Skimmer gone nuts

[Kirk_M]

I recently added an anti-cyano agent to the tank (active ingredient is erythromycin) at one half dosage, every other day. Needless to say, it hasn't worked. I cannot detect any nitrates with the Salifert kit, nor any Phosphates, so I do not know why I continue to have this problem (I only feed lightly once a day, and only have 3 fish in my 72 gallon tank). Anyway, I have given up on chemical means, and will be trying small daily water changes (besides doing my weekly 25% change). So, to get to the point, I have put carbon in my canister filter to get all the remaining antibiotic out. It has been running for a few days now, but my skimmer is still going NUTS, filling up so quickly with very wet foam, and almost blowing the collection cup off the tube every few minutes. It does this even if I cut back on the flow to the skimmer from my pump to minimum levels. How can I get it back to normal function? As it is, I have to leave it off when I am at work all day because it will simply overflow (into the sump) and blow the cup off eventually. I really DON'T want to keep running it skimmerless for any length of time. Please help!

Thanks,

Kirk

[Konadog]

If it started after you added the carbon, I would remove that first and see if that fixes the skimmer problem.

[ButterfyBoy]

Erythromycin, like tetracycline, is known for causing an increase in foaming, so this would be what did it. Incidentally, it is possible to have phosphate or nitrate problems without showing a detectable level -- if the rate of consumption by algae etc meets the production rate. Also, some algaes and bacteria, especially the thick blanket bacterial types, are pretty good at extracting elements tied up in substrates.

[Kirk_M]

It started foaming before I added the carbon. It's still really foaming right now after several days of running with carbon. I don't think that taking it out of the cannister will stop it. Any other ideas?

[falcon5619]

I think it takes 4-5 days to settle down. I added Red Slime Remover to my tank and my skimmer is doing the same thing. It has been a couple of days and it is starting to calm down but has not returned to normal yet.

[danielevan]

I've been running a 50G reef skimmerless for 6 months -- opted for hefty amounts of carbon changed 2x/month instead.

It seems to be going rather well! Skimmers seem expensive, loud, and high-maintenance, given that.

[Kirk_M]

Originally posted by danielevan
I've been running a 50G reef skimmerless for 6 months -- opted for hefty amounts of carbon changed 2x/month instead.

It seems to be going rather well! Skimmers seem expensive, loud, and high-maintenance, given that.

It finally started skimming normally again, after adding carbon and chemi pure to the canister filter.