skimmer not skimming all of a sudden

[drunkintimmy]

i have a reef octopus 1000sss and it was working fine after i changed out my sump then all of a sudden it doesnt skim the bubbles are just chilling above the water level in the skimmer and super wet not going up. i took everything apart and cleaned everything and it didnt really help its only 6 months old idk whats wrong

 

[RFroc]

If you've taken it apart and cleaned it, it can take a while for it to start producing skimmate again. Give it a day or two.

Also, if you've had your hands in the tank, the oils from your skin can affect the skimmer's performance. Again, given time, it'll start skimming again.

Great sig, btw.

 

[stingythingy45]

Yup,give it a little time to build up some slime in the body.
If it's still not working after a few days then something might be wrong.

 

[drunkintimmy]

i thought it might take a couple days to and so i left it alone since saturday and nothing has happened. im not sure whats going on. idk if its because of the new plumbing or what. and thanks sometimes i think they do lol

 

[mannysmusic]

i thought it might take a couple days to and so i left it alone since saturday and nothing has happened. im not sure whats going on. idk if its because of the new plumbing or what. and thanks sometimes i think they do lol

Yeah, I would say if you can see its creating a good amount of buubles, then it's most likely due to your new plumbing. It could take up to a week before it starts skimming again. this has happened to me before.

 

[mrclam]

Make sure there isn't anything (snail, Ca buildup) lodged in the air intake.

 

[drunkintimmy]

nothing in the intake im going to do a water change this weekend and change the carbon and gfo and see what happens

 

[stingythingy45]

If this has a venturi intake(air intake)like mentioned,it needs to be cleaned.
They build up with calcium and salt deposits and don't allow air into the pump.
I use a drywall screw to clean mine out on occasion.

 

[Conlius]

the only times mine ever did that was when the venturi had caked over...

On a side note, i just had to replace the impeller on my 1000sss due to it corroding - i had one of the original releases so it was like 2 years and 8 months into a 3 year warranty on that pump haha

 

[LoveTheReef]

Funny I happened to stumble across this post had the exact same problem with our skimmer today -- a snail had found its way into the water intake of the skimmer.

We were getting bubbles but they were at the water line.

Might want to check that out too ... maybe a snail or a small piece of rock got stuck in there...

The pull from the pump was so powerful that the snail couldn't even come out on its own... the second I turned off the skimmer pump, the trochus snail made its way out on its own

Hope that helps..


Archit


Edit: whoops, just read you already checked the intake .. nvm!

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

[drunkintimmy]

im starting to think the skimmer body has some sort of slime coating or something i did scrub it but if i leave it off for a day so the body dries it skims great for like an hour when i plug it back in then goes back to making large wet bubbles maybe a good soaking in hot water and vinegar would do the trick ?

 

[stingythingy45]

Don't know if you have done this yet,but......

 

[mnavick]

How much of the skimmer is submerged in your sump?
I have a 3000 and at first was submerged 8", then moved it up a little to be at 6".

Secondly how high do you have your bubbles going up the neck?
I recently posted a similar question on RC and was advised to increase the bubbles to just about an inch before overflowing into the collection cup. It is a fine line between skimming wet and skimming dry to get a nice dark green sludge. Any bit of aerosol (Febreeze near tank,hairspray etc), food particles, additives, water change or hands in tank can set a skimmer into crazy mode as in overflowing or not producing at all.

What did you clean it with?
If just diluted vinegar can take some time (week or so) to build up a good slime coat again. If anything else (Dawn,Joy etc) may take longer.

 

[mrclam]

You can also run RO/DI through the air intake to help dissolve mineral deposits. There was a thread not too long ago where someone went through your exact process and thought the intake was clear, only to realize a week later that it actually was built up inside the venture and he needed a flashlight to see the problem.

 

[drunkintimmy]

the weird part is it was running fine for maybe a week after i changed out my sump the water level was a litlle high then i took some out and it seemed to stop foamng it is right now at about 7 inches of water. i have poured water thru the intake. ive taken the pump apart and cleaned it ( i used a tooth brush and warm water ) now the venturi does have a slight bit of white in a small area but it doesnt seemed clogged because its pulling air and water