Skimmer Overflow Help!

[HardyG]

Good Afternoon!

I just recently got my tank going and have a small amount of livestock. I decided to cut my skimmer on ( Reef Octopus Classic 152s) and I can’t seem to figure out why it won’t stop overflowing. The water fills the body and never slows down. I have ran the skimmer at the top and bottom of the recommended depths and tried all the way open and all the way closed with the gate valve. I am super confused by this. Can anyone offer any solutions? I am super frustrated with myself and would love some help! Thanks in advance!

 

[Dburr1014]

What is recommended depth? 8"?

Have you tried to adjust with no air going to the unit? It should fall about 2-4" below the neck.

Did you break it in? Leave the cup of for a couple days.

 

[ReefNoob5281]

I have had this problems a few times infact last weekend this happened to my skimmer (Bubble Magus C3.5) and the success i have had with my skimmer is to have it open at maximum. you will get alot of micro bubbles in your tank but after a few hours it will settle and then slowly close the gate maybe a notch a day until it settles itself in. patience is the key. my LFS dude told me that nothing can really go wrong with a skimmer as it is just really an air filter / bubble maker and the only thing to go wrong with it is the bubble maker breaking. so there isnt anything wrong with your skimmer its just a little bit of patience and some fine tweaking.

 

[HardyG]

What is recommended depth? 8"?

Have you tried to adjust with no air going to the unit? It should fall about 2-4" below the neck.

Did you break it in? Leave the cup of for a couple days.

Thanks for the reply. Yes I have tried from 5-8” with no success. By no air do you mean paper clip the airline tubing? I have not done that. I ran it for a few days without the collection cup on it but it didn’t seem to do much imo so I just gave up lol.

 

[HardyG]

I have had this problems a few times infact last weekend this happened to my skimmer (Bubble Magus C3.5) and the success i have had with my skimmer is to have it open at maximum. you will get alot of micro bubbles in your tank but after a few hours it will settle and then slowly close the gate maybe a notch a day until it settles itself in. patience is the key. my LFS dude told me that nothing can really go wrong with a skimmer as it is just really an air filter / bubble maker and the only thing to go wrong with it is the bubble maker breaking. so there isnt anything wrong with your skimmer its just a little bit of patience and some fine tweaking.

Do I need to have the collection cup on? I have ran it for a day and a half without the cup on there, but when I added it back it just fillled back up like always. Open to all tricks lol

 

[HardyG]

What is recommended depth? 8"?

Have you tried to adjust with no air going to the unit? It should fall about 2-4" below the neck.

Did you break it in? Leave the cup of for a couple days.

It has this silencer on there but I don’t know if it is adjustable. If it is I am not sure I know how!

 

[HardyG]

As of today the skimmer cup fills to the max but doesn't overflow at wide open gate. Any suggestions?

 

[HardyG]

 

[19Mateo83]

This may be a silly question but is the pump on that thing a DC pump and if so is there a speed control?

 

[HardyG]

This may be a silly question but is the pump on that thing a DC pump and if so is there a speed control?

No silly questions. No, it is AC.

 

[ilikefish69]

No silly questions. No, it is AC.

I have only ever had one skimmer it is simplicity brand, I am still at a beginner level. No silly questions? challenge accepted

- Do you have any treatments in the tank, like fluconazole or a similar ?
- Do you have fresh filter socks that were washed in soap ?
- Do you have a little knob you can turn left and right that makes the water level go up and down in the tube?
- Can you make the pump run faster or slower (like a row of lights and you can turn the speed up/down)
- Is your skimmer in a low flow area, likely skimming the same water multiple times as the water isnt passing through that chamber quickly?
- Does the skimmer sit completely flat on the bottom, so there is not one side of the cup higher than the other?
- Can you add an airline tubing to the silencer part and blow more air into the inside of the skimmer chamber?

I have no idea what it does or why it does it, but if I put an air pump connected to the little acrylic chamber with two spouts coming off of it, and fill it with tank water about 3/4 the way up, that helps there to be more bubbles and less water in the chamber that travels up.

These are just observations I have personally witnessed to cause my skimmer to skim clear water into the cup

 

[mrpontiac80]

On my skimmer, I found my water level inside the skimmer to be at a sweet spot right about the top of the ring circled. Use your red gate valve to adjust it. Not sure this will help your situation but thought I’d offer anyway.