Okay , so after my skimmer had to be left off for nearly 4 days , i was a little un easy and decided to take action.
i managed to find a off cut of a tile , and put it under my skimmer to raise it around 2 cm.
that managed to solve the complete overflow when i turned it on.
only problem after leaving skimmer off for 3 /2 days , phosphates have increased to between 1 or 2 mg /L., with this in mind , my algae seems to have grown/ growing , and i need to reduce the phosphates to starve the algae.
can anyone suggect a solution, i am not interested in a reactor , as i think this is temporary , and if it carries, on look into that.
i have read ways to reduce phosphates
1. skimming
2. bacteria
3. macro algae
i have 1 and 3 now sorted , and will purchase some bacteria today to address that .
anything else anyone can suggest ?