Help with skimmer.....

[Whatnow]

New Esshops psk-100 hob. Okay I filled and bled it and then turned it on with my finger over the airline for a second till it stopped gurgling about 5 sec then everything seemed okay except that it bubbling like crazy into and out of the skim cup. I've got it adjusted to the lowest setting and its still fills the cup in abot 15min..... Now when I first setup the tank I used two cap fulls of Seachem Prime which I think is whats happing but how can I correct this or do I just turn it off and wait for the conditioner to wear off??????

 

[Dtackett]

your skimmer has a break in period, well all skimmers do, basically until it builds up a film its going to do whatever it wants. you could try raising the skimmer out of the water a bit which will lower the water level in it.

 

[Whatnow]

Okay I'll put something under the mount area around an 1" and try that.

 

[Whatnow]

Okay I put a piece of 1/2 clear tubing under the mount and now its bubble level is at 1/2 cup which at least isn't coming out of the cup anymore lol.

********well that lasted 5 min now coming out of cup a little again even turned all the way down*****

 

[Dtackett]

it will though. when it breaks in the foam will foam out of the cup. are you sure you've got it set up right? try to get the bubbles below the neck of the cup. if you have to raise it up much more you may want to make sure its all setup right.

 

[Whatnow]

the water level in the tank is not that high to begin with and the foam wont back down....right now even jacked up a little its foam is sitting at the top off the scum cup not overflowing but close an if I adjust the tube it only goes up or back down to where it is now right on the edge of overflowing into the cup.

 

[Dtackett]

you may need to just lower the water level in your tank. hob skimmers are touchy. eshopps says to raise it with a piece of 1 inch pvc that's 10 inches long. let it rest on the intake and output pipes. they say doing this will stop it from overflowing. I saw one article that talked about lowering the pump in the tank to add more head pressure but not sure how well that would work, ive never tried it.

 

[Whatnow]

lowering the pump in the tank to add more head pressure but not sure how well that would work

yeah I kinda agree with you on that LOL

 

[Reefrookie220]

Drill a tiny hole in the bottom edge of your cup and silicone a piece of air line in there and run the other end to a bucket/jug , skimmate will drain into the jug instead of filling your cup.

 

[Whatnow]

Drill a tiny hole in the bottom edge of your cup and silicone a piece of air line in there and run the other end to a bucket/jug , skimmate will drain into the jug instead of filling your cup.

It's got one built in already.....

 

[Dtackett]

really you've got 2 easy choices. raise your pump, or lower your water level... you can only raise it so far...

 

[Reefrookie220]

Still overflows faster than it can drain?

 

[Reefrookie220]

If it's new it's still breaking in. Not much you can do but run it.

 

[Whatnow]

no its not filling the cup itself the foam is coming up the edge of going into the cup....and wont adjust down

 

[Reefrookie220]

That's what's supposed to happen? What bursts off of the bubbles collects in the cup...

 

[Reefrookie220]

@cee is a skimmer junkie!

 

[Dtackett]

yeah what bursts off the bubbles goes in the cup, but its still not broke in. once it breaks in and starts creating actual foam and has a slime coat that foam head is going to rise higher and start to overflow

 

[cee]

Some chemicals can cause skimmers to foam excessively. I'm not sure about Seachem Prime, never used it. It takes a day or two to dissipate. I'd turn the skimmer off for a day and try again.

Dave

 

[Whatnow]

It takes a day or two to dissipate

Okay then the Prime was added almost 3 weeks ago so probably just need to be broken in then.

 

[Reefrookie220]

Yeah. Break in can be nerve wracking. Just let it run until you can start to adjust it.