Prodibio Reef Booster

[dmolavi]

My apologies if I've asked this before, but my un-caffeinated brain can't find it...

Last night, I dropped in a dose of this into my 20, and my skimmer went bonkers. Initially, it was like it couldn't get itself primed, so I just left it unplugged overnight. When I plugged it back in this morning, it went into overdrive and filled the collection cup within 20 minutes, but it wasn't thick or black, it was just bubbling right over into the cup.

Is this stuff supposed to cause skimmers to go nuts? What's the recommended (or based on experience, suggested) time after dosing before turning on the skimmer? Should I turn it on, but keep the return wide open?

Edit to add: I've left the skimmer powered off during the day, since I'll be at work. Once I return home, I'll turn it back on and see what happens...

 

[dmolavi]

I'll followup on this for anyone else that's run into this, as well as for myself the next time I have a brain fart on the topic:

When I got home from work yesterday, I attempted to restart the skimmer. I was still going completely bonkers with bubbles. I tore it down, cleaned it out (it's only been in service for about 6 months, and wasn't all that dirty), and restarted it. That must have been the trick, because it stopped overflowing the cup as soon as I did that.

If it goes bananas again next week when I do another dose, that'll shoot a hole in my theory, but I'm hoping that after the initial couple of doses (since reef booster is essentially carbon dosing), things will settle.

 

[Sniperhank]

When you add or dose things into your tank it can set off your skimmer. I'm not sure about your reef booster, but it is very likely that this is the case.

 

[Gregcoyote]

The "bio" in the name of that product makes me believe it is a carbon source like bio pellets or vodka. Both produce enormous amounts of bacteria that the skimmer is trying to cope with. It's important, if this is a case of bacteria production, that the skimmer be allowed to remove this material.