stupid skimmer

[travis truman]

I have the marinelife magnum hot skimmer and yesterday it decided it was going to start shooting out tons of little bubbles............anyone know what could be the problem?
also how often should I clean/replace my cartridge filter?

 

[nate_j]

what was the problem? skimmers are supposted to do that..just like the ocean does it with the foam from the waves what was it doing before??
sounds like it works alright to me

 

[jester]

What did you add to the water?
Did something come loose?

 

[travis truman]

I added live rock a few days ago........I thought bubbles were bad for fish?..........can get caught in gills or something?

 

[nate_j]

oh your saying that the bubbles are going into the tank...hmm try adding more water do you have a pic"?
sorry thats all i can help from what i hear sorry

 

[timsedwards]

Yes if you can post a pic we might have an idea

 

[darkrose]

I assume when you say "shoot out" you mean it ejects bubbles into the tank.
This can be caused by several things, but the most likely suspect is simply too much water flow under the new bio load from the live rock (I will also assume this rock is not cured). I'm not familiar with this particular skimmer, but there should be some kind of valve you can use to adjust the air flow to the skimmer. Opening the valve to allow more air into the skimmer should decrease the flow through the skimmer and decrease the amount of bubbles being thrown into the tank..
And for the record, bubbles aren't bad for fish.. they can get stuck in the mouths of coral, but the fish should be able to harmlessly pass the bubbles through the gills.