REEF MYSTERY? Skimmer malfunction.

[Glenner’sreef]

Not very often! Maybe twice a year. My Skimmer of choice, the Bubble Magus Curve 7 decides to “back flush” if you will.
I’ve had this workhorse for going on 8 years. It needs emptied and cleaned every 3 or 5 days.
It will be 2 or 3 days and I’ll take a look underneath the tank and notice I need to do the maintenance within a few days. The following day or so, I’ll randomly glance underneath only to discover the 2 inches of Turkish coffee is no long there but back in my tank. Arrg!
No reason at all. A couple times a year?

Any experiencing the same phenomenon?
And what do you attribute it to?

 

[Formulator]

 

[AviR]

Not very often! Maybe twice a year. My Skimmer of choice, the Bubble Magus Curve 7 decides to “back flush” if you will.
I’ve had this workhorse for going on 8 years. It needs emptied and cleaned every 3 or 5 days.
It will be 2 or 3 days and I’ll take a look underneath the tank and notice I need to do the maintenance within a few days. The following day or so, I’ll randomly glance underneath only to discover the 2 inches of Turkish coffee is no long there but back in my tank. Arrg!
No reason at all. A couple times a year?

Any experiencing the same phenomenon?
And what do you attribute it to?

Logically I would suggest to check the drain tube on the bottom of the collection cup. If at a certain pressure it’s starts to leak there is your problem.

 

[Glenner’sreef]

Logically I would suggest to check the drain tube on the bottom of the collection cup. If at a certain pressure it’s starts to leak there is your problem.

I have always had it cut back to about 4” and capped? That’s probably why I empty it every 4 or so days.

 

[AviR]

I have always had it cut back to about 4” and capped? That’s probably why I empty it every 4 or so days.

Can you explain this, not sure exactly what you’re saying. Really there isn’t any other way for the skim to go back in the tank unless there is a leak in some part of the skimmer collection cup. The easiest way to find where or what is going on is the remove the cup and fill it with water in the sink and see what happens. If nothing happens than I’ve got to agree with @Formulator about the aliens

 

[Glenner’sreef]

Can you explain this, not sure exactly what you’re saying. Really there isn’t any other way for the skim to go back in the tank unless there is a leak in some part of the skimmer collection cup. The easiest way to find where or what is going on is the remove the cup and fill it with water in the sink and see what happens. If nothing happens than I’ve got to agree with @Formulator about the aliens

So, yes, coming out of the skimmer cup is the hose that allows we the hobbyists to direct the skimmate to a larger container somewhere in our sump area. I’ve never wanted a septic tank lol so I cut the long hose down to 4 inches. Not a big deal when I clean the cut. It’s never in the way.