Chemiclean.... issue please help

mandi29221 · Mar 5, 2019

My protein skimmer is going nuts. Its filling up the 2liter in 30 minutes. I'm about to go to bed. I cant let it overrun. How can I stop this.

ccombs · Mar 5, 2019

I would turn it off for the time being until you can really look into the issue.

Is it a new skimmer, recently cleaned? My skimmer kinda goes nuts when it needs to develop a slime coat.

mandi29221 · Mar 5, 2019

ccombs said:
I would turn it off for the time being until you can really look into the issue.

Is it a new skimmer, recently cleaned? My skimmer kinda goes nuts when it needs to develop a slime coat.

It's a reef octopus 110int. I just did my dose of chemiclean for cyano. It said on the box it can happen but should I turn it off till the morning...

ccombs · Mar 5, 2019

Also, is Chemiclean something that you just added? I am trying to understand the correlation with the title of the thread.

mandi29221 · Mar 5, 2019

ccombs said:
Also, is Chemiclean something that you just added? I am trying to understand the correlation with the title of the thread.

Yes I just added earlier today

ccombs · Mar 5, 2019

Ok, thanks for the update.

I would turn it off. I haven't used Chemiclean first hand, but when dealing with another issue I added some products from Red Sea and Sea Chem, and my skimmer went crazy for a few hours.

I would leave it off overnight and see what happens in the morning.

mandi29221 · Mar 5, 2019

ccombs said:
Ok, thanks for the update.

I would turn it off. I haven't used Chemiclean first hand, but when dealing with another issue I added some products from Red Sea and Sea Chem, and my skimmer went crazy for a few hours.

I would leave it off overnight and see what happens in the morning.

My protein skimmer has a tube that goes into the 2liter. Could I let it just flow into the sump vs turning it off?

JDnKY · Mar 5, 2019

I turned my skimmer off for three days when I recently dosed Chem-clean. Didn’t turn it back on until after the 20% water change and it still overskimmed for another day or so. Just don’t overfeed and you should be fine with it off for a few days.

ccombs · Mar 5, 2019

Over the past few months I have dealt with a fair share of bad reactions from dosing and the biggest thing I learned is to give it time. The unfortunate reality is that once it is in, you cannot effectively remove it without other issues arising (i.e. too big of a water change). If this is a product you have used before successfully I would not worry about a negative effect on livestock.

FMF0331 · Mar 5, 2019

whenever i use that stuff, i make it a point to turn off the skimmer for at least a day. then do water change - after the water change i would turn on the skimmer and monitor the skimmate. if the skimmer is still over flowing , i would then turn off skimmer for another day.

ccombs · Mar 5, 2019

mandi29221 said:
My protein skimmer has a tube that goes into the 2liter. Could I let it just flow into the sump vs turning it off?

I guess you technically could, but it kind of defeats the purpose of the skimmer. In theory it might still help with aeration, but I am not entirely sure if it is worth it.

Leadfooted · Mar 5, 2019

Just shut it off for the night you’ll be fine.

JDnKY · Mar 5, 2019

ccombs said:
I guess you technically could, but it kind of defeats the purpose of the skimmer. In theory it might still help with aeration, but I am not entirely sure if it is worth it.

You do need some aeration with chem-clean, I just added a bubble stone to my tank while the skimmer was off but if you can remove the cup of the skimmer and let it overflow is would do the same thing as the bubble stone I used.