Can’t get protein skimmer back to normal

[WhitePanther93]

A few weeks back I forgot to turn my skimmer off during a coral feeding. I put my tank into feed mode , the water level in my sump went up, and the skimmer went nuts.

problem is I can’t get it back to functioning properly anymore I even tried giving the skimmer a good cleaning. That seemed like it fixed it, but later I came back and it was overflowing again. Water changes don’t seem to do anything.

many help would be appreciated.

 

[T-J]

If your skimmer overflows because the water level went up, make sure you don't adjust anything on the skimmer. When the water level goes back down, the skimmer will almost always just go back to functioning normally.

As far as getting yours back to normal, you probably removed the film that built up on the skimmer when you cleaned it. So basically, it's like starting over with a brand new skimmer.

If nothing else has changed, you should be able to control it by adjusting the air intake.

 

[WhitePanther93]

So break it in like it’s a new skimmer. Gotcha

 

[jda]

Check the air hose, venturi and everything. When they start to get clogged with salt creep, they let in less air and the water volume goes up quite a bit. That event could have been the last straw that allowed some contaminant into the air system.

 

[WhitePanther93]

Check the air hose, venturi and everything. When they start to get clogged with salt creep, they let in less air and the water volume goes up quite a bit. That event could have been the last straw that allowed some contaminant into the air system.

While it didn’t fully fix it, you were right about the salt creep. I pulled it off, blew some air through it and a bit of salt creep came flying out. I gave both a rodi rinse.

 

[jda]

I have had the deposits get so hard that I needed a drill to get them out. I do have some skimmers that have kicked butt for a decade, or more, so it builds up over time.

 

[WhitePanther93]

I have had the deposits get so hard that I needed a drill to get them out. I do have some skimmers that have kicked butt for a decade, or more, so it builds up over time.

Mine’s still pretty new but thanks for telling me about this. Might save me a headache in the future