Red Sea Max Nano Skimmer overflowing with foam

[Enad]

Hi all,

I've had a Red Sea Max Nano Peninnsula tank setup for about 2 months now. Stocked well with corals, 4 fish total and so far things have been doing great. Just the other day, the skimmer has started to overflow with foam and I'm not really sure why. I'll be honest, I don't have a great understanding of the mechanics behind a protein skimmer, so I'm not sure exactly what to do/address to fix it.

When I got this tank, I simply put the skimmer in and opened the air valve, nothing else was done to 'tune' it and it seems to have worked fine until now. Nothing has truly changed, the only thing I did was change from the built in ATO to the XTAqua Duetto ATO, but the water level has remained similar. Could this just be a water level issue?

I've tried emptying the receptacle, but it just fills back up with water in minutes and starts overflowing with foam again. Again, I'm not very well versed with Protein Skimmers so if anyone has any best practices I should abide by, I'd be happy to hear them as well.


Additionally, I'm open to upgrading the Protein Skimmer if anyone has any recommendations that would work within the Max Nano sump. I've read some mixed things about the one that comes with the Max Nano so I'd like to see what others would suggest in its place.


Thank you

 

[JaaxReef]

I had a Max E-170 with the included skimmer and had a great experience with mine. I’d still give it a chance before swapping it.

When you say you opened up the air valve up, did you open it all the way? Maybe try closing it a little if the skimmer looks like it is just boiling water and doesn’t produce foam.

Assuming your water level adjustment gate on the skimmer is down all the way? If yes, it may be worth experimenting with lowering your ATO sensor so the water level is a little lower in the rear compartment. Also, make sure your ATO is set to pour into the return chamber and not the skimmer chamber, the blast of fresh water in the skimmer chamber may goof up performance when it tops up.

If the setup is correct, then the last resort is a contaminant or something that is in the tank triggering a response by the skimmer, much like if you added chemi clean, lotion on your hands, spray cleaners around the house, etc. Maybe run some Carbon for a while and run the skimmer with the collection cup off for a couple days see if that helps calm it down?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Did you add anything to your tank lately? Reef putty will make the skimmer go nuts for a while, adding too much amino acids will do the same...

Otherwise, if you say you've never adjusted your skimmer, then it might just need a little tweaking.

 

[Enad]

I had a Max E-170 with the included skimmer and had a great experience with mine. I’d still give it a chance before swapping it.

When you say you opened up the air valve up, did you open it all the way? Maybe try closing it a little if the skimmer looks like it is just boiling water and doesn’t produce foam.

Assuming your water level adjustment gate on the skimmer is down all the way? If yes, it may be worth experimenting with lowering your ATO sensor so the water level is a little lower in the rear compartment. Also, make sure your ATO is set to pour into the return chamber and not the skimmer chamber, the blast of fresh water in the skimmer chamber may goof up performance when it tops up.

If the setup is correct, then the last resort is a contaminant or something that is in the tank triggering a response by the skimmer, much like if you added chemi clean, lotion on your hands, spray cleaners around the house, etc. Maybe run some Carbon for a while and run the skimmer with the collection cup off for a couple days see if that helps calm it down?

Ahhhh, I think you may be on to something with the location of the ATO. It previously was in the return chamber, but now I have it going into the skimmer chamber, though I was just following the directions on the ATO, it said not to put it into the return chamber area for some reason.

Looking at it this morning, it has significantly calmed down and is producing some overflowing foam but not nearly as much as before. Do you think I should just let it be a few more days and see if it adjusts, or try moving the ATO tube into the return chamber now?

 

[JJT]

Hi all,

I've had a Red Sea Max Nano Peninnsula tank setup for about 2 months now. Stocked well with corals, 4 fish total and so far things have been doing great. Just the other day, the skimmer has started to overflow with foam and I'm not really sure why. I'll be honest, I don't have a great understanding of the mechanics behind a protein skimmer, so I'm not sure exactly what to do/address to fix it.

When I got this tank, I simply put the skimmer in and opened the air valve, nothing else was done to 'tune' it and it seems to have worked fine until now. Nothing has truly changed, the only thing I did was change from the built in ATO to the XTAqua Duetto ATO, but the water level has remained similar. Could this just be a water level issue?

I've tried emptying the receptacle, but it just fills back up with water in minutes and starts overflowing with foam again. Again, I'm not very well versed with Protein Skimmers so if anyone has any best practices I should abide by, I'd be happy to hear them as well.


Additionally, I'm open to upgrading the Protein Skimmer if anyone has any recommendations that would work within the Max Nano sump. I've read some mixed things about the one that comes with the Max Nano so I'd like to see what others would suggest in its place.


Thank you

Read the instructions for a Lifereef protein skimmer. It goes into detail about why a skimmer foams, what causes excessive foaming, lack of foaming, etc.