Bubble kills skimmer

[pseudorand]

My skimmer stopped working.

I have an HOB overflow with two drains to my sump. One is plumbed through my external skimmer. The tubing is clean, so I can see the tube from my overflow to the skimmer has a bunch of air in it. The overflow does have straws that's supposed to let the air out, but apparently it's not long enough or something. Since noticing the air in the tube, adjusting my skimmer knob doesn't change the level in the skimmer. If I turn off the other overflow drain, it gets a bit better, but the air bubble doesn't go away completely.

How do I fix that?

 

[blaxsun]

I think it might be helpful to post some pictures of how you have things configured.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Ya sorry not following. What skimmer?
Lol
D

 

[pseudorand]

Well, I figured it out. Simply not enough flow.

A few months ago, I overfilled my tank, letting some of my chaeto into the return pump compartment in my sump. I thought I had it cleaned out, but over time little bits of chaeto had lodged themselves in my Sicce return, slowing the flow. It happened so gradually that I didn't notice. Last night I did my semi-annual citric acid soak and cleaning, and sure enough the return pump was clogged with little bits of chaeto. Now it's pumping like a champ, the "bubble" in the skimmer intake is gone and my skimmer is bubbling like a witches cauldron. Good by high-nitrients, hello tiny-skimmer-adjustment-triggers-low-water-sensor.

So that's the good news. The bad news is that my corals have done great over possibly a similar timeframe as the pump problem. Will they all die now? Do I have too much flow? Were extra nutrients from inefficient slimming helping? If the now die, was it one of those things? Or perhaps I didn't rinse my equipment well enough after the citric acid. I also forgot to even measure salinity of my fresh salt mix during last night's water change because. It was probably fine, as I know how much my mixing container takes, but I'll never know.

What's more, I basically took apart all my plumbing for the citric acid soak and put it back together. No issues so far. It's like they repealed Murphy's Law, and I'm not buying it.

Keep an eye on the tank emergencies thread for more.