Skimmer Problem

[mharmon]

I have a Euro-Reef ES 5-3 skimmer that is suddenly producing only large amounts of white watery foam that fills up the collection cup in a few minutes. For the last couple of months, it has been working properly producing dark, thicker skimmate. A few weeks ago, I replaced the pump with a new Euro-Reef pump and since then the skimmer was working fine until now.

My SG is around 1.0245. I haven't changed anything recently. I tried adjusting the outlet tube down in an attempt to lower the foam level, but that didn't do much. I've taken the adjustable part of the tube off altogether and that didn't help. I've thoroughly cleaned the collection cup also and ran a bit of warm water through the air supply line.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,

Mark

[ErikH]

Take the top off the collection cup and stick your fingers in there to knock some of the foam down. If that doesn't work, let it fill, unplug and pour out the cup and try again. If it keeps doing it, maybe try a water change and then turn it on. My skimmer always drops very low when I do a WC.

[mharmon]

Ok, I've done what was suggested but it hasn't helped. Any other ideas?

[ErikH]

Anything stuck in the outlet of the skimmer that could be causing thw water level in the skimmer to be higher than normal?

[Texreefer]

skimmers react to what's in the water, have you put in any new additives lately, missing any fish?, could anything have fallen in the water..

[mharmon]

Thanks for your help.

No, I'm not missing any fish and there's nothing in the skimmer's outlet tube. I haven't put in any additives that I haven't been putting in normally. There is quite a bit of mechanical filtration before the water gets to the skimmer pump, so I don't think anything could have gotten in the skimmer.

I'm open to any ideas at this point...

[bigmoe21]

has your water level increased?

[MissT]

have you checked the impeller of the pump?
see if the needles on the impeller are rubber or plastic, and make sure none have fallen off

Made sure the airline is attached properly?

[Paul28]

check in the air inline make shur nothing is blocking the air input to the skimmer more air the lower the water line less air higher the water line i had to cut 2 inches off my out pipe going up to bring my water line down when i moded my skimmer

[sharkboy]

....try running some warm ro water through the air tube..

[mharmon]

Thanks everyone for your help. I still don't know what caused the problem but it seems to be better now. I adjusted the outlet of the skimmer to the lowest point and emptied the cup each time it filled. Eventually the skimmate started to decrease in volume and thicken and I adjusted the outlet higher.

[brewercm]

Did you happen to put a new mechanical filter piece in place when this happened. I know when I'd start to use a brand new filter sock mine would go nuts for a while. It was something in the sock so I started really running them through the washing machine before using new ones now.

[mharmon]

No, there was no new mechanical filtering nor any action on my part in the 24 hours or so before this happened, other than normal feeding...