Skimmer going crazy!!

[Zbass]

So I used slime out to kill my cyano in my tank. After about 48 hrs I did a 30% water change as instructed. After this I turned my skimmer and carbon reactor back on. So it been about 5 days since that and my skimmer is still over flowing and going crazy putting micro bubbles in my tank. So I have paritally blocked my air tube to calm it down temporarily . How long does it take for the skimmer to stop all of that?

 

[Troylee]

Awhile lol.. best thing you can do is have some fresh mixed saltwater on deck and then turn the skimmer wide open with full air and put the drain hose from the skimmer Into a bucket and let it go till it stops overflowing! If that’s 3 gallons then put 3 gallons of fresh saltwater back in.

 

[Lasse]

This type of chemicals often changes the surface tension of your water in one or another way - that's why you get over-foaming of the water. You can test the way @Troylee suggest but - IMO - it is impossible to know how long time it will take till the system is normal again.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Zbass]

Awhile lol.. best thing you can do is have some fresh mixed saltwater on deck and then turn the skimmer wide open with full air and put the drain hose from the skimmer Into a bucket and let it go till it stops overflowing! If that’s 3 gallons then put 3 gallons of fresh saltwater back in.

What do you think about partially blocking the air so it’s not going crazy and it wiill actually skim?

 

[Troylee]

What do you think about partially blocking the air so it’s not going crazy and it wiill actually skim?

You’ll get the added ph benefit but it’s not really filtering your water if it’s not skimming.

 

[CBonito]

What do you think about partially blocking the air so it’s not going crazy and it wiill actually skim?

I recently had to do that and man does that Pee me off when the skimmer overflows. My skimmer was off for like 6 months and when I turned it on it went nuts. I shoved a pointed piece of paper towel into the air intake to slow it down and ran my skimmer pump at low speed. I was able to go full throttle with the air in a couple days.

 

[CBonito]

You’ll get the added ph benefit but it’s not really filtering your water if it’s not skimming.

He just means partially blocking the air. mine skimmed with the air turned down a bit. But if I let it go full it overflowed. Took a couple days for it to calm down.

 

[Troylee]

He just means partially blocking the air. mine skimmed with the air turned down a bit. But if I let it go full it overflowed. Took a couple days for it to calm down.

Possibly, I guess.. I’ve never chocked the air down on my skimmers as it’s harder on the pumps.. I do like I mentioned in my first post or wait a couple days for the tank to settle down.

 

[CBonito]

Possibly, I guess.. I’ve never chocked the air down on my skimmers as it’s harder on the pumps.. I do like I mentioned in my first post or wait a couple days for the tank to settle down.

Well, it's not meant to be choked down because when everything is right it will run fine on full.
But yeah, I had to choke mine down a bit on the air to get all that crap to leave without overflowing things.
In a couple days it was business as usual.

 

[Waters]

I just get a bag of carbon and direct the skimmer overflow line directly into that, allowing the skimmer to overflow. Normally stops within 6-12 hours.