Skimmer question

[Ping]

What causes a skimmer to suddenly volcano.

[Ping]

Could it be the baking soda from the homemade two part.

[JimD]

Id imagine that if the skimmer 'vocanos' right after the 2 part addition that its most likely a componant in the additives.... Does it do it only when you add the chemicals? When I was using the home brew, I never noticed anything unusual with my skimmer. What else are you adding? Are you using anything new like a different food? May be time to clean the pump...

[aquasport24]

What brand of skimmer? My Octo extreme does that too.

[Ping]

It is a Single Becket skimmer, with a fairly new pump. It happened while I was out running errands. It acted like someone turned the adjustment valve closed. I dosed about a half an hour before I left.

The pump goes into a manifold that supplies the skimmer and two 125g tanks. I have no idea why this happened.

I have the air valve open almost all the way. I don’t have an air meter, I just adjusted the air intake so that the air inflow is just below a whistling noise. Is this the correct way of setting the air intake without an air meter?

Could the rainy day air pressure yesterday cause this? Or an Alk/pH change?

[Ping]

It is a well made, DIY unit built by another member. "I do not blame this on the skimmer".

[JimD]

Idealy you want low flow in the chamber allowing for maximum bubble/water contact. Lessening the air will give you finer bubbles, if you can throttle down the pump to the skimmer, it will run more efficiantly. Try messing withe the air inlet untill you get the desired results then kick back the pump so the flow is is still working the injector but not pushing the water to hard.... Sounds like the overflow was in a similar time frame as the addition of the two part... How long have you been using the home brew?

[Ping]

I have been using Randy Holmes Farleys DIY two part for many years.

[Ping]

Jim, I will try that. I have the pump pressure very high.

The overflow may have been a half an hour after dosing. I have a 4 foot long sump and it may have taken this long to cause the overflow.

[LoneStar]

How new is the pump? Did it start doing this after the pump change? It could be the newer pump running more effecient or that the skimmer was cleaned?

[Ping]

Pump is 2 mos? I cleaned the skimmer last weekend

[JimD]

Let us know what you find out... :thumbs_up:

[Ping]

Jim, I adjusted it like you said yesterday. It has had all night to settle. Later today I am going to pour the alk part directly into to supply pump and see what happens.

With my hand on the skimmer shutoff of course. Heck this might be kind of exciting.

[Ping]

I poured 2 batches of the alk in the main pump suction and no reaction. I hope the new adjustments are the reason. Thanks Jim.

[JimD]

I hope so too, I know I hate surprizes, especially wet ones!

[Bill S]

When mine does this it's usually one of 2 reasons:

1) the ATO stayed on long - when my topoff container is at max, sometimes when the ATO turns on, I get a bit of siphon action and a couple of gallons goes into the pump (the end of the ATO is about an inch too low - fixed it last week). Even though my skimmer is in a different section of my sump, where the level is constant, my skimmer pump is in this other section. That tiny bit of increased head pressure on the skimmer pump (a gallon or 2) is enough to put the skimmer over the top.

Something little is partially blocking the skimmer return. Even a turbo snail in a 1-1/2" outlet will do it.