Why would my protien skimmer go nuts?

[jackie dh]

It has happened three times now with two different skimmer in two tanks. Twice in my 120 with an in sump Marineland 300, I lost about 15 gallons into the living room carpet, it ruined it and the sub-floor. Friday the Eshoppes 75 hang on, on my 55 reef tank decided to dump almost 10 gallons of green water on my dining room carpet.
In both cases, nothing had been added to the tanks and I did nothing to the skimmers, it was like they went into over drive and almost pure water was coming out, it was green but not skimate. I run the drain line into a two liter bottle, I think that I will move the bottles into the sumps so if it happens again it will go into the sump instead of the floor but I would like to get this figured out before I spend the money to replace my floor.

 

[acrylic51]

Sorry to hear about your luck!!!!!!! Are you sure there's nothing being sprayed in the air from time to time or something like carpet fresh or something of that nature????
Curious as to when was the last time you pulled the air line from the skimmers and cleaned them really well? It's possible the air is changing causing the skimmer to pick up??? How long have the skimmers been running, and last time the pumps and such were serviced??

 

[jackie dh]

Nothing had been sprayed, I won't allow it near my tanks. The carpet fresh is possible with the 120 but not the reef. I know that the reef skimmer was well past due for a cleaning, it was cruddy. Will that cause the over skimming? If it is, I will make a point of cleaning them more often.

 

[snakeblitz33]

That happened to me a couple of times. You really have to keep your air lines (air line tubing) clean so that the pump doesn't just suck water. If the air line tube falls into the water - same thing happens. If the air line tube gets cut off in any way - it happens. Make sure you service your pump and replace your air line tube every maintenance period - preferably once a month.

 

[acrylic51]

I would start the troubleshooting/problem solving by cleaning the skimmer real good, and double checking the air lines. I know on my MRC skimmer it's crucial. A dirty pre filter will easily send the skimmer out of control. Cigarette smoke being sucked by the skimmer also affects how the skimmer acts as well.

 

[jackie dh]

Thanks, I'll keep a closer eye on them and clean them more often.