Anyone have strange acting skimmers last night?

[Scott-CapeCoral]

Another reefer in my local club posted a thread asking this same question because his went into overload. Turned out mine did too, but I wasn't going to ask about it.
I haven't had to touch my skimmer since I set it up. I have the skimmer overflowing the skim-mate into a 5gallon bucket that I empty out. I have an s.r.o. 3000 xp external cone skimmer and it's pretty tall. I always keep my head level to the top of the cone, at the base of the neck. This morning I did my usual morning check of everything and the skimmer only had about 3 inches of water in it (the cone) for some reason, but a serious wall of foam all the way to collection cup. I'm talking about 20 inches thick. I have no idea why my water level was so low like that, but I'm extremely glad it was or this thing would have spewed everywhere and covered my floor.

Another reefer said his skimmer blew the top off of his skimmer and a wall of foam was gushing down the side of his skimmer and his sump looked like someone poured soap in it.

None of us have a clue what went on and why this happened to us on the same night? Any ideas?

Thanks, Scott W.

[tunaluver]

pest control spraying in your town and house not sealed tight? idk i have heard about stuff similar up here when they would spray for mosquitos

[Scott-CapeCoral]

I didn't hear of any pest control going by recently, neither did the local reefers. Especially not this time of year when it's getting cooler outside. Very strange whatever it is.

[sirreal63]

1-800-Fox-Mulder

That is strange and something air-born would be plausible.

[Scott-CapeCoral]

What's the phone number for Jack ?

[Drewbaby]

It might have had something to do with a rapid change in barometric pressure of something like that. I don't know if we had any big fronts come through, but that could cause some changes in the way the water reacts to the air in the mixing chamber. I doubt it would be to the extent your speaking of unless it was o ly a piece of the puzzle to what happened.

[sirreal63]

What's the phone number for Jack ?

I guess you weren't an X-Files fan. :-)

[NyReefNoob]

snail spawning. was almost full moon, this is something i have watched in my own tank trying to figure out why it all of a sudden overflowed, my cleaner shrimp had spawned

[Scott-CapeCoral]

snail spawning. was almost full moon, this is something i have watched in my own tank trying to figure out why it all of a sudden overflowed, my cleaner shrimp had spawned

That's a good thought, however, check this out http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1932905
That happened four nights ago and the skimmer did nothing??

[NyReefNoob]

had read that, nice too

[tkeracer619]

You need to set up an ATO on your collection container asap or you will regret it later.

autotopoff.com single float is cheap and easy to put on a 5g bucket.

Never setup or run a line to a container that does not have a float switch. Its not if but when the thing overflows.

[Scott-CapeCoral]

That wouldn't help me much as I have my skimmer feeding right from my dart. I appreciate the help though.

[fisher99]

Scott
I also live in Cape Coral and this morning went to clean my skimmer cup and
found about 3 times the amount of skimate than I usually have.
I clean the cup every day and have never had the cup this full.
It also looks like it's skimming more than normal after I turned the skimmer on.

[tkeracer619]

Yes but your dart does not inject air. If your skimmer is flooding its not the feed pump that causes it.

[tmgrash]

1-800-Fox-Mulder


That's where I'd start

[Scott-CapeCoral]

Yes but your dart does not inject air. If your skimmer is flooding its not the feed pump that causes it.

Oh you mean have a ato kill switch that shuts down the bubble blaster ?




fisher99, nice to meet you. Are you on the local swfmas site ?

[lilredwuck]

Went to feed the fish, and my skimmer had very little water and was flooding everything with bubbles. Overflowing the top popping it off. Unplugged adjusted and tried again. Was working fine, then checked on it later to it overflowing with bubbles again. There was about 3 inches of water, the rest bubbles. No clue why. It's unplugged for now.

[tkeracer619]

Oh you mean have a ato kill switch that shuts down the bubble blaster ?



Yup that way if you pop the top and fill up the bucket it shuts down the bubble blaster before it dumps the water on the floor. Worth every penny.