skimmer waste in my DT...??

[estoniangirl]

cant beliave i did this.. but was topping off water and forgot to turn the skimmer off. the skimmer cup got full of water and started coming out from the top back into the tank. i havent cleaned my skimmer in about a week.. all the junk form the skimmer is now back in the tank.. question is has anyone made this mistake before? what happened???? do i need to do a big water change now???? help:?::?::?: please... and thanks

 

[Jesse_emel]

I had this happen a couple times. forgot to close the valve for my RO/DI storage tank valve i used for water changes and flooded the sump and the protein skimmer. I just emptied the skimmer cup and got the whole system running like normal. The skimmer skimmed it once it can do it again. I had no loss of corals or fish. but my system was about 335 gallon total.

 

[estoniangirl]

thanks for that input. my tank is 39 gal only...hope that doesnt make too much of a difference... will hope that everything will be ok then thanks again....

 

[FreakinReefin]

Your skimmer should just go bonkers for a bit while there is a super excess of nutrients in the water. I'd do a 50% water change to get it under control, however it isn't entirely necessary.

 

[Skimmy]

fresh carbon and normal 25% water change will be fine...
happens to the best of us...
unless you have sensitive sps, you should be fine...
if you do have sensitive sps, you might experience a loss of color, worst case scenario.
lps and softies are probably diggin' it...lol

 

[NC2WA]

yes I have done this a couple times..I have a large tank so I just let the skimmer skim again and had no issues..but for a small tank a WC might be the right thing to do.

 

[ac7av]

Had it happen to me twice in one week. Man I was so mad at my self the second time but each time I sat there with the shop vac and skimmer running with the cup lid off to collect the majority of the bubbles because it just started going crazy. After about 15 minutes I could put the lid back on and every thing was skimmed out again really fast and then dumped the cup.

 

[FreakinReefin]

Had it happen to me twice in one week. Man I was so mad at my self the second time but each time I sat there with the shop vac and skimmer running with the cup lid off to collect the majority of the bubbles because it just started going crazy. After about 15 minutes I could put the lid back on and every thing was skimmed out again really fast and then dumped the cup.

Hahaha...that's a great miserable visual.

 

[estoniangirl]

thank you all for great replys... tank is doing great no issues thank goodness!!!!!

 

[johnpeezy]

yeah, I have done this alot, I mean ALOT...

alot of you have seen the 20 gallon tank that I have, well if I stick my arm in the tank too deep I will overflow my collection cup. I have to try to remember to do this any time I do anything in my tankand quite frankly I'm just not that good at remembering. Any time this has happened to me I just reset my skimmer and let it do its thing, has not killed anything yet. The corals don't seem to be affected at all

 

[ac7av]

I’m right there with you johnpeezy, I have the same problem. If I stick my arm in for a minute for so it fine but if I forget and start fooling around, its all over. Looks like a bubble bath out of dirt gone crazy under my tank when that happens.

 

[vimal]

guys,i need help immediately!! my skimmer is not producing any foam!! dont know why?? any idea? it just trap some dirt around the collection cup.?? any idea?

 

[NC2WA]

this can happen if you have done a water change recently OR recently cleaned your skimmer

if none of the above applies, have you changed ANYTHING to your tank recently ??

 

[FreakinReefin]

guys,i need help immediately!! my skimmer is not producing any foam!! dont know why?? any idea? it just trap some dirt around the collection cup.?? any idea?

Was it foaming before? Maybe a clogged venturi/air line is blocked or obstructed in some way. Try taking the whole thing apart and cleaning every piece of the air feed and pump as well as the impeller.

 

[vimal]

Was it foaming before? Maybe a clogged venturi/air line is blocked or obstructed in some way. Try taking the whole thing apart and cleaning every piece of the air feed and pump as well as the impeller.

no dude! its never foam before!! ok,i'll do as what you said..