chrisfowler99 Posted June 26, 2010 Share Posted June 26, 2010 Seemed to start the day after I dosed Red Slime Remover, but I'm not sure if it's a coincidence or not. I came home the day after I dosed to find bubbles coming through the return to my tank. My first thought was that my ATO had gone out and the return pump was running dry. Wrong. water level was fine. The skimmer was pussing micro-bubbles back out the bottom. I tried making some adjustments and the only one that seemed slow the microbubble "overflow" was skimming extremely wet. By extremely I mean clear, fill the cup in 10 seconds wet. I pulled the skimmer this morning and found a shell in the intake to the pump. I thought that was going to be it...apparently that had nothing to do with it. This is an SWC Extreme 160 Cone. The microbubbles are coming out of the area where you can adjust the water intake. There are so many bubbles generated they're filling the cone and then the area around the pump (which is under the cone). I'm stuck. Anyone have any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toxiq Reef Posted June 26, 2010 Share Posted June 26, 2010 The directions say not to use a skimmer during dosing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisfowler99 Posted June 26, 2010 Author Share Posted June 26, 2010 The directions say not to use a skimmer during dosing? Nope...says leave the skimmer on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimD Posted June 26, 2010 Share Posted June 26, 2010 Ive used Chemiclean which is similar and the instructions are very specific about turning the skimmer off. Try turning it off then back on after you do a water change, I can almost guarrante it will still bubble for a few hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisfowler99 Posted June 26, 2010 Author Share Posted June 26, 2010 Ive used Chemiclean which is similar and the instructions are very specific about turning the skimmer off. Try turning it off then back on after you do a water change, I can almost guarrante it will still bubble for a few hours. Did a water change this morning. I don't know if I should leave it bubbling into the tank or off... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offroadodge Posted June 26, 2010 Share Posted June 26, 2010 id say off, its not gonna hurt one more day to be off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisfowler99 Posted June 27, 2010 Author Share Posted June 27, 2010 Same results today...really not sure what to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dweyant Posted June 27, 2010 Share Posted June 27, 2010 Just finishing a round with Red Slime Remover. I got it from Shane. He told me to remove any carbon and turn off the skimmer during the dosing. After two doses and five days I did a 15% water change and put the skimmer back on. It went completly wild. Even dialed all the way back it was pulling out tons of water. Called Shane and he said let it go, so I set up a bucket and waited. After about five hours and six or seven gallons of water the skimmer started calming down. That was yesterday. Today the skimmer has calmed down enough that I can skim fairly dry, but it is still adjusted way down from normal. My understanding is it will take a couple more days of slowly readjusting the skimmer to get it back to normal. Oh, and I had a LOT of microbubble for about the first 4-6 hours yesterday. -Dan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisfowler99 Posted June 27, 2010 Author Share Posted June 27, 2010 Just finishing a round with Red Slime Remover. I got it from Shane. He told me to remove any carbon and turn off the skimmer during the dosing. After two doses and five days I did a 15% water change and put the skimmer back on. It went completly wild. Even dialed all the way back it was pulling out tons of water. Called Shane and he said let it go, so I set up a bucket and waited. After about five hours and six or seven gallons of water the skimmer started calming down. That was yesterday. Today the skimmer has calmed down enough that I can skim fairly dry, but it is still adjusted way down from normal. My understanding is it will take a couple more days of slowly readjusting the skimmer to get it back to normal. Oh, and I had a LOT of microbubble for about the first 4-6 hours yesterday. -Dan ok...sounds like I need to hook the drain tube up to my skimmer and drop it in a bucket...fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Posted June 28, 2010 Share Posted June 28, 2010 I used to put a filter sock on the skimmer output. It seems to get rid of most of the micro-bubbles... at least until the filter sock gets nasty and starts overflowing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offroadodge Posted June 28, 2010 Share Posted June 28, 2010 mine started doing the same thing, i took the pump off and disassymbaled it, it had little bits of crustacen build up in it. After the cleaning it worked perfect again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Posted June 28, 2010 Share Posted June 28, 2010 mine started doing the same thing, i took the pump off and disassymbaled it, it had little bits of crustacen build up in it. After the cleaning it worked perfect again. I didn't think of that. That is a good idea. It is about that time of year for a good pump cleaning anyways. Maybe I will do that tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik! Posted June 28, 2010 Share Posted June 28, 2010 (edited) I just used Red Slime Remover and TRUST me, you need to turn the skimmer off. Instead of dumping out a bunch of buckets, I just raise my skimmer in my sump to where it skims normally. This allows the chemical to work in your system, and removes it slowly over a couple of days. It is a band-aid though. Get a 2little fishes Phosban Reactor, and some koralias and that should help ten fold. I use the Bulk Reef Pellet GFO, and it seems to work the same. Cyano isn't all that hard to control, but once it's there I have found the only way to get your tank back is to use the Red Slime control, or the like. Once you have killed most of it off, it's easy fo sheezy. Just keep that flow up, and those nutrients down. Keep your skimmer clean, and run a little wet at all times. BTW WHATS UP DEREK?!?! Edited June 28, 2010 by Erik! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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