most of the time it is when i am at work so when i get home half of my tank is empty from it overflowing. I have a 55 gallon tank. This is the skimmer i have http://www.current-usa.com/fissionpowerskimmer.html Model #8102. I dont know what i am doing wrong. I turn the little blue knob and set it like the manual says but it still does it. The skimmer does make a big difference in my water and makes it way more clearer. But it just keeps overflowing. I dont know if it is too powerful or what. Also when i clean out the collection cup how do i go about doing that? Do i have to turn off the skimmer everytime? Thanks alot !

Pablo

 

[handydude40]

well since nobody else repleyed i can try im realy new at reefs but my skimmer has a little to big a pump had same prob would set it low and would work grat fer a few days the the cup would fill with water i split the water with a y valve slowing current to skimmer a little very little and havent had prob since except when i feed planton i turn off skimer or it over flows my skimmer in sump so i dont losse water it just over flows back in to sump
well good luck im defanitly not even close to expert but hope helped

 

[phomaniac]

i had the same problem with my super skimmer 220 i noticed that when the water evaporated the water line for my skimmer would also drop causing it to over flow so i moved the skimmer to an area of the sump that has little to no water level change it been fine since..... hope that helps

 

[sausage fingers]

Hi,

Ive had the same problem as well but my tank did not empty just the skimate from the cup, dont know why it does it but has happened at least half a dozen times skimmer still in same position and pump has always been submerged, skimmer make is a aqua medic sl . Seems to me that any make can suffer the same fate but why not sure.

 

[dnjan]

Drill a hole in the lid of the collection cup the same size as the air hose. Add a length of hose onto the air hose, and put the end of that extension through the lid of the collection cup so it sticks down about an inch.

Now, when the skimmer starts going crazy, the air hose will start sucking water from the collection cup instead of air, and it will stop foaming.

Not a solution to the original problem, but at least it prevents floods.

 

[Dutch-1969]

Don,


that is a easy and good solution to solve a problem ASAP without high cost.

 

[vinny2261]

Also sometimes snails can crawl into the output tube which can make it back up. I have also seen skimmers that will surge. It may need a good cleaning, could have some grunge blocking the flow. Sometimes a new skimmer needs to be broken in, maybe turn the blue knob back, which will drop down the water line inside the skimmer. It is usually better to adjust the level over the period of a couple of days or a week or so. Check your salinity if you lost a lot of water, especially if it is on auto top off...

 

[Chichas01]

That skimmer design reminds me of the Coralife skimmers. They are completely unpredictable and are notorius for overflowing without warning. This happend to me when I had one. You have to make sure that the venturi is clean at all times. Any amount of salt-creep build up in there and you are headed for trouble. I found that as soon as it would start to build up, the skimmer would overflow. Your best option might be to replace the skimmer altogether. Find a nice used one on the For Sale forum. Of course that's easy for me to say if you don't have them money. So, replace it or make sure you are cleaning and servicing it weekly. The airline in the cup idea will work well, but why take the chance of putting all that nasty crap back in the tank and then have to skim it all out again?

 

[HumblePie]

Some quick tips with skimmers...

Follow dnjan's advice. Drill the hole near an inch or so above the base (your height preference) of the skimmer collection cup. This will act as an overflow drain much like most bathroom sinks have. When the skimmer scum reaches that level it will drain it out. You can then use a bucket or other container under the drain hose to collect it. I recommend using a 1/2" hose rather than something smaller as the small hoses can become easily clogged with skimmer scum and block. Note if you go larger than an airline hose you'll need to go get a 1/2" slip/nipple from Home Depot or other supply shop. These are usually gray in color. Simply drill the hole corresponding to the outer diameter of the slip/nipple and slide the slip side into the hole. Seal with reef safe cement or reef safe silicon.

The next part to remember is that your water evaporates and causes your tank level to fall. Depending on your skimmer, this drop in water level can affect the skimmer performance, most often making the skimmer perform poorly. If you don't have an ATO the the skimmer may not have the same water volume as before causing the bubbles to fill the chamber lower than at the regular height. On the flip side, as you do water changes, etc., if your water level is higher than normal, your skimmer may run "wet" causing the skimmer scum to collect more rapidly. Usually the collection is light in color indicating that it is capturing much more water than normal. This is when you most often see the collection cup fill and either deposit back into the tank through the collection nozzle or overflow.

Hope this helps.

 

[Skimmy]

that skimmer IS NOT too powerful for the tank....lol

as chicas said, it's probably your venturi clogging every few days after you shut off the skimmer (which I imagine is washing out the salt creep clogging your venturi, making the skimmer stable for a few days until it clogs again).

just let the air hose suck up a little hot r.o. water every couple days, that should keep it clear.
and yes, you should have an ATO for the tank to maintain salinity and allow the skimmer to be as stable as it can.
the other thing you can do is get an ATO for the skimmer collection cup, and set it to shut off the skimmer pump when the cup is full.

no offense, but that skimmer is very low quality, and not suprising that it has issues being stable.
my advice is to upgrade to another skimmer that will work better, lmk if you do, i'll steer you in the right direction.

 

[fatboyt123]

Does anybody else know that this is from 3 years ago?

 

[Chichas01]

:lol::lol::lol:
it only takes one...

 

[hernluis]

Hello everbody, Well my problem is i turn my skimmer on and it works good for a couple of days but all of a sudden it just starts to overflowing. Most of the time it is when i am at work so when i get home half of my tank is empty from it overflowing. I have a 55 gallon tank. This is the skimmer i have http://www.current-usa.com/fissionpowerskimmer.html Model #8102. I dont know what i am doing wrong. I turn the little blue knob and set it like the manual says but it still does it. The skimmer does make a big difference in my water and makes it way more clearer. But it just keeps overflowing. I dont know if it is too powerful or what. Also when i clean out the collection cup how do i go about doing that? Do i have to turn off the skimmer everytime? Thanks alot !

Pablo

when i add water to my tank my skimmer also overflows, so i need to keep checking it

 

[Skimmy]

Does anybody else know that this is from 3 years ago?