Skimmer Question

cccharliecc · Feb 9, 2018

Why would my skimmer (the bubbles) all of a sudden be going up and down every 15-20 seconds or so?

The tank is new and the skimmer has been running for 5+ days now with no problems....now tonight it was overflowing and now its going up and down.

It not really skimming anything because I only have 2 clowns in there now and its a 220 gallon tank, just cycled with dry rock and Dr. Tim's.

TonyNguyen · Feb 9, 2018

Can you post a picture of the skimmer and the make and model? If it is a good skimmer it is only supposed to raise if there is something to skim... If there is nothing then it will stay at the same level....Did you dose anything that can trigger the skim?

cccharliecc · Feb 9, 2018

It's a super reef octopus INT3000, I didn't dose anything.
I can post a pic later or tomorrow morning.
I may just shut it off for the night.

ReeferMaddness843 · Feb 9, 2018

Is the sump level consistent or are there any surges causing the actual water level in the sump to fluctuate?

Tbyram · Feb 9, 2018

If your water level in the skimmer section of the sump is staying constant then it typically won't fluctuate much. The other item I see is when I use some epoxy or glue it will go crazy for a while and overflow. The only other thing I can think of is if your pump is acting up that feeds the skimmer and not remaining constant.

cccharliecc · Feb 10, 2018

I think the water level in my skimmer section was a little high from the overflow....my ATK kicked on and raised the level a bit.
I left it off overnight, water evaporated and the level seems normal now. I just turned the skimmer back on and it seems to be behaving normally now.
I will monitor it though.

Thank you all very much for your input!

40B Knasty · Feb 10, 2018

cccharliecc said:
I think the water level in my skimmer section was a little high from the overflow....my ATK kicked on and raised the level a bit.
I left it off overnight, water evaporated and the level seems normal now. I just turned the skimmer back on and it seems to be behaving normally now.
I will monitor it though.

Thank you all very much for your input!

If the skimmer is sitting in a sump. Raise the whole skimmer up in the water column by putting a piece of acrylic underneath it. Not sure why. I do not have a sump. I read it online awhile back and helped someone else out on here with that tip and it did the job.