Tank close to overflowing

[NEWSALT]

I usually turn my return pump off during feeding. Tonight, when the return pump came back on, the display tank got very close to overflowing .

After a few minutes, the water level did go down and everything was ok. What also happened was the level in my skimmer column went way down. My skimmer is fed by a Mag 18 in the overflow section of my sump.

The tank was started in Aug of 06 and has been fine until now. My first guess is that something is clogging the overflow piping. I have no idea why the skimmer level went down. Anyone have any ideas where I might start to look for the problem.

 

[Phyl]

Possible that you had some sort of "air lock" to cause the overflows not to kick in right away? Our stock tank & fuge always go through that when the system starts back up (but we know and expect it).

 

[NEWSALT]

What do you think causes the "air lock"? What do you do in your situation?

 

[RichT]

When the air can't escape from the plumbing, it will hold back the water until there is enough water weight to over come the lock. It's like taking a cup turning it upside down and pushing it straight down into the water, brim first. No water will enter the cup. Now put a small hole in the bottom of the cup and do the same thing. Water will enter the cup now. That's where I would start to look. I have no idea about the skimmer. What type of skimmer do you have?

 

[Brian]

Some insump skimmers will only work properly within a certain water level in the sump... I would think that if the water level was high in the tank, it was low in the sump...causing the skimmer not to work properly. Did the skimmer go back to normal after the tank was running for awhile?