Skimmer cleaning

[jroescher]

I've always wiped out the neck of my skimmer being real careful not to let any of the crud fall into the bottom of the skimmer. However the Red Sea self cleaning model skimmer uses a spray bar to simply rinse the neck back into the reaction chamber. The Red Sea rep explained that it would skim back out again as soon as the skimmer is restarted.

So my question is, am I wasting a lot of time and effort trying to keep all the skimmed crud from falling back into the skimmer? Can I simply push it back into the reaction chamber?

[Europhyllia]

I wouldn't lose sleep over it but I too would try and wipe off as much as I can get.
I think at the last meeting somebody mentioned they even 'dosed' the skimmer crud back into the tank. I forgot to ask why they skimmed in the first place -maybe just aeration? In that case they could just leave the cup off?

One thing to consider though: why do you have crud on the neck. That only happens to mine if I get a mini snail stuck in the needlewheel impeller and it's not foaming up as it should. If it foams well there might be crud on the inside of the cup (rather than in the area it should collect in) but really no crud on the skimmer neck.

[jroescher]

I'm using an AquaC EVC-120 skimmer. I've always had a thick layer of crud build up in the neck. Like paste. The longer I let it go, the thicker it gets. It was about 1/8" thick tonight, about usual when I clean it.

[allan]

Me too, in fact I've got to clean mine out as the crd is threatening to close the neck entirely.

http://tapatalk.com/mu/45a655d0-1a1c-7135.jpg

Anyone want a frag of green chalice? :)

[Scream311]

Wow talk about some nuclear skimmate allan ! Chalice anyone lol

[Europhyllia]

Allan, your picture looks to me like the crud is in the neck of the cup, not of the skimmer. Is that picture deceptive? When I read John's description I imagined him cleaning the skimmer itself (because cleaning the cup would be easy since you just take off the whole thing and rinse it in the sink)

If it's the neck of the cup then yes I'd consider that totally normal. If the skimmer itself gets gunked up (which makes it much harder to clean) then I'd take off the injector on the EV and make sure that's clean so that the stuff really gets blown to the top.

[Big_Pun]

i use this round sponge thingy with a handle Aquarium Design sells for cleaning skimmers, think its really made for washing cups. when i pull off the cup i wipe the neck and let it fall inside skimmer and yes after start up i notice those chunks back in my cup later.

[allan]

Karin, you're correct, the majority is on the inside of the neck, although a bit is on the outside.

I usually take the whole thing outside onto the street where I use the water hose to blow out the chunks which are sent down the street.

Taking off just the cup doesn't get the stuff down further into the skimmer. That's why I take the whole thing outside, then I run a vinegar for 24 hours before putting it back online.

[Europhyllia]

Wow you guys are diligent! I hardly ever take out the whole skimmer. Just the pump from time to time. And the cup of course.

[ErikH]

Allan wins the nastiest skimmate competition!

[allan]

Me either karin. I think it's been about six or seven months since I've cleaned it. Around Christmas sometime.

[350gt]

Has anyone else that rinses there's off in there yard noticed a greener patch? Even in these dried up times I have a patch of grass that always gets my skimmer crud and water from my water changes... I call it my avatar patch, as its green with thick blades of grass...

[roscozman]

We recently unplugged our skimmer and forgot to turn it back on... Our tank is doing much better.

[kkiel02]

Has anyone else that rinses there's off in there yard noticed a greener patch? Even in these dried up times I have a patch of grass that always gets my skimmer crud and water from my water changes... I call it my avatar patch, as its green with thick blades of grass...

Another problem that you may encounter eventually is the acidity of the soil if the salts dont percipate from your top soil. So it may be green for awhile but as the acidity rises your grass will stop doing so. Easy way to prevent it is- Rain which is exinct here in Texas or watering quite awhile for the salts to leach out of your top soil. Im not saying to do this now though, just if you start seeing a problem with your grass over time. There are other ways to combat this as well. The reason its so green right there is because you are basically fertilizing that patch of grass. Fertilizers are sold by their NPK percentages and by adding a skimmer we are trying to reduce the nitrogen and phosphorus waste in our tank(s).

[justahobby]

Troy was talking about dosing skimmate. IIRC the idea behind it is that skimmers take the good with the bad and strips our aquariums. By dosing the skimmate, you feed the tank at a controlled rate.

[Europhyllia]

but wouldn't you jsut be putting both back in? then why bother? Other than for aeration?

[justahobby]

Without having read much on it I don't believe you add all the skimmate back or even most of it. Plus it is at a controlled rate vs. Letting be used up by the tank's discretion. I suppose the same argument could be said for dosing phyto and running a skimmer since skimmers remove phyto produced by our tanks.

[justahobby]

I also believe that this isn't the solution for everyone, but tanks suffering from defencies. Skimmers remove a lot of phyto (think green skimmate) and do very little for reducing phosphates. They do help reduce nitrates, but perhaps too efficiently. Not advocating the use, but i do see how it sounds plausible and worth trying if you find your tank is too sterile but want more control than reducing filtration, extra feedings, etc.

[Big_Pun]

heres my cup of 5 days!

http://tapatalk.com/mu/a6cd0e7b-14a6-661a.jpg

[Texreefer]

thats what mine looks like every 4-5 days as well

[justahobby]

heres my cup of 5 days!

http://tapatalk.com/mu/a6cd0e7b-14a6-661a.jpg



That's insane! It would take a month to get that in my old 58g

[Big_Pun]

That's insane! It would take a month to get that in my old 58g

that about 80-85g of system, reason I want to upgrade to a Octo 1000sss