Foam overflowing sump from drain pipe?!?!

[beauT07]

Hello all, new 40 gallon tank, with skimmer on and off, I have foam building up from my drain pipe in my sump and overflowing. Pictures are attached. It’s an icecap 15 sump. I did notice the drain pipe goes all the way to the bottom of the sump. Also I do not have a gate valve on it, it is 1” pvc piping with an Eclipse S overflow box. All the tank has in it is saltwater that was made from RODI water, some life rock and live sand.

Went to my LFS and no one can seem to figure out what’s wrong. Added an elbow to the main overflow box, didn’t work, tried removing filter sock, didn’t work, tried with filter sock, didn’t work, tried lowering water level, and adding water nothing worked. If anyone could help or give suggestions I’d greatly appreciate it!

[blowmecius]

Caribsea uses a binder on life rock to bind bacteria to the rock. This is what is causing the foam. Perfectly normal with life rock. It might take a week or two but it will clear up on its own. In the meantime I would just lower the water level so it's not overflowing. If you can't lower it enough shut down return pump.

[beauT07]

Originally Posted by blowmecius

Caribsea uses a binder on life rock to bind bacteria to the rock. This is what is causing the foam. Perfectly normal with life rock. It might take a week or two but it will clear up on its own. In the meantime I would just lower the water level so it's not overflowing. If you can't lower it enough shut down return pump.

Thank you for this advice, I will let it sit and see if it improves, I can’t let the filter run because it will overflow. Will I have to do a water change in a week?

-Beau

[blowmecius]

Originally Posted by beauT07

Thank you for this advice, I will let it sit and see if it improves, I can’t let the filter run because it will overflow. Will I have to do a water change in a week?

-Beau

No waterchange until your tank is cycled. Do run a powerhead though. You will need to aerate the bacteria that was released or you will have a stagnant mess. If you don't have any powerheads, you will need at least one eventually so pick up one or two. Turn on the main pump for a few minutes a day to stir up the sump. This will also give you an idea how the Bonding agent is breaking down.

For what its worth, I run 2 Jebao OW-25's on my 40B mixed reef. They give a good amount of flow for not a lot of money and they are dead silent.

Good luck and hang in there.