How often do you clean your skimmers??

[Skeeter7424]

So before you just answer this, let me tell you why I ask.

I have been doing a little independent experiment on my tank. I was noticing a drop-off of skimmate after 3-4 days after emptying and cleaning my collection cup. I started off checking it every day and noting where the skimmate amount was day to day after a cleaning. I changed my cleaning interval from 5 days down to 1 day and noted all my changed and results...here's what I found...

The color of my skimmate never changed. I always get a nice dark tea-like color out of my collection cup. But what is weird (and the opposite of what I have read a lot) is that I have the best amount and rate of skimmate if I clean my collection cup (which also includes the angled neck of the skimmer body itself) and the "throat" of the skimmer cup, at around the 3 day mark. Any quicker than that, and I dont get a good film build-up on the skimmer cup, and thus have not reached the make rate of skimming. If I let it go more than 3-4 days, I start to get almost NO additional skimmate, and notice that even without my grubby little oily hands in the tank, I can notice a foam head collapse.

So now my question remains...How often do you clean your skimmers? Not so much how often do you empty them, because I find that mine never actually gets full, as it has been best if I clean it before then.

Just a little 3rd party research to add to my own! And I figured a good discussion, and possibly home experiment for some of you!

Cheers
Jordan

 

[don in mass]

every 2 days it's a deltect 600 it skim's like a super hero lol.

 

[downreef]

don I have a deltec mce 600 same for me was starting to think my tank was really dirty lol every couple days for me.

 

[RadReefer]

I have a Bubble King 160 that wasn't pulling as well last few weeks, I kept dialing up the water line lazily. I did a full cleaning including dismantling the pump. There were a few small snails inside the wheel and tons of sponges growing in the column which definitely were effecting the micro bubbles and foam head. Within hours I had thick black skimmate filling half the collection cup. I rinse the cup and neck during my weekly water change but that's about all I ever did in the past. I think I get better results with a cleaner neck/cup than if I let it get dirty. I'm definitely gonna start doing full cleanings more often.

 

[niftyjosh]

Seaside Aquatics CS-1

Gotta drain it every 5-6 days skimming pretty dry. Have to clean the cup a few days after because the 1/8" of gunk really reduces the darkness of the skimmate.

 

[eaze333]

I have a reef octopus xs-160. I clean it every 5 days. I have noticed that for the first 2 days after cleaning I don't get too much skimmate and then it cranks out for the next 3 days a large amount of coca-cola colored skimmate

 

[dcforester1]

Im hoping not as much as I use to. I just finished putting my Swabbie together tonight, and with that, and my collection cup i should be good.

 

[jdeb101]

I got a Aqua C Remora skimmer and experience the same as you do Skeeter. Once the collection cup neck gets the film layer of skimmate it seems it doesnt produce as much. I usually only get about a 1/4 inch of skimmate in the cup.

I'm pretty lazy with my tank husbandry, but do clean the collection cup everytime I do a wc (which is usually every 3 weeks). I also probably give the entire skimmer a good cleaning twice a year.

 

[gweston]

My Remora cup needs to be cleaned every 3 days or so seems to work best. Takes a day to film up, second day to skim effectively, third day it slows down a lot. I get minimal skimmate at that point. I should probably clean the skimmer out thoroughly more often. Sponges and the like. I try to clean the MJ1200 every 2-3 months (I also brush/clean the remora injector). Makes a notable impact of skimmer performance.

A factor is my Remora is hanging on the back of the display. Lack of room in the sump area. A lot of stuff goes into the overflow and down into the sump, out of reach of the skimmer. I try to make up for that with a filter sock. A short(er) term problem for me though. That tank is switching to QT duty soon as I bring my new larger tanks (and bigger skimmer) online.