Skimmer cup filling quick after epoxying rocks

[Nandez13]

I made a slight change to my aquascape last night and added a little bit of Water Weld epoxy to hold the rocks together. I had researched beforehand that this would make the skimmer go nuts so no surprises there. It fills up with water in less than a minute and begins to overflow. I shut off my skimmer last night and just plugged it back in but seems to keep doing the same. I'm sure it'll be this way until the epoxy reaches a certain cure time.

What I am unsure of is if I should keep running the skimmer and simply allow it to overflow into my sump until things go back to normal on their own. Or should I keep the skimmer off and try it out once a day to see if it's changed?

Thanks for any help.

 

[Chefjpaul]

I would run it wet until its goes back to normal, just replace the water w/ salt water.

I actually did same thing yesterday, just ran my ato line to new saltwater.

 

[TRDfan]

This has happen numerous times to me. It will take a week or so till things go back to normal. Depending on how much epoxy u used. Just keep the skimmer off till then. Otherwise there is be a million micro bubbles in ur DT and will freak out the fish = stress. On the flip side ur nutrient levels will be higher than normal...

So pick ur poison. No clear cut answer

 

[Chefjpaul]

This has happen numerous times to me. It will take a week or so till things go back to normal. Depending on how much epoxy u used. Just keep the skimmer off till then. Otherwise there is be a million micro bubbles in ur DT and will freak out the fish = stress. On the flip side ur nutrient levels will be higher than normal...

So pick ur poison. No clear cut answer

Very true w/ micro bubbles, I would guess the skimmer would be going crazy due to pulling out impurities, reason why I deal with it.



Like stated, no clear answer.

 

[Nandez13]

I plugged it in for a couple hours and there are a crazy amount of bubbles in the sump but they're not actually making their way to my DT. All the bubbles break up in the refugium compartment.

I think I'm going to unplug it anyway for tonight since it's not actually collecting anything but water. I'm not too worried about the extra nutrients from having it off for a couple days. I used a small amount of the epoxy so hopefully it won't take too long. Thanks for the input

 

[Tonyscoots84]

You can either open the skimmer valves all the way open or unplug it for a few days. If you have carbon run it and you will be fine in a day or 2

 

[evoIX_Reefer]

You are just going to have to let it run with the drain returning into the tank. It will keep going nuts until it settles from the water column.

Mine took DAYS last time.

 

[mbg75]

If you raise the skimmer up till it's able to skim, it will settle out in a few hours.
I put a plastic bowl under mine to get it high enough.

 

[ValorG]

I use marineland brand epoxy now and don't get this anymore.

 

[bkstang]

I'm not sure if this problem was created by the epoxy you used or just by stirring the detritus in your tank.

 

[Nandez13]

I'm not sure if this problem was created by the epoxy you used or just by stirring the detritus in your tank.

I doubt it was from stirring up detritus. The rocks I moved around were at the top of the aquascape so I was not stirring up a whole lot like if they were on the sand bed for instance. I've stirred up much bigger messes in my tank without ever noticing a difference in my skimmer. Within hours of adding the epoxy is when it started going crazy on me. I'll just play the waiting game for now. I only used about 1/3 of the small water weld tube. I can only imagine what it would be like had I used epoxy all over my tank when I started it up.

 

[Tonyscoots84]

Nandez it was def. the epoxy, it has happened to me many times back in the days. I don't use epoxy anymore.

 

[duke62]

Weird I use water weld all the time and my skimmer never over flows. I've put rocks together using it to form new structures and used a whole tube a couple times also

 

[Nandez13]

It actually took 9 days for the skimmer to settle down. Unbelievable for the small amount that I used.

 

[ECFENCING]

I used a small amount of TLF epoxy and it took a couple of days for the skimmer to return to normal. As suggested you can turn the skimmer off or raise the skimmer for a few days so it's not overflowing, run carbon and then bring it back to the normal depth. I generally turn it off for a couple of days. Lately I've been using cyanocrynolate CoralAffix for adhering corals (also by TLF) with no effect on the skimmer.