Question regarding Skimmer and Diatom

[bubblepuffer]

Hi,

I am quite new to the hobby and want to find, if you manage to kill more then 50% diatom will it cause skimmer to go crazy and work like crazy. I skimmate 70% more then usual and it smell bad.. dumped the stinky stuff.. and bubble just flow out like crazy back to the empty holder and fill the holder in an hour..

I didn't notice the skimmer first.. I noticed more then 50% of my diatom outbreak was gone.. as I look on the sand bed as the ugly dark brown stuff most of them gone and only light brown stuff showing on spot.. The tank is around 2months old now.. it's cycled with fully cured LR so it didn't take long for the tank to stable down for me to add fish in there.. all the coral and fish doing fine in the tank.. just more then of the 50% diatom disappeared and the skimmate is brown and slimy .. eikk.

I just add a small amount of Kent Marine Phosphate Sponge which remove Phosphate and Sillicate .. first 24hrs ...didn't notice much changes..then 48hrs noticed big change on the diatom..

 

[Len]

The diatoms probably have some effect on what your seeing. However, it's probably not just the dying diatoms but also the KM PO4 sponge affecting the skimmer's performance. Certain chemicals will have an effect on the sufficants of the air bubbles in skimmers. This can result in over-production or under production of foam. For example, when you use epoxy, skimmers are known to go "crazy" and produce a lot of foam, often overflowing the skimmer. The same might be happening with the PO4 sponge. I haven't used this product so I don't know for sure. Hopefully others with experience will chime in.