Protien Skimmer Overflowing

I have been running a SWC Extreme Cone 160 for about 8 months now. This past week it randomly overflows. I turn it off, empty the cup of the clear water, open the flow control valve a bit, and turn it back on in that order. After 24 hours i fine tune it to my usually setting and after about 12 hours it overflows. Any ideas? When I get home I will be taking the skimmer apart.

 

Sounds like you have something entering the tank that is setting it off. If it still happens after cleaning including the pump to remove calcium from the impeller and every where else I would change my usual setting.

 

I would do a vinegar bath. Run tons of water and vinegar through the pump in a container. I used a big bowl for mine and this issue was resolved. I don't have a SWC, I have an eshopps, but I guess calcium buildup and salt creep can happen to any skimmer.

When you take it apart, check the venturi or wherever this skimmer gets the air from and make sure it's not clogged. The vinegar bath should help IMO.

- Mag.

 

I haven't done anything different to the tank before this happened. About a month ago I switched to powdered supplements as opposed to liquid, but I think if that was the problem it would have started right away. I do have snails that wonder down the overflow, so maybe there is one in the flow valve that clogs it every so often.

I wish I wasn't at work so I could fiddle with it now. With how much I feed, I don't like having my skimmer off for anything longer than an hour.

 

I'll do that tonight. Its time for a good cleaning anyway.Will the vinegar take care of the salt creep as well?

 

Check the venturi for clogs, you may be getting more water than when you first had it. I think if you follow the advise given it should be back to normal. Even with heavy feeding you can get away with the skimmer being down for more than 1 hour. A solution for that would be getting another pump and venturi then you can switch them out on a schedule and clean them at your leisure.

 

I did 80% vinegar and 20% hot water and it removed everything. I only had my pump running though. I know of people that run the whole skimmer inside a 10 gallon for example but since I checked everything else and it all seemed to check, I narrowed my problem down to my pump with the help of some 3reefers.

After 7 hours running the pump in this solution, calcium and salt buildup were not only gone, but the pump also looked and performed like a brand new pump.

If you have access to muriatic acid (what they use on swimming pools) that works faster. You can buy it at the pool section of home depot or lowe's for example. Use gloves and do it somewhere where there is no grass or it will kill it. You can achieve the same results that took me 7 hours of vinegar bath with 1 hour of acid bath.

- Mag.

 

I'm not saying your wrong and will check for clogs when I get home, but wouldn't the skimmer consistently overflow if it was clogged?

Would a 24 hour vinegar bath handle all the issues that you and Magnus believe could be a problem?

 

Thanks for the info. I will stop for some vinegar on my way home from work.

 

the skimmer will have to break in again, right?