Why does my skimmer go BONKERS?

[Junkzoo]

got a Knop hang on skimmer on my 75,,(wish i had a Berlin)at any time , without warning , it will just overflow and dump water overboard,everything gets cleaned on a regular basis,never gets too dirty/clogged to be the cause. never a time relation between additions of phyto or any other additives. no other causes that i can blame it on. also, any one can offer what level in the skimmer i should try to adjust air for? been keeping it a bit low in the tube just to ease my mind ,,,,never get a dry foam,,just a green/ brown liquid. help/ hints ? Thanks

[Minnreefer]

It follows after its owner , I really don't have an idea, I just had to rib on a fellow Buffett fan.

Jon

[Junkzoo]

Hey Jon,,,,"weather is here, wish you were beautiful"! LOL
other than my mom, sister, and her two sons coming over to play with the doxie puppies,(and stand in awe in front of the tanks,(my godson is over his fear of "snakes" (eels) after seeing mine in the 180)he will go in the fish room now at the LFS. your post made me smile today also .THANKS!

[DaveJ]

No idea.. I had problems with my old one, I kept losing the venturi because of salt buildup. I have yet to have an overflow. I would check the feed/output lines. Maybe one or the other isn't big enough to handle the flow and backs up with air or something causing it to overflow? Have you looked inside the lines for snails or anything that has found it's way in? I had a snail get into the little pump in my Eclipse a few months back that caused it to stop. Good thing I was home and heard the bang bang clacking as the empeller hit his shell.

As for the goop you are getting, the wetter the discharge means that the water level is higher in the reaction chamber. If you can increase the output by raising it or making it a larger output that could help some. I am not positive on this, but its probably better to have a larger output and adjust that down to calibrate the foam consistancy, than the intake since you want to make sure you don't reduce your pumps power (effects the foam production).

[Junkzoo]

Thanks Dave for the input,, level is about the same as the tank as we speak,,,will leave it at that and just watch it ,,,no build up in lines or intake ,(keep it cleaned up b4 i quess anything starts)
THANKS

[julieanne399]

Howdy! I had a Knop skimmer and mine did the same thing. I had no idea why, could not figure it out and it would pump out five gallons or more.... very bad so I replaced it. I never could figure out why, it worked great when it wasnt going nuts but I couldnt trust it so I had to replace it. Good luck, Julie

[FishDaddy]

Jeff,
I started my 55 with a Knop......blamed its erratic behaviour on the Rio.....replaced it with a MJ 1200 when the Rio died; same thing except the overflows were larger because of the better pump!!!! I tried every conceivable tip and trick I could think of or could find in 'net posts but could never get it to run consistently. I finally replaced the Knop with a Remora, slapped on the old MJ1200 and have been happy ever since!
I probably shoulda gotten the Remora Pro, but the Remora does a good job for this size tank. I use a Bak Pak 2R on the 38 Moray tank and think even the BP would do better than the Knop.
Bite the bullet; get a Remora Pro or Precision HOT1 (I've heard nothing but good about them) and I think you'll feel better about the joys of skimming.
Dick

[Junkzoo]

Ya Dick , you are probably right about a new skimmer,,,already got a MJ 1200 on it now,,, if i get rid of the Knop,,,can i throw in the Skilter AND Sea-clone for a package deal? (might regret i mentioned Skilter and Sea-Clone in the same sentance,,,,)

[mojoreef]

I dont know if this is the same problem as yours. But I have a large downdraft skimmer that works very good. But everyonce and a while it will start foaming like a big dog, usually it happens in the evening. its wierd I always wondered what was with that.

[hayday]

davej-

i'm a bit confused. gee, that's never happened before. i've been having similar problems with my air-drivver, counter-current skimmer; it seems to be bi-polar and can go from slowly gurgling out thick, green goop to overflowing with water that has only a slightly green hue with no rhyme or reason. what will adjusting the water flow in to the reaction chamber do? will throttling the pump back a bit and reducing the amount of water going into the skimmer reduce the speed/flow that the stuff is pumped into the overflow?

i guess what i'm really asking is what happens when the flow of water into the skimmer is raised or lowered?

-hayday

[FishDaddy]

Jeff:


Dick

[Junkzoo]

Dick don't beat around the bush! is that a hint? heheheh