skimmer not working right....

[TBoisvert]

Okay, I have an ETSS reef devil protein skimmer. It has been working completely fine and producing nice gunky green crap... just like it is supposed to... up until tonite. It now doesn't seem to produce the bubbles properly.
I cleaned out the air tube, the neck of the skimmer and made sure there weren't any blockages in any of the lines.

Tonight I ran a phosphate sponge in the sump on the same side as the protein skimmer (in the filter sock) to assure it would get good flow through it. I don't think this would have anything to do with it, but that is the only change in the sump that has taken place since the problem surfaced. The skimmer seemed to stop making really dry bubbles after I ran that in the sump for about 7 hours.

Any suggestions?

Tammie

 

[denvig]

It probably did affect it. Let it be for a day and see if it recovers. All kinds of little things can affect skimmers.

 

[Moe_K]

Agreed, Dennis.
My BakPak would stop producing foam if I stuck my hands in the tank.
A few hours later, it would come back.

If I used Aqua-Stik or other reef putty, the skimmer went nutso and produced tons of foam.

 

[objectfire]

I've noticed if I add carbon, polyfilter, phosphate absorber (forget the brand, only did it once), or any other type of filter medium to my system, that the skimmer goes quiet almost immediately and does not return to normal levels until either the filter medium is removed or "fills up" with whatever it is absorbing.

Kent

 

[NateHanson]

When you say it isn't producing bubbles correctly, do you mean that the water inside the skimmer isn't as bubbly as it used to be, or there's no foam working it's way up into the collection cup? If it's the latter, then I'd agree with what the others have said. But if it's less bubbly in the reaction chamber, you might have an air injection clog or something like that.

Nate

 

[smcnally]

Did you feed before it stopped Tam? I always shut my skimmer down for an hour when I feed. Most foods will shut them down anyways. The ones that don't will get pulled into it, so you might as well turn it off when feeding.

 

[TBoisvert]

It didn't produce foam at all until this morning. It still is a very wet foam but it is working better today. I assume now that it was the phosphate sponge running in the sump. It kinda freaked me out.

Tammie

 

[Clam Man]

don't get to worried it must be the sponge but check the elbow for salt creap its an etss theres nothing to them.Two months after i started my 120g my skimmer stoped working for 2 weeks ? no clue what happened so i pulled it out after the first week and took it to johns store put it in one of his tanks and it worked fine brought it home nothing did some water changes nothing then at the end of the second week it just started working never could figure it out

 

[TBoisvert]

i think it was the phosphate sponge, because it is working fine now.