My skimmer has been working fine until a fish died. After that, the skimmer would not produce any bubbles at all. I have changed water once and it occassionally skims a little and then stops. I have even cleaned my skimmer. So what is the problem? Could a dead fish casued so much problem in the water? All water parameters are same as before.
Why my skimmer stops skimming?
- Thread starter kwan
- Start date
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SassyAngel111
Aquarium Advice Activist
How long has it been since you cleaned you skimmer? What kind of skimmer is it? Having a fish die should not cause that kind of problems with the skimmer. You might want to post your water parameters, like PH, PO4, NO3, NH4, CA, Alk, NO2, SG, temp of water.
Have you noticed a decrease in the power of the pump?
Have you noticed a decrease in the power of the pump?
fijiwigi
Aquarium Advice Addict
could it possibly be the pump that powers the skimmer going bad or a shortage of electricity in the wiring?? when you say it skims a little than stops either its a pump issue or its clogged somewhere. HTH
I thought it might be a problem with the pump, so I cleaned the skimmer and pump it a few days ago. There doesn't seems to be any problem with the pump.
When I say it skims a little I mean the skimmer will bubble up and produces some skimmate. After a while it would lose all the bubbles like if though someone just puts food in the water and no bubbles for 10 hours or so. And the cycle repeats. But what I did notice is skimmer works a bit better after I've done a partial water change. I think I will do another water change in the next couple of days.
Water parameters are: SG 1.24, NO3 20, NO2 0, PH 8.3, KH 8, CA 400, Temp 27C. Basically no difference to before the problem.
When I say it skims a little I mean the skimmer will bubble up and produces some skimmate. After a while it would lose all the bubbles like if though someone just puts food in the water and no bubbles for 10 hours or so. And the cycle repeats. But what I did notice is skimmer works a bit better after I've done a partial water change. I think I will do another water change in the next couple of days.
Water parameters are: SG 1.24, NO3 20, NO2 0, PH 8.3, KH 8, CA 400, Temp 27C. Basically no difference to before the problem.
Devilishturtles
Aquarium Advice Addict
Can you tell us the brand of skimmer? Sounds like a calibration issue, meaning the skimmer is set to skim too dry, and needs to be set to skim wetter.
Ziggy953
Aquarium Advice Addict
I tend to agree with Linds on that. Sounds like you need to tweak the skimmer. If you can let us know what kind of skimmer it is I'm sure someone out there has it and can help walk you through getting it to perform better.
ryshark
Aquarium Advice Addict
If it is a countercurrent skimmer with an airstone and is running "too dry" is it possible to tweak that kind of skimmer?
Ziggy953
Aquarium Advice Addict
I'm not a big fan of th countercurrent skimmers I don't think they do a very good job. I'm not sure if you can do much other then change out the airstone.
Devilishturtles
Aquarium Advice Addict
yeah, try replacing the airstone, that might help. otherwise I don't think there is much tweaking to do either... sorry.
It is a Deltec MCE600 hang on the back. I have tried tweaking again and again, but it is still not skimming. The pump is and air intake is producing bubbles all right. But the bubble just won't rise into the collection cup. I have made another partial water change and it seems to be improving. So it has to be something to do with the water chemistry which I can't measure.
Devilishturtles
Aquarium Advice Addict
I've never owned a Deltec skimmer, so I really have no clue how to adjust it, but I did some checking around and found out 2 things about this skimmer.
One, it comes with a venturi tube. Do you have this hooked up and if yes, have you cleaned it lately?
Two, there is a plastic baffle atop the pump which can be altered? Have you tried that?
One, it comes with a venturi tube. Do you have this hooked up and if yes, have you cleaned it lately?
Two, there is a plastic baffle atop the pump which can be altered? Have you tried that?
