Skimmer Gone Mad

[TTU_reefer]

We painted our wall in the room of the fish tank, and the in-sump skimmer went mad! It fills up with water nomatter where i set it at!Its been 6 days sence the painting, using latex paint. what gives? ineed to fix this i havent skimmed in almost a week!!

[lgreen]

well, i sure hope you didn't get any paint in your tank! that would suck!

[NEVER SATISFIED REFFER]

if u didnt get paint in the water i would think its venturi pluged because of paint fumes, i would take it all apart and clean it.

[TTU_reefer]

thanks! No paint in the water, it was covered really well. Should i clean out the PH running the skimmer too?thanks alot

[lgreen]

might as well

[TTU_reefer]

no dice...cleaned every bit. It filled up in 2 mintues. Im really losing it here, all my levels are normal, nothing seems wrong, but NO skimming?!?! I will try ANYTHING

[NEVER SATISFIED REFFER]

well u didnt say what skimmer it is and on what size tank...anyway if it is producing air inside the skimmer like it should, and is foaming like it should, except the foam builds up till it fills the cup, then the only thing u can do is turn the amount of water being pumped into the skimmer way down. there is something in the water causing it to go nuts. maybe something from the fumes of the paint. maybe u should do a couple water changes as weel to be safe. is everything in the tank looking ok????

[TTU_reefer]

thanks reffer...yea everythings looking fine. im gunna try a water change again, hope it works!

[TTU_reefer]

1/3 water change...nothing, i gotta figure this out or im sunk. Damn thing doesnt work AT ALL. It work perfectly for weeks!

[NEVER SATISFIED REFFER]

try to explain exactly what the skimmer is doing and which brand it is????? it should have a water input valve you can turn down the input and it should stop overflowing into the cup. is the venture plugged? is it making foam?

[Steve973]

I don't know if it'd affect your skimmer directly or not, but you should really be careful when doing things with fumes in a room where your tank resides. Remember that gas exchange happens, and that means that some of the components in the fumes can become dissolved in the water. I suppose that may have some effect on the foaming action of the water. Next time, I'd move the tank out of the room where you're painting.

[TTU_reefer]

YEa i would have...but this isnt my 6g, its my 20...weights over 200lbs. But i covered it well with a tarp and used latex based paint, it never got VERY smelly in the room, i opened al lthe doors and windows. But the skimmer...nothing willfix it!

[TTU_reefer]

Im just running the skimmer now, takes around 5min to fill,hopin to skim out what ever is bad! anything else i can do?

[reefinnewb]

does it use an air stone?

[Steve973]

Yes, you should tell us the make and model of your skimmer. that might help.

[NEVER SATISFIED REFFER]

well if it uses a airpump, then it pumped fumes from the paint into the water. When u cover the tank u should turn off anything pumping air into the water. anyway, nothing is dead so I guess your ok. try turning down the airflow to the skimmer.

[TTU_reefer]

Its a custom made in sump skimmer, worked like a dreat till the painting day, it uses a powerhead in the side, REO 600 i think...But it has been running for 48hrs now...keeps filling up. Turned air flow up...down...left right lol..nothing. Adj. the water level up and down...nothing. im totaly stumped. Its been a week and almost 30% of the water has been changed.

[Steve973]

Just so you know... Changing ten percent of your water three times in a row doesn't mean that you've changed thirty percent of the water.

[TTU_reefer]

YEa i know, thanks tho, i have taken out about 15 gallons total, i would probably 30% at least was the bad paint fumed water. Thanks