Skimmer Overflowing

[falco]

So, this morning I awoke to find ~20 gallons of tank water on the floor. Apparently, meanwhile I was asleep my skimmer overflowed. This in turn lead to my skimmer collection bucket dumping the water on the floor.

The skimmer is a Euroreef 8-3 with the sedra 9000 pump. It has never overflowed before. Nothing has changed regarding my setup. All sump levels were the same. I tested my parameters this morning. Everything was normal.

sg-1.025
calcium- 400
alk- 10
nitrates 10
nitrites 0
ammonia 0

Now, my questions are what made my skimmer overflow? What can I do so if it does overflow again it will not end up on my floor.

I was thinking maybe some type of float switch in my collection container. When it is triggered it shuts off the skimmer????

[landlord]

Perhaps a overflow drain near the top to feed back to your sump. Better back in the sump than on the floor.

[george1098]

Hmm, something is fishy about that. That's why I only use in sump skimmers. what was the water like that flowed all over your floor? it's extreamly unlikely that your skimmer skimmed out that much water so your collection cup overflowed. it's more likely that you have a clog or something in your skimmer's outflow tube..

[george1098]

Originally posted by george1098
Hmm, something is fishy about that. That's why I only use in sump skimmers. what was the water like that flowed all over your floor? was it super dirty skimmate? it's extreamly unlikely that your skimmer skimmed out so much water that your collection cup overflowed. I'm not even sure that's possible. it's more likely that you have a clog or something in your skimmer's outflow tube, or something ells is leaking. I hope you figure your problem out!. A float switch in the skimmate collector is possible. you can buy skimmate collectors with them built in, or a DIY wouldn't be too hard. either. If I were you I would put the skimmer in the sump if you have space, or maybe consider building/buyng a new sump if you don't.

[falco]

Hmm, something is fishy about that. That's why I only use in sump skimmers. what was the water like that flowed all over your floor? was it super dirty skimmate? it's extreamly unlikely that your skimmer skimmed out so much water that your collection cup overflowed. I'm not even sure that's possible. it's more likely that you have a clog or something in your skimmer's outflow tube, or something ells is leaking. I hope you figure your problem out!. A float switch in the skimmate collector is possible. you can buy skimmate collectors with them built in, or a DIY wouldn't be too hard. either. If I were you I would put the skimmer in the sump if you have space, or maybe consider building/buyng a new sump if you don't.

The skimmer is in the sump. I have a 3/8 drain spout drilled into the bottom of the collection cup. Then I have a oceanic salt bucket that I have the 3/8 hose drain into. The bucket overflowed the water onto the floor. The skimmer was pumping clean tank water into the collection cup which in turn overflowed the bucket.

If I did not drill a drain spout into the collection cup and never setup the bucket, yes the water would have spilled over the collection cup and into the sump. However, this setup is not something new. I have had it like this for 3+ years and it still doesn't explain why the skimmer was pumping clean water into the collection cup

[A sea K]

One possibility could be a partial blockage of the air line to the venturi. This will cause the pump to push more water and less air resulting in a higher water level in the skimmer. IME the ER skims best with a relatively high bubble height, if yours is set similar its quite possible the increased water flow was enough to push it over the top.
I run about 1 cup of hot RO/DI water through the air intake tube weekly to help prevent this.

[jimwat]

I have a similar setup and have been thinking about possible solutions.

- buy a overflow/waste container with a built-in cutoff (AquaC has one, I'm sure there are others)
- put a small bulkhead into the side of the overflow bucket (and inch or two down from the tap) and raise the height of the bucket so that the top is the same height of the collection cup.
- put a float switch in the bucket that turns off the skimmer when it is full.
- one of my LFS uses an AquaLifter with the intake near the top of the overflow bucket (always on). If/When the water level get too high in the overflow, the AL pulls the water back into the sump (not recommended IMO).

I have not had an issue with my overflow overflowing in a while, but you never know when your tank is going to have an "event" (something dies, something spawns, etc).