Cali Kid Corals

Tuze 9004 DC Skimmer overflow with foam, cause by diatoms?

newfly

newfly

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Started a week or so ago. regardless of how i adjust the water level, it will overflow in <24 hours. i keep reducing the power (now at ~35%).

At the same time i still have diatoms. Glass will get a brown coating and need to be clean every 2-3 days. Filter pads get change everyday. I'm only dosing Carbo-Calcium ~7ml a day for a 65G.

Otherwise, fish and corals seem happy.

Can diatoms cause skimmer to overflow with foams? The cup is only 1/3 full but the foam start overflow. The skimmate is like light tea.

Any idea?
 
its a used skimmer ~1 years old. I have it in my tank running 24/7 since Jan , so about 5 months. I did the vinegar bath in Jan.
 
If you're scraping the diatoms from your glass twice a week then that's pretty normal for the most part until the tank is really dialed in and it's in balance. You're still looking at scraping at least once a week afterwards for the most part, especially if you're actively feeding the tank and/or corals. What's scraped off does end up in your skimmer to some degree so don't be surprised.

If you want a darker skimmate, then adjust your bubble height in the skimmer. I'm not sure if that's possible in the 9004 or if the water level is the only thing that you can adjust (to a degree this is also bubble height I suppose). By dropping the bubble height you'll end up skimming dryer and it should pull out a darker skimmate than light tea. Haven't used a Tunze in a long time (~2005ish) since the 9002 and the skimmate in that skimmer was also lighter in color iirc. I switched from using Tunze's line of skimmers for all my subsequent tanks afterwards.
 
Raise the skimmer till you get the foam head you like. I keep some coral rubble around for fine tuning my skimmer height in my sump. Alternatively, if you think it is the right height, you can wet skim for a bit till things settle out.
 
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