say NO to skimmer overflows

[billberet]

well i've finally had enough.
everything is fine one minute, i come back later and half my sump water is on the floor. I had some extra float switches so i mocked one up real fast.

i cut a notch to put the wire thru the collection cup cap, at the height i wanted the skim to reach. after the float trips the skimmer is turned off.

 

[chbix]

That's an awesome idea!! Thanks for posting

 

[Keithhjs]

Haha a Coralife no doubt. I have one too and it has overflowed several times in 6 months, the most recent being last Monday. I just ran my drain line thru the wall to my garage and into a 5 gal jug. At least if it does overflow its no longer on my hardwood floor lol. I like the float setup tho I have no more outlets available and still have an ATO to hook up . Please update how well it works cuz I may have to go that route too.

 

[billberet]

I had the skimmer draining into a bucket too. My problem is when that happens my ato empties out into the tank as fast as the skimmer overflows. Then im in even more of a mess. The float should stop that vicious cycle.

 

[Keithhjs]

What brand float is that btw?

 

[billberet]

i get all my floats from
AutoTopoff.com

so far i have had no issues with any of them.
i use the floats above the water to detect rise in water levels (like in my skimmer).
i have floats under the water in my refug to stop a water drain. (to protect pumps so they do not run dry)

 

[Keithhjs]

Thanks. Just ordered one for my skimmer lol

 

[billberet]

yea, so far so good.
i did a test by pouring water into the cup and forced it to overflow. the fload did was it was supposed to do. the only aligning you have to do is make sure it does not rub and get stuck on the walls of the cup. as long as the float is floating freely it will work great !!!!!

one little mod i'm thinking of doing is to silicone a piece of string to the top of the float and thread it thru the collection cup cap. this way i can pull on the string now and again to make sure the float is moving freely, this also tests to make sure the skimmer turns off as it's supposed to do.

if you look at my image, you can see the wire (black electrical tape) is zip tied to a piece of hard air line tubing which runs thru the collection cup cap. this is the conduit i will use to run my string (fishing line).

 

[Keithhjs]

Thanks for the info. What size skimmer is that btw.

 

[billberet]

it's a coralife 65.

 

[Keithhjs]

Awesome, thanks a bunch.

 

[danbstrong]

Awesome, thanks a bunch.

I used a coralife 65 for 3 years never overflowed once make sure that the output is completely open and airline is always clean also on the airline inlet where the airhose connects i drilled that to make the hole bigger to get more air thru

 

[billberet]

Yea I drilled out the air hole as well. And my bubbles break in the middle of the neck. But for some reason every once in a while it overflows. I get home from work and my sump is emptied on the floor. Its a good fail safe and piece of mind.

if you have your's fully open, where do your bubbles break?
if i open mine fully the bubbles barely make it to the neck and the skim never makes it over the top.

 

[danbstrong]

Yea I drilled out the air hole as well. And my bubbles break in the middle of the neck. But for some reason every once in a while it overflows. I get home from work and my sump is emptied on the floor. Its a good fail safe and piece of mind.

if you have your's fully open, where do your bubbles break?
if i open mine fully the bubbles barely make it to the neck and the skim never makes it over the top.

Ya i kept mine lower like barely above the red ring and its more of a dry skim but only works if sump waterlevel is consistant you dont get as much skimmate but what you do get is very dark

 

[Keithhjs]

Ya I have the coralife 125 and it has overflowed several times. Couple times it was from something I dosed and several hours later it went haywire. I do not dose that anymore lol. However, last week it overflowed for no apparent reason so I am going to do the same thing with the float. I did run the drain to my garage and into another container my other skimmer drains into just to have added insurance. After four floods from the skimmer and one from a hose I knocked loose I'm trying to not have that happen again. It's not so much the water it's the wife's attitude after haha.

 

[billberet]

yea it's a cat and mouse game trying to dial in the skimmer. I have my bubbles breaking just below the top of the neck, gets super green and muddy. then i just wipe it out with a wet sponge.

 

[billberet]

It's not so much the water it's the wife's attitude after haha.

i usually get the call at work from an angry wife complaining that the tank is making noise and she hates it when i make her pull out plugs. lol
trust me, the float is going to be a great addition to your skimmer.

or you could dial it down as danbstrong said before, it won't collect as much skim, but you will have less floods !!

 

[billberet]

here's a quick vid of my skimmer in action.
everythings always looks fine, then one day out of the blue it just happens.

 

[Keithhjs]

Funny thing was last time it overflowed was after it had been dialed down for quite a while. That's why it was so unexpected that time.

 

[Keithhjs]

So I finally installed my float today. Having been put on the back burner for weeks due to an abundance of DIY projects lol I got a nice reminder flood yesterday. Thankfully I had ran the drain line to the garage so no more living room hardwood floor flood.