Skimmer Overflow - can it be plugged?

[FishyFishy!]

Originally Posted by Coralgurl

I purchased a Eshopps PSK-100H Hang On Protein Skimmer from another reefer, awesome skimmer but the cup fills fast. I've gone from emptying every 2 days to twice a day. I've adjusted it to try to reduce the flow but its still producing tons of skimmate.

I have 2 choices - buy longer tubing so the overflow can run into a bucket - or plug the overflow to stop it and let it sit in the collection cup. What would you do?

I would run it into a bucket, but here is also another fancy trick that I used when I had a similar eshopps skimmer - I used an old aquaclear HOB filter housing, hung it on the back, and ran the skimmer tube into it. This would be my skimmate collector, and when it would overflow when I was not home, it just flows back into the tank so that there was no spillage. Worked great.

[Coralgurl]

Great responses, thanks. I have the intake fairly close to a powerhead, I can relocate the skimmer. Its a used skimmer so no break in period needed. It was skimming great and could go a couple of days, dark skimmate. Now its clearer and filling fast. Nothing dosed in the tank, water change done last week. I will pick up longer tubing and run to a bucket. No hob filter on the tank, bucket is a good cheap solution!