Skimmer not producing bubbles anymore

[icemountain]

Hello, so I am not sure what's going on with the skimming at this point.

Background:
The skimmer on the aquarium was working (producing tons of waste) up until a week ago. Nothing has changed to my knowledge aside from adding new socks but this never stopped the skimmer from producing bubbles in the past. I thought it was the pump so I took it out and gave a good cleaning. Even after the cleaning, the skimmer was still not producing any bubbles. I then swapped that skimmer with the skimmer that is on another tank of mine to see if it was a skimmer issue or something else. The skimmer I swapped is now working fine on the new tank and the skimmer I replaced it with isn't, like the previous skimmer. This leads me to believe that something is going on with the water that may be messing up the skimmer causing it to not produce any bubbles at all, almost as if it's skimming a freshwater tank.

I am getting water ready for a big water change but I am still baffled as to why the skimmer stopped producing bubbles.

I do run copper in the tank. No other reactors or filtration aside from an FX6. I may have added in Prime but I don't think that would cause this issue. Any ideas or possibilities?

 

[tzabor10]

What type of skimmer? What do you feed the tank? Why do you run copper?

 

[icemountain]

What type of skimmer? What do you feed the tank? Why do you run copper?

SRO 250-int

I feed all sorts of things. The only thing I put in different recently was collard greens. I noticed that it had wax or waterproof leaf. I’m not sure if they are naturally hydrophobic or not. I feed pellets and various frozen foods.

I run copper from time to time for ich/velvet if needed.

 

[twentyleagues]

What is the sg of the tank? I'd say check the venturi but you swapped the whole thing. Why would you put collard greens in? Maybe something with that? No bubbles at all or no foam?

 

[icemountain]

What is the sg of the tank? I'd say check the venturi but you swapped the whole thing. Why would you put collard greens in? Maybe something with that? No bubbles at all or no foam?

I feed my fish Romain lettuce usually but this time I put in collard greens.

Sg is normal. 1.020.

 

[icemountain]

What is the sg of the tank? I'd say check the venturi but you swapped the whole thing. Why would you put collard greens in? Maybe something with that? No bubbles at all or no foam?

It’s making bubbles like it’s in a hyposalinty tank, barely anything.

 

[Naekuh]

Check your Airline for blockages... sometimes salt creeps in it, and solidifies to a rock crystal inside the line.

Check the intake of your skimmer also, possibly a snail or something is stuck inside.

Make sure your silencer if you have one is not clogged with dust in the pin valve assembly.

 

[icemountain]

Check your Airline for blockages... sometimes salt creeps in it, and solidifies to a rock crystal inside the line.

Check the intake of your skimmer also, possibly a snail or something is stuck inside.

I swapped skimmers completely and still the same issue.

I’m wondering if the collard greens messed up the water chemistry to the point that the skimmer isn’t able to produce bubbles. Reading online it says they produce a natural wax to protect the leaves.

 

[Naekuh]

Then id recheck your SG... do you have another hydrometer or refractometer?

 

[icemountain]

Then id recheck your SG... do you have another hydrometer or refractometer?

Yes. I have a hydrometer and a digital meter. Both reading 1.020