Need Skimmer help asap!!

[catmel]

Aahhh!!! I tell ya just when you think things are in control.. Has anyone else had a problem with these overflowing??

I have a coralife 65 protein skimmer I had gotten off ebay when I started my tank, only slightly used. Up until now its been working perfectly ( producing great dark skimmate etc). I was woken up at 7am this morning by a very freaked out boyfriend to say the least - somehow it had overflowed, drained enough water to where it had reached the multi plug outlet and had began smoking / sparking. Thank god he got up early. I do admit I had recently moved my QT tank from underneith the tank and had to move the outlet out of the way to get the tank out and had put the outlet back behind the aquarium ( it never is usually there - dumb me forgot to put it back where it was before) where it got wet. Fish are fine, house is fine...

Any idea why it suddenly decided to overflow? I had kept the bubbles where I always do ( just barely inside the cone.. ), had not adjusted it or the water level, and theres no way it could be bumped. Do you guys think perhaps it got plugged up somehow and overflowed? I gotta find a way to prevent it from happening again ( obviously besides moving the outlet) otherwise I'm afriad my boyfriend as much as he loves the tank ( and me!) will kick me and it out.. lol.

Thanks for the help!

 

[ccCapt]

CSS skimmer are notorious for flooding. I have no idea why they do. When I had mine, I even replaced the pump with a GenX...and it still flooded.
Make sure you keep the nipple where the airline attaches to the pump clean. Stick a paper clip in that hole to clean out any salt creep. If the hole gets blocked, the skimmer will have less air in it, which means more room for water...and a flood.

If you have a sump, you can run it inside it. If it floods, all the water will just flow back into the sump.

 

[catmel]

Figures I got a fireproof ( eg: shuts off when any problems are detected) surge protector for now, I'll have to probably get a better skimmer down the road, I couldnt pass up this one when I found it, for only about $30 used.

I wonder what causes it?

I'll certainly keep an eye on it. I think somehow something got blocked.. I try to clean it regularly, but from the way it acted it seemed like soemthing got stuck somewhere.

Thanks for the info!