Skimmer Maintenance?

[sergiotami]

Dumb Question, but how often do you remove the collection cup and clean? I've been doing it weekly when I do my water change....

[kkiel02]

Once a week. It maximizes its efficiency and you will pull out a lot more poo.

[BBQHILLBILLY]

I must have a dirty tank or something. I have this Hurricone with sicce pump and its pulling enough stuff to be cleaned every day. Im thinking of putting 5 gallon next to it. lol

[sergiotami]

Good, that hat I've been doing, just wanted to make sure I was right...:)

[350gt]

For me, every Saturday I clean the cup...it's usually half full... I drain it, then rinse the cup..

[350gt]

I must have a dirty tank or something. I have this Hurricone with sicce pump and its pulling enough stuff to be cleaned every day. Im thinking of putting 5 gallon next to it. lol


Or your skimmer is not big enough?

[BBQHILLBILLY]

http://coralvue.com/hur-cat1/

Its big and was a very nice upgrade. Got a great deal at the fishy flea market. Could allways use a bigger one eventually.

[350gt]

http://coralvue.com/hur-cat1/

Its big and was a very nice upgrade. Got a great deal at the fishy flea market. Could allways use a bigger one eventually.


How many gallons is your tank? And you have the bubbles dialed in right below the neck?

[BBQHILLBILLY]

Im probably wet skimming, but its something dirty thats for sure. Total gallons sump and display tank minus LR and sand, at least 300 gallons.
Ill do my weekly water change and bubbles go down for 24 hrs. Then it goes bunkers pulling all kinds of junk out.
The skimmer pump is a psk 2500 and it works great.

[350gt]

There you go...

skimmer is rated for 200 gallons....

[350gt]

I would look for a skimmer of at least 350 gallons..

[BBQHILLBILLY]

http://www.championlighting.com/home.php?cat=1619

Yea I see that here. These BIG skimmers are not cheap. I may have to put a 5gallon bucket next to it. for now.

[350gt]

I learned my lesson...... I wouldn't do it unless you can keep a eye on it..


Mine went nuttz when I was asleep and woke up to a water filled living room...

[350gt]

My wife hates when I spill water.... But stinky water.... Lol she wasn't too happy.

[BBQHILLBILLY]

lol I could see that happening. May have to lower the sw in the return. At worst return pump mag 18 will throw a fit cause theres no sw to return. Turn off ato.

[Big_Pun]

I always buy the biggest skimmer I can fit into my system. when I had my 70 I had a cs-1 rated at 150g and now on the 150 I have the cs-2 rated at 240g, they also add oxygen back to water but you gotta remember bio load includes coral waste and fish waste. mine get emptied once a week and fills cup about half way up.

[350gt]

I am really liking the CS1... I think it's right on!


i said if I did need to, I would upgrade again to the cs2..

[SoLiD]

+2 ^^^ Good skimmer advice. Get the crap out before it becomes a problem.

I just put this on my 40 breeder.... lol
Plus I'm running ozone through it.

http://blog.aquanerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/ATB-Elegance-200-Pro-2.jpg
http://blog.aquanerd.com/2010/10/atb-elegance-200-pro-protein-skimmer.html

http://saltycritter.com/protein-skimmers/atb/atb-elegance-200-pro-cone-protein-skimmer.htm

[Scutterborn]

I'm on board with the "bigger is better" philosophy. Here's my skimmer.

http://premiumaquatics.com/aquatic-supplies/CV-SRO-5000INT.html


-Ben-

[SoLiD]

That Bubble Blaster 5000 is a beast!!! Great Skimmer Ben!

[BBQHILLBILLY]

Theres a lot of nice skimmers posted here. So the question should be: What makes a skimmer great?
The hurricone with psk2500 I have is constantly pulling crud out. I here some folks clean once a week. I have to clean a couple times a week.
I do have a large amount of fish in the tank including 5 tangs.

[SoLiD]

Design, efficiency, sump space, how quiet, pump wattage, ease of maintenance, warranty, ability to buy replacement parts,

[SoLiD]

And the size of tank the skimmer is Rated for, Are just some of the things that people decide on when making a Skimmer purchase.

I can't believe I forgot to mention price.

.... Dumb tapatalk cut me off before I could finish.

[350gt]

I would just get one that is rated for my tank at the least, if not, if you have the room go a little bigger to compensate for the amount of live stock you will be adding...

I feed a lot so I was worried the CS1 was not going to be enough, coming from the reef octopus 200(w/psk2500pump) ... It's rated at 200 and the cs1 at 150....


the thing is I had no real room for the Octo 200, couldn't even get the cup out for a good cleaning.... Now with the smaller CS1, I have room to do all that....and if the skimming wasn't up to par, I was planning on another upgrade.... I will give it a couple of more weeks then I will decide... But so far so good....

[BBQHILLBILLY]

Here is some info I found useful
In general, the smaller the bubbles the more effective the protein skimming is because the surface area of small bubbles occupying the same volume is much greater than the same volume of larger bubbles.
and the source of info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_skimmer
So if I can get a skimmer with this and a 5 gallon bucket or a big cup to sit on top Im fine.:bigsmile:

[Big_Pun]

Here is some info I found useful
In general, the smaller the bubbles the more effective the protein skimming is because the surface area of small bubbles occupying the same volume is much greater than the same volume of larger bubbles.
and the source of info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_skimmer
So if I can get a skimmer with this and a 5 gallon bucket or a big cup to sit on top Im fine.:bigsmile:
the one factor your not looking at is gph and air intake. if the gallons per hour are not up to tank size your not turning over water fast enough and doing a efficient job, also the more air intake usually the better "bubbles" you will get. just cause your cup fills fast doesn't mean your skimmer is adequate, you could be skimming wet or tank load is too much. I know this hobby is expensive but when you budget reef a whole tank it will show eventually causing more headaches than needed. spending your money smart on certain things is needed imo lighting, skimmers, pumps and and water movement(power heads) need to be the most important things money is spent on and up to par.

[350gt]

Leroy keeps buggin me to go bigger.....

I don't see the purpose....

I am reefing within my means...

Water changes are simple, salt is not to much, skimmers are not ridiculously sized and priced, and so on....

I could go bigger and it would be neat.... But don't need the headaches later.. Lol

[BBQHILLBILLY]

The Hurricone cat1 and cat2 are rated for 225 gallons and 350 gallons respectfully. They use the same pump and design. The cat2 is just bigger than the other by a couple of inches.

[BBQHILLBILLY]

The sicce psk2500 with a needle wheel is an upgrade to this skimmer. Unbelievable foam and air bubbles.

[Big_Pun]

The Hurricone cat1 and cat2 are rated for 225 gallons and 350 gallons respectfully. They use the same pump and design. The cat2 is just bigger than the other by a couple of inches.

yup more water volume more contact time for the "lil bubbles" which is why the tank eating goes up.

[ramsey]

In regards to having a 5g bucket for skim mate, if you have a controller you could hook up a float switch and have it turn off your skimmer if the switch triggers. Avast marine makes a skim mate collector that has one built in. I've had one for a couple of years and its nice. For the price though, a bucket with a float would be much cheaper.

[SoLiD]

That's "One" of the main reasons I bought my skimmer. It has a built in float switch to connect to my Profilux controller.

[Paul28]

you want fine bubs meshmod your skimmer better then the white, purple and the red pin wheels Ekmat PF4 or a flatback you can bring your bub line way below the neck and still almost overflow it you might half to cut your down pipe to slow down the flow also you can then mod your intake with useing http://www.dwyer-inst.com/Products/Product.cfm?Group_ID=42&Product_ID=124&sPageName=Ordering up to 70 SCFH when you get the mod tuned in on your skimmer you can turn a crap skimmer in to a great one you would be shocked bubble king style if you slow down the turbulence ALOT more surface area on each bub :)