Octo 110 skimmer questions

[Jon]

I have a 65 gallon tank with a 29 gallon sump that’s about two months old. When I first got the tank put together I let the skimmer run and overflow for the first month. Than right around the four week point; the skimmer settled down and worked as it should.

About a week later, when the tank was five weeks old. I did my first 20 gallon water change and added about four cap fills of bacteria to the tank. The skimmer overflowed for about a day and than went back to normal. Two weeks later I did another 20 gallon water change, this time using a new salt brand NeoMarine. When doing the water change I added four caps of bacteria to my tank and my skimmer overflowed for two weeks straight.

My gut told me that I was doing too big of a water change and probably stripped the tank of some beneficial bacteria. So after waiting two weeks I did a five gallon water change still using the neomarine salt, adding only one cap of bacteria this time and also fed my corals some reef roids at night. My skimmer is now producing a extra thick foam and is still overflowing.

Any ideas on how I can get my Octo 110 to skim as it should? I feel like I have been very patient with waiting this out and am still not seeing any results. I bought the skimmer used and as I stated before it did work well for a month so I don’t think it’s defective or anything. I have it on a stand in my sump submerged in about 6 inches of water.

Thanks

 

[Hockeynut]

Hey Jon, is the water level even with the bottom of the outlet? It should be right around there.
also you are not supposed to run a skimmer when you dump bacteria for 24 or 36 hours it will most always go crazy.

 

[Jon]

yes, the water line is at the bottom of the outlet.

 

[MadReefer]

Some skimmer are very picky when dosing.
Can you adjust the skimmer height and see if that helps?
I had a Bubble Mac and water level was where it should be and had this problem. So I raised the skimmer and it helped.

 

[Jon]

I’ve raised the water level up and down on the outlet and nothing seems to work. So I run it wide open right now just waiting for it to settle.

 

[Mark_C]

Had the 110SS for a similar sized tank, fantastic skimmer.
As Hockey said, make sure to turn the skimmer off for 24hrs after dosing, those bacteria will make the skim go nuts (and get skimmed out).
To set - Pop the collection cup off the skimmer and adjust so the bubbles stay level at the neck hole or jjust slightly run over the rim.
Leave it overnight, next morning, if level has dropped > increase, if increased > lower, if it seems the same, put the cup back on.
Keep in mind its not going to work 24/7. It'll only work when theres enough protein buildup in the water. I often see mine doing nothing with occasional bubble bursts (guessing fish pee hit a certain level or something). Usually my cup hits half full (empty time) over the course of 5-6 days or so.

 

[Jon]

Marc C, I’m trying what you recommended. I will keep you posted. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Jon]

Marc, nothing has changed with the skimmer. It’s been like this for 17 days. Do you think I should take her out and give her a vinegar bath?

 

[Hockeynut]

Marc, nothing has changed with the skimmer. It’s been like this for 17 days. Do you think I should take her out and give her a vinegar bath?

I think you should try lowering skim all the way down and keep lifting the slimmer till it doesn’t overflow and let it wet skim for a couple days you may have a ton of funk in there. Just keep lifting till it doesn’t overflow.
also do you have a reactor? If so run carbon it will help pull out impurity’s.
when I started this tank I’m running now I had to lift the skimmer two inches over the recommended water height for three days then it calmed down then I lowered it to the proper level. It’s been fine ever since.

 

[Jon]

Hockey, I can’t raise my skimmer anymore. My water line in the sump is about 11 inches deep and I have the skimmer on a five inch stand. This leaves me with about once inch of height to spare before the top of my stand. I do not have a reactor but I always run carbon in my filter sock. I just changed the carbon on Saturday when I did my five gallon water change.

 

[Hockeynut]

Hockey, I can’t raise my skimmer anymore. My water line in the sump is about 11 inches deep and I have the skimmer on a five inch stand. This leaves me with about once inch of height to spare before the top of my stand. I do not have a reactor but I always run carbon in my filter sock. I just changed the carbon on Saturday when I did my five gallon water change.

Maybe you are going to have to lower the baffles, 11” seems a little high anyway.
my sump only has 9” in it and is a 40b
My skimmer sits right on the bottom.
especially if your stand is a little low. And it sounds like it’s a little low. I build all my stands so the bottom is sitting right on the floor gives an extra 3.5” of head height inside the stand. This is also an option.
I know all of these options seem drastic but sometimes these things will happen and you will be going through it again and again better to fix it now and be done with it.

 

[Jon]

Hockey, thanks for the input. I’m going g to try and clean the skimmer out with some vinegar. If this works, I will use the advice given to me about turning my skimmer off after I dose it with bacteria and what not. If the skimmer still gives me trouble than I will take the sump apart and lower the baffle water lines. This will be a lot of work so that is
Definently going to be a last resort job.

 

[Sponge]

Any time the bio load of the skimmer changes. It is going to increase production. Giving it a vinegar bath with strip it’s slime coat and will be like starting over so I wouldn’t touch it. The best thing you can do is run the skimmer on the dry side. It will still fractionate the proteins and just run a little wet when bacteria and protein levels are suddenly increased. It’s also helpful to be a little proactive and make a slight adjustment to skimmer level before adding the bacteria and dialing it back 24 hours later.

 

[Jon]

So it has been about seven weeks since I gave my skimmer a vinegar bath. It has been quite the challenge trying to get it to skim properly. I have raised and lowered the sump in many different ways and nothing worked. Than this morning I was determined to get it working. After messing with the gate valve for a while, I noticed that if I closed the holes in the silencer it stopped overflowing and began skimming properly. So I put some reef putty over the holes and it’s working like a charm now. Not sure why this is...the silencer hole are still very quiet and I have no more mini bubbles in my display tank. Anyone else ever experience something like this before?

 

[myrjon]

did you check the venturi that is the airline that goes under water to pump .even after a vinegar bath this was still clogged
..

 

[horseplay]

Ok I might be wrong but if the skimmer overflows into the sump then nothing is taken out of the water so it would continue to overflow?

You drain the skimmate into a bucket until it stops overflowing. This might take an hour or two but it has worked for me. I had skimmer overflowing after a chemiclean treatment this is how I dealt with it. It overflows like this for about 1 hour then it stops.

 

[MadReefer]

Something seems off. If you close the holes on the silencer how is air getting in to help skim the water?

 

[Jon]

I honestly don’t understand it either. Everything is hooked up correctly. It’s skimming great but the micro bubbles came back in the display tank. I’m just happy that it’s skimming properly.