protein skimmer is draining my tank, fast.

so im kind of a noob with the saltwater, my tank has been up for about a month and i just got my protein skimmer last week. for the first few days it was fine and working great but then today i did a water change and the collection cup filled up with water in about 30 seconds, i have been messing around with it for like 3 hours and it wont stop! i dont now what to do. the skimmer is a Current USA Fission Nano skimmer and its on my 20 long reef tank. i need some help asap please, i dont wanna leave it unplugged for too long, but if i leave it on, its going to drain half my tank over night. if anyone has any suggestions pleeeease help, thanks.

 

it sounds like it's because you did the water change. what do you have in your tank? it's new tank and I'm thinking you really don't need to run it yet.. maybe in a month or two after you get some junk to skim

 

Do you have a valve connected to the pipe entering the skimmer? When I first got my skimmer I had the same problem. The valve allows you to slow the water entering the skimmer. It will take a while for the skimmer to start building a nice foam.

 

Fission Nano skimmer? Hmmmm...never got mine to work right. I thru it out. I hope you have better luck.

 

i have 15 lbs of crushed coral, about 16lbs of live rock 2 false clowns a firefish a cleaner shrimp a small bubble tip anemone 2 button polyps and a hairy mushroom. should I just wait for a bit for stuff to build up?

 

I did the same thing. I ended up using the pump in my sump for water flow... The only thing that collection cup collected was dust..... Adrox, did you turn the pump down some?? Are the foam discs in place?? Just trying to help....

 

I saw some overflow from the my old berlin skimmer when I did a water change and didn't let the water sit for a while. I think the skimmer was over active and dumping the new salt since it was not mixed 100%
After I learned to let the water sit 48 hours with an aerator I didn't notice the problem.
Al

 

yes i tried messing with the flow a few ways and no change, and i also tried stuffing about 4 of the disks in there and that didnt help either, haha. would not letting the water sit for long do that? i let it sit with an air stone in it for about an hour before i put it in the tank, could that be it?

 

Not sure!!! I didn't ever have any luck with mine. I had nothing in the cup, you got too much in the cup...Confusing....

 

My old Jebo (junko) would do that and it's sitting in an old tank right now waiting to be modified into something else. I would turn it off over night or for a few days. You have another filter right? Give it a few days then try it again, plus you might not be as frustrated with it and may even figure out why it's acting up........IMO either it's because your water doesn't have anything in it or it(skimmer) is just a p.o.s. sorry :-( I know I hated hearing that too, until I got my AquaC Remora.. Not a whole lot more money but a much better skimmer, for my tank anyway.. make sure if you do turn it off to empty/refill with fresh tank water it before you restart it!