Skimmer Going Nuts

[ohioreef]

I am having a GHA outbreak and have been doing little things to try to rid my tank of it. In the last few days I?ve cut back the white lights and cut back feeding.

Suddenly my skimmer has started going nuts, foaming really bad even when wide open.

If the GHA was starting to die off would that cause the skimmer to go crazy?

[Steve]

If it was a big die off I would say yes, but with the adjustments you made I doubt that it's dying off fast enough to cause that. I would look at other reasons.

[ohioreef]

If it was a big die off I would say yes, but with the adjustments you made I doubt that it's dying off fast enough to cause that. I would look at other reasons.

Kinda what I was thinking. Just can?t figure out what it might be.

[Steve]

Did you add carbon, GFO or filter socks, anything like that?

[ohioreef]

I?ve been running a filter sock from day one of this tank. I switch it out every few days.

I?m not running any kind of reactor on it.

[SweetReefOH]

I had a strange problem like this a long time ago. Check the pinhole nipple where your airline connects to the skimmer. This area is a high ph area and can cause calcium precipitation in the area which can cause calcification around the hole and blocking off 50% of the air intake or more. I took my nozzle off and scraped the hole clean. You could also do a vinegar or acid bath. Hope this helps...

[ohioreef]

That had crossed my mind. I just cleaned it a week or so ago, but doesn?t mean there isn?t something in there.

In my old tank I used to heat up a cup or so of RODI water and let the skimmer pull it through the airline. Did a pretty good job of cleaning it out.

[ohioreef]

Think I may have figured out my skimmer issue, water level. I noticed that the water level was higher than usual today. Need to do some tweaking in my sump.

I have a sponge between the refugium and pump chambers and it gets covered in algae causing the water level to rise. Only concern is if I pull it I won?t have any protection for the return pump.

[Steve]

That would def cause the problem.

[ohioreef]

Wow! Never realized how much water level affected a skimmer! Problem solved!