I did some experiments a few years back with carbon dioxide and algae scrubbers (before they were mainstream) and CO2 definitely can sit on the water in your sump, and linger in an enclosed sump cabinet. Try removing the old skimmer air and don’t reintroduce it into your skimmer.I think I answered the questions about water flow earlier. The probe is in the same chamber as the skimmer but it's not filling with bubbles. I checked. If you look at the chart you can see the steps I referred to but they aren't as obvious as they are when zoomed into a 24 hour period.