Protein Skimmer Creating Microbubbles

[snyderju]

So I have an Aquaticlife 115 mini internal protein skimmer. I really like this skimmer. It put out a lot of microbubbles when I first got it about 3 weeks ago. After about a week the bubbles went almost totally away. It was getting some green algae developing in the chambers so I took it out and scrubbed it with a tooth brush. We also added our fish back into the tank and I added a little API Stress Coat to the water and a little Melafix. I know these products can cause it to act funny. In the last 2 days I've changed a little over 50% of the water. I noticed a slight improvement but it is still putting out microbubbles. I also added a fresh bag of carbon to help soak up the rest of the meds. Do you think cleaning it out would make it break in again? Any help is appreciated.

 

[Northstar24]

Cleaning it or taking it off line for some time can cause it to go through a another 'break in' period - Also, those meds cause a lot of problems with skimmers. I dosed Melafix when my tank was starting out and I had an issue with a fish, it took WEEKS to get my skimmer to run right after that

The lesson i learned was never, ever, ever dose anything in the DT....ever

 

[snyderju]

Ya it was against my better judgement but our poor firefish had a little tear in her fin and I couldnt say no to the gf lol. I Guess I'll just wait it out and let the slime coat build up again.

 

[fastrd400]

You can dose Melafix, just turn your skimmer off for a couple days when you do.