Auto Neck Cleaners

[gobyvin]

Does anyone use these? I bought a skimmer Bubble Magus Curve 9 with one, and use it only every couple days. I throttle one gate valve down to min to cause overflow and then turn it on. The mayonnaise consistency crud gets knocked into the sump water and I am not a fan. That is the crap we are trying to get rid of! I feel like switching back. I still clean the Auto Cleaner and whole cup weekly with water change anyway. Am I too OCD here or am I right?

 

[coralfishreef]

I have an Avast Marine neck cleaner, that I used to use, on a Simplicity skimmer that also has a cup drain port. The neck cleaner works well at keeping the neck clear. The skimmate does build up on the wiper blade and blade support shaft. I haven’t noticed skimmate going back into the sump, but sometimes the peanut butter skimmate would fall back into the skimmer body when removing the cup for cleaning. I had the swabbie turn on 4 times a day for a few minutes using an Apex. It was great to have running if I was traveling or just very busy.

 

[mnavick]

I have one on my Reef Octopus and controlled by the Apex.
Loved it at first, but the same, now the neck cleaner and shaft get all gummed up!
Either way something has to be cleaned weekly
Also have found if not cleaned routinely the waste going into the skimmer collection cup slows dramatically.

 

[gobyvin]

I guess my question was, is there a benefit to have it run if you cannot do it often and increase foam head height to clear stuff? Seems to me that it would be pretty sensible to design a cleaner and controllable dc pump that you can kick up and spin the swab at the same time, say four times a day... I don’t have a controller but if I did I might look into rigging one of these up.

 

[coralfishreef]

Mechanical lamp timers run for a minimum of 15 minutes, but an inexpensive Wi-Fi controllable outlet might work. Running the neck cleaner more often seems to prevent chunks of skimmate falling back down the skimmer body. It is questionable if foam production is improved or hindered because the wiper blade and wiper blade support shaft in the way.