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View Full Version : recirculating skimmer overflowed when i topped off...


flipteg
12/27/2007, 07:20 AM
i just installed a recirculating skimmer 2 days ago and it's already producing dry foam... earlier, i topped off the tank with a gallon of freshwater and the skimmer immediately overflowed it's cup... i was wondering if this is going to be a daily occurance and if i have to turn the skimmer off everytime i top off...

the skimmer is being fed with a T connector that is shared with the return to main tank... i was thinking that maybe the back preassure of the rising sump water level caused it, but i don't know if that's possible since it has to go through the return pump anyways...

flipteg
12/27/2007, 08:26 AM
i also wanted to add that the drain hose from the main tank's over flow and the output of the skimmer are beside each other... the drain hose from the main tank is at an angle from the output of the skimmer which looks kinda like this:

main tank drain ---> \ | <--- skimmer return...

when i top off, i put it in the main tank... i don't put it in the sump because the space above it is small and it's hard tipping a bucket into it... i was thinking that maybe the back preassure from the surge of water from the drain hose caused the interruption on the skimmer return... since both drains are only about an inch or two above the floor of the tank, the back wash might have magnified the problem...

or am i just over analyzing things and the over flow was caused by the change in water chemistry...?

Runfrumu
12/27/2007, 09:43 AM
It probably overflowed due to the big rush in freshwater into it, it cannot bubble it like saltwater so it just ran over.

flipteg
12/27/2007, 09:49 AM
but i would think that the opposite should happen... if it can't foam it, then it shouldn't even reach the top... kinda like what happens when i put my hand in the tank... the skimmer stops skimming for a few minutes...