Protien Skimmer Overflowing

I believe so. It will be like starting all over but the break in will be substantially less.

 

In my case it didn't need to break in again, since I detached the pump alone and ran it in a bowl with the solution. I used half a gallon of vinegar at least, fortunately, regular white vinegar runs very cheap and you can get a full gallon for around 2 bucks at walmart.

If you plan to run the whole skimmer in the bath, It would have to break in again, but since it doesn't have any of the manufacturing oils on it anymore the break in would be fast. 3 or 4 days at the most if I had to take a guess.

If you're sure all the stuff inside the skimmer are working right, then I would only do the pump... this way you'll also use less vinegar.

And yes, a 24hr vinegar bath should definitely clean it up, and unless it's a mechanical problem you should be taken care of after it.

 

I'll just run the pump and venturi tubing in vinegar water over night. I'll also manually clean the skimmer by just wiping any dirt off of it. I think taking the skimmer completely apart and cleaning the pump would take care of any issues.

I did wind up feeding my tank what I believe to be bad squid. I immediately threw the rest of the squid out. Do you think that the squid could be causing some sort of problem?

 

Squid could be part of the problem. I would think it the venturi had a solid clog that it would overflow constantly. Might be something loose in the venturi or just overflowing when your nutrients get too high. Mine seems to work that way when there is calcium build up in the pump and venturi.

 

Since I haven't cleaned the pump since I got it, I have to assume that there is calcium buildup in it. When I feed a lot of squid I have change the water flow valve to pretty much completely open for 24 hours or else it overflows.

Thank you everyone for the information. When I get home I will run the pump in vinegar and make sure nothing is clogging the skimmer output.

 

I got home about an hour ago and took the skimmer apart. The was a lot of salt what was inhibiting the flow of air into the venturi. I have the pump running in vinegar right now.

 

Skimmer is back together and the pump is quieter than ever and seems to be more foam in the skimmer. I think all it needed was a good cleaning.

Thanks again for the help guys.

 

Good to hear you got it running. If you have any more issues, let me know and we'll pick our brains for a solution.

 

Glad it worked! I was also surprised at the difference. I think you start to "get used" to the skimmer not performing as when it was new. Not because we are conformists, but because the buildup of salt/calcium is very slow, and these changes are not noticeable on a day to day basis. Only when you stop for a second and say "Now, wait a minute... this thing used to foam up a heck of a lot more!"

- Mag.

 

btw, that's white vinegar. I have see other's try to use red & it wasn't pretty..