Remora Skimming like crazy...

I have a recently cycled tank (ammonia, nitrite: 0 Nitrate: 10). 28 gallons, with 2 cleaner shrimp and 2 clownfish. I used Base rock, with a tiny peice of live rock to seed it.

I have been running a remora skimmer (with drain plug, emptying into a 2 liter jug) with maxijet for about 2 weeks. It always slowly produced skimmate. I came home to a minor flood the other day, and so I realized it had probably finally finished breaking in. I chalked it up to me having the cup too low. I replaced the couple gallons of missing water, and set the cup higher. The next day, my girlfriend came home, and found the jug half full, so she turned off the skimmer for me. I got home, emptied the jug and cup... then moved the cup as high as it could go (without putting the o-ring under the drainplug). It was BARELY producing any skimmate that reached the cup all last night (which was about 3 hours of the end of my lightcycle, then i watched it for anotehr few hours of the tank being dark). Flashforward a day (to about 15 minutes ago), and I got a call from my girlfriend saying the collection thing overflowed again!

So here are my questions:
1. Could this be because I am at the peak of a diatom bloom?
2. With the skimmer off, do I have any reason to be concerned about my tank until I get home from work tonight, even though it's a good inch or two lower than it should be.
3. Is there a reason that this only seems to happen during the day? I didnt even have any skimmate in the cup from overnight!
4. What actions should I take to correct this. Should I raise the cup higher.... wait until I get my CuC (in the mail... should be here Friday) to get rid of the algae) or what?

THANKS. It's driving me crazy. And making me REALLY scared about installing an ATO... since that'd result in some crazy salinity swings if it kept running and running.

 

I have never had issues with skimmers over flowing related to diatom blooms.

Turning off the skimmer should be fine until you resolve the problem as long as the HOB filter is running and or powerheads.

Do you have a model # for the skimmer, or size?

The only times I have had skimmers really foam is when I used underwater epoxy. Did you use any products or epoxy lately?

 

I have the remora (non pro) with drainplug and the maxijet pump (I believe 1200?). Do you need any other info on model number besides that? If so, then I'll need to look it up.

My powerheads are on, and I dont have a HOB Filter. I havent done anything to the tank (excluding top offs with RO water) since adding the cleaner shrimp about a week ago.

Also, I have not used anything like stress coat, ect.

 

Remora Skimmer-excess Foam

Too much foam in my Remora skimmer - Reef Central Online Community

http://www.3reef.com/forums/protein-skimmers/aqua-c-remora-too-much-water-skim-75565.html

Well looks like you are already trouble shooting, maybe a resolution or some assistance can be found on the links regarding water level......

 

Thanks! I think I am going to just put it as high as I possibly can (which means putting my oring under the drainplug... I didnt think it was intended to go that high, haha), and have it empty into a 5 gallon bucket.

I was mainly concerned about the idea that the lowered water level would be an issue (like, if the skimmer was taking out excess of something I needed). But it sounds like that's not the case.

 

You can add an ATO if it has an auto shutdown after a certain period of time. Just make sure you use a VERY slow pump to replenish and turn down the time to shut off to just a couple minutes.

 

Ya, that's the plan I am going to employ. Was originally going to do a DIY type system. Now I am leaning toward a JBJ for that safety feature.

I think the other part that threw me off about this situation is that it seems to go into overdrive in the middle of the day. So I dont know why it would do that, and wasnt sure if I should be concerned about it.

 

I had a RemoraPro on my old tank and i had to put the ring under the drain as HIGH as i could get it to go without the ring slipping off the bottom...and i still had it drain into a gallon jug that sat inside a bucket just in case....and i had to empty the jug every month because it would still fill up!....my water was pristine tho..lol

 

Ok, that makes me feel better.

Emptying once a month doesnt scare me. It's the "overflowing in four hours" that does!

 

if you contact aquac they will send you a valve that you can put on your pump to "tune" it back for free... they are VERY helpful and customer service is second to none...I use a big AquaC Skimmer on my tank now and also have the AquaC Calcium reactor..I am a big fan of their products. Dont hesitate to contact them at Info@Proteinskimmer.com Jason will probably answer u in like an hour or so after u send it