Skimmer spewed scimmate all over sump.

I came home to a weird sound coming from my tank. I checked underneath, and found that my skimmer had sprayed poop bubbles, which were now covering my entire sump. I took all the equipment out of there, gave it a clean, and then did a water change. I tried using my skimmer again, but the cup still fills up quickly. I tried using the valve to try and adjust it, but it seems like it does nothing. After cleaning my return pump, I noticed a HUGE increase in flow. Probably like 2x more than before I cleaned it. This extra flow is making a lot of bubbles in my sump, so maybe this is what's messing up my skimmer now? When the skimmer is on, the entire thing is full of bubbles, and looks like it has no water. I'm at a loss as to what to do here, guys

 

Have you added any new food products or dosing products, used any epoxy?
What brand is the skimmer?

 

No new dosing products. No epoxy. I used Cyclopeeze about 4 days ago though. Skimmer is the Reef Octopus NWB-150 Pinwheel In Sump Skimmer

 

I doubt this has anything to do with it, but I also recently added chaeto and a sump light

 

No nothing you listed should have had that affect.

Reef Octopus setup - Reef & Saltwater Aquarium Advice | Hobby Forum | Vivid Aquariums

This was what I used for my search:

"overflowing Reef Octopus NWB-150" modify the search for collection cup and such and you should be able to find some assistance.

 

The recommended sump water level is 6"-8". Mine is above that. If I raise my skimmer a few inches, should that fix it? And how would I go about doing that?

Also, if that wasn't a problem before I had bubbles everywhere, why is it a problem now?

 

To raise it, find a plastic bowl or something in the kitchen that you can temporarily use to test it with. Raise it up, see if it helps or hurts. Once you find the level you want, you can find something permanent to use to raise it. What you use for a permanent shelf to raise it will depend on how high you need to raise it. The last one I raised I bought a plastic cutting board at Walmart and cut it up and stacked them up to get the height I needed.

Is the pump surging? Meaning it pumps then the water gets too low, it pulls in air until the water level goes back up, then starts pumping water again? That's from the pump pumping more water than the return in the tank can flow it back to the sump. Means you need to throttle the pump down with a valve. If the pump isn't surging but is constantly low on water then you need to add saltwater to the system to raise the water level in the pump area. After adding more, make sure to test it by turning the pump off and make sure your sump can handle the extra water in case of a power outage and doesn't flood the sump.

Is the skimmer just blowing bubbles everywhere or is it actually collecting extra/more skimmate than before? If so it could in fact be the chaeto if its breaking down and causing an increase in nutrients in the water for the skimmer to pull out but its highly unlikely unless your skimmer is after the chaeto in the sump.

 

Did you change the position of your skimmer in your sump at all?. I noticed that I have to make sure my intake for my skimmer is not too close to where the overflow from my DT enters the sump, if it is the flow is too turbulent and the skimmer produces lower quality skimate (aka more watery). I have it turned where the skimmer intake is on the calmer side of my sump and it does really well.

 

I put too much water in my sump the other week and skimmer overflowed. My skimmer has to run at a certain water level or will overflow. I was going out of town and put extra water in cuz I don't have auto top off right now. Forgot it would overflow and I was headed out the door with no time to fix it.
Poop water all in the system and a small algae bloom from the nutrients. If I was you I would dose some bacteria like prodibio to help prevent an algae bloom. Sorry can't help much with the skimmer part.

 

The pump isn't surging. The skimmer ran fine for about 8 months. I don't see how the water could be a problem now when it wasn't before. I added a few videos at the end of this post. Shows everything going on in my sump. I turned on the refugium light so everything could be seen.

No, I didn't change the position of my skimmer. The water flow in my tank has also been constant, so I don't think that's the issue (though now that I cleaned my return pump, I have a lot of flow, which now equals a lot of bubbles.. You'll see in the videos.

The water level in my skimmer chamber is always constant. The only place that the water fluctuates is the return pump chamber (goes down with evaporation).


I'll upload the videos now and post them in another post