Protein skimmer going crazy, dehumidifier the cause?

alex277 · Mar 14, 2023

I have a 220 gallon tank, so I get a pretty large amount of evaporation. Enough so that I needed to get a dehumidifier to keep the humidity in our house down, because it was getting out of control. That said, ever since I got this dehumidifier, my protein skimmer has been out of control, overflowing like crazy. I’ve turned it down quite a lot and it is still overflowing. It had been tuned for give or take 6 months prior, so I’m not sure why this is all of a sudden happening. On one hand I can’t see why a dehumidifier would cause an issue like this, it’s about 10 feet from the sump. But on the other hand, the timing is kind of convenient and nothing else really makes sense? Would the humidity dropping make a difference? Or would the air the machine spits out maybe make a difference? Or does anyone have any other ideas of something that could suddenly do this?

a.t.t.r · Mar 14, 2023

Try turning off the Dehu and see…

only thing I could think of is more topoff water being added due to more evaporation.

theMeat · Mar 14, 2023

Think the air intake tube is getting clogged down where it attaches to the pump/Venturi. Six months sounds about right

ScubaFish802 · Mar 14, 2023

alex277 said:
I have a 220 gallon tank, so I get a pretty large amount of evaporation. Enough so that I needed to get a dehumidifier to keep the humidity in our house down, because it was getting out of control. That said, ever since I got this dehumidifier, my protein skimmer has been out of control, overflowing like crazy. I’ve turned it down quite a lot and it is still overflowing. It had been tuned for give or take 6 months prior, so I’m not sure why this is all of a sudden happening. On one hand I can’t see why a dehumidifier would cause an issue like this, it’s about 10 feet from the sump. But on the other hand, the timing is kind of convenient and nothing else really makes sense? Would the humidity dropping make a difference? Or would the air the machine spits out maybe make a difference? Or does anyone have any other ideas of something that could suddenly do this?

A 220 gallon tank is likely putting out a couple of gallons of evaporation per day :grinning-face-with-sweat: so the humidifier makes 100% sense. Hell I started running one with my tank that is a fraction of the size just because of the condensation on the windows in the winter time.
I doubt it is effecting the tank however, unless there is some crazy science I am not aware of..