Prism Skimmer Problems

[Werbo]

Having a problem with my Prism skimmer and wondering if any other Prism owners have experienced the same problem. I've been running the Prism for about 6 months and 2 weeks ago the skimmer seemed to struggle or possibly overdraw in water in spurts for about 1-2 minutes. The pump would get louder at this time and the sporatic spurts would end and the skimmer would run normally for another 1/2 hr or so before the next spurt or loud noise and erratic water intake.
Then one day I came home one day and the skimmer was filling my tank with micro bubbles and the pump was continuosly loud and sounds like it is struggling and taking in too much air.
I've added no trace elements, there was no water change in the period of the skimmer "acting up" and everything else in the tank is normal (water parameters, specific gravity, etc). Any ideas?
FYI: Contacted Red Sea and they said to run it for 3-4 days because they said there must be something in my water causing the skimmer the produce excess bubbles.
Thanks

[monza]

Can't comment on that specific skimmer but have you taken the pump apart and cleaned it lately?

Dave

[robbyville]

I'm not sure if it's the same pump but is this a Prism Pro? If so, I also had a problem with the pump, especially noise factor.

When I dissassembled it and watched it run I found that the impellor was struggling and actually not spinning but rotating back and forth. This did not cause any micro bubble problems at all, the pump would simply not draw any water. The problem did start similarly to yours however.

I ended up replacing the pump through the company n/c. The pump was roughly the same age as yours when the problem started.

It may be worth dissaseembling and running the pump so that you can look inside and make sure it's running properly.

Best,

Rob