Help with Turboflotor

[jgrantham7]

Help! I've got an Aquamedic Turboflotor 1000 Hang-on on my 55 gal. tank. It's a new setup, and the skimmer worked great for the past 2 months while the live rock cycled.

Yesterday, I was moving the rock around and using epoxy to hold a couple of the higher pieces around, prior to getting a cleanup crew.
I was stirring up a lot of debris while I was doing this, and the skimmer started kicking out a lot of foam and goop. So, I turned it off while I finished to allow the cloud to settle.

When I turned it back on, it was spitting out a lot of fine bubbles into the water. No foam, though.
I took the pump and skimmer apart to clean them, and reinstalled.
Now, it's still spitting a lot of fine bubbles back in the tank, and is producing so much foam, it filled the cup with water in just a few minutes.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Jon

[RealReef]

Jon,

Not sure I can help here but I run a Turboflotor 1000 (in Sump model) with a Oceanrunner 3500 pump, on my 55 gallon. I know what you are talking about as the same has happened to me several times in the last year. While I think the skimmer does an excellent job when dialed-in properly, it can be a pain in the butt to keep it that way.

I do not know who your model is fed but mine is fed through a line from my overflow, I installed a value so I can adjust the water flow into the skimmer. Second, I have installed an air pump that is fed to the air line on the Turboflotor. Get an air pump that you can adjust the level. This has helped out a lot when the skimmer suddenly decides to "freak out". I will tell you that you will need to give it a good cleaning about every three months. The small hollows at the base of where the air line enters the skimmer get clogged.

As I said, when dialed-in it works great, but it does have a tendency to get out of sync now and then.

Good luck!

[jgrantham7]

Thanks for the ideas. I think mine is a little older model (I bought it used.)
It's fed through an Aquabee pump. The pump is submerged in the tank, and has an airhose that runs directly off the pump.

There are no adjustments on this one, either the skimmer or the pump.

The problem is, it's pumping so fast, that it's generating an enormous flow of bubbles that spill into the collection cup, and fill the cup up with water in a matter of minutes.
The bubbles are also spilling back into the tank through the output tubes.

The setup worked great for 6 or 8 weeks, and now, it's absolutely useless.

Any other ideas?

[condricthyes]

I would just let it run. It sound like you stirred up so much goop it's working overtime. I would just wait it out. It should go back to normal operation after a day of overskim. Try removing the flow control knobs if you still have them in.

[jgrantham7]

Well, just for the sake of posterity, the problem has resolved itself. I left the skimmer running for about 20 hours, and the movement started to stabilize.
At first, it was pushing bubbles through so fast, that the skimmer cup filled in a matter of minutes. When the cup would empty itself back into the main chamber, this provided enough backflow that the output tubes were ejecting water again without bubbles.
I left it running overnight (some anticipation due to a full skimmer cup) and the next day. When I got home from work that day, it seemed as if the normal flow was back. So, I emptied the cup, and normal operation returned.

Thanks for the help,
Jon

[victorgar]

The epoxy makes the skimmer go crazy. This happens to me every time I glue coral to my live rock. Just let it run.