out of control euroreef

[s13silvia]

well over the past 2 weeks, i've had my ER es5-3 overflow on me. absolutely no changes have been made, i run hot ro/di water through the air intake weekly and i never have my hands in the water. both times i've taken the pump out and checked the venturi inlet on the pump intake housing and its nice and clean.

what i'm wondering is, perhaps something in the air is causing the skimmer to foam up like crazy. the tank is in the living room and is adjacent to the kitchen.

what could have triggered this super foaming incident

[OUinLA]

I wish I knew. It use to happen to me with my southbay skimmer as well.

[Orion76]

It happens to the best of us. Especially when wet skimming a little increase in foam production can cause a spill. (always forget what that damn epoxy does )

If it happens frequently though I'd take a look at the pump, on some low quality or old pumps the pressure level is not constant, so you have your skimmer adjusted to one level and all of a sudden pump pressure increases and the skimmer overflows. I've had the same problems before with a previous skimmer and fixed it by replacing the pump.

I doubt it's something in the air. Also a dirty air intake would decrease the odds of an overflow not increase it.

[invincible569]

Orion is on the right track.. have you used Epoxy recently? Have you added any new livestock with epoxy on the rock from somewhere else? Or some additives/chemiclean will also make your skimmer go nuts. Make sure you also wash your hands before putting your hand in the tank. Or do you have kids?

[Tom Berry]

Is it in your sump? Does the sump level vary at all?

I had the same problem with my CS6-1, and it turns out my venturi inlet was clogged, even though I run hot water through it regularly. Since you've already checked that, you might want to try soaking the entire pump in white vinegar overnight.

Also, check to see if there is a tight seal where the pump connects to the skimmer body.

If you don't have the gate valve mod, I highly recommend it.

Tom

[Aged Salt]

And, of course, dial in your skimmer right after all these good suggestions are done, then when using warm water aspiration, the setting should be fine. If one readjusts later, the skimmer level within the collection cup will not be right on. Bob

[GTR]

Iv;e always found that most things airborne, most things I might introduce from my hands and fish feeding will decrease skimmer activity. I've had a skimmer adjusted perfect and had it go a week or a month and then come home to a skimmer cup full of clear water. My thought has always been that something in the tank (a coral) has released something to cause it. I always have several BTA/RBTA in the system as well as quite a few softies and IMO they are more likely to cause this than SPS or even LPS.

SteveU

[s13silvia]

wow thanks for all the replies, everything that you guys mentioned i have already done.

gate valve mod and skimmer is set to skim wet.

no epoxy added in the past 2 weeks, i use aquamend and i've never had a problem with the skimmer... i did have a probly with that aqua stick thing

sump level is fairly constant as i have an autotopoff unit with float switches.

i may just take tom's suggestion and soak the entire pump in vinegar over night.

thanks guys!!!

[tonkadawg]

Did soaking in vinegar work? Either I get no skim or in a matter of minutes my collection cup if full.