Cleaning My Skimmer with Vinegar Question.

[Pigpen17]

So I have an Aquamaxx-1 HOB skimmer I've running for a little over a year. I take it down and clean everything about once every two months, but it's starting to show some wear. It just is not working as well as I think it should be. Can I stick it in a bucket of vinegar and water and let it run for a day, just to thoroughly clean everything?

 

[plecoco]

I just use vinegar or plain water with a scrubber. I think the scrubbing is more effective at breaking down the deposits than leaving it alone. Of course, you have to let it soak to do its thing.

By the way, I heard the AquaMaxx skimmers work very quickly and start producing skimmate much faster than other skimmers. Is this true? How do you like your AquaMaxx?

 

[flooddc]

Try cleaning the venturi. Clogged venturi is usually the cause of most skimmer issue.

 

[Pigpen17]

I just use vinegar or plain water with a scrubber. I think the scrubbing is more effective at breaking down the deposits than leaving it alone. Of course, you have to let it soak to do its thing.

By the way, I heard the AquaMaxx skimmers work very quickly and start producing skimmate much faster than other skimmers. Is this true? How do you like your AquaMaxx?

I absolutely love it. Very quiet and very efficient. I ended up buying the bubble trap for it and it's even better. No more huge output pipe in the tank. Just a very clean looking sponge. Love it. For my size tank, with no sump, it's a winner.

 

[Pigpen17]

Try cleaning the venturi. Clogged venturi is usually the cause of most skimmer issue.

You mean the actual bubble chamber? Yeah. I am sure that's it. I can't pull it apart anymore. Maybe just soak that thing instead of running the skimmer in vinegar and water?

 

[flooddc]

You mean the actual bubble chamber? Yeah. I am sure that's it. I can't pull it apart anymore. Maybe just soak that thing instead of running the skimmer in vinegar and water?

no, the one that the air hose connected to. Take the pump out, remove the air hose and use a small toothpick or paper clip to clean it.

 

[jbvdhp]

Yes you can run vinegar in it, vinegar cleans really well.

 

[Pigpen17]

no, the one that the air hose connected to. Take the pump out, remove the air hose and use a small toothpick or paper clip to clean it.

Oh, got it. Yeah, I clean that out every time I take it down. About once every two months. Same with the impeller. The skimmer used to be good as new after a cleaning, but now, not so much.

 

[CStrickland]

You can also pour some di water down the air intake to rinse it. Sometimes salt will build up in there from sucking humid air and block it.

 

[Breadman03]

I actually have a small zip tie in the air vent of my skimmer lid that I poke into the Venturi every time I empty my skimmer cup.

 

[Pigpen17]

Good tips. Thanks. I think my problem is the bubble chamber. I can't really get in there to clean it. With no objections or warnings, I think I will try running the whole skimmer in a water/vinegar bucket.

 

[Ztous]

I've used this skimmer. You can remove the pump to clean the chamber. There's enough room to clean. There's a nlyon screw in the middle it needs to be removed. The divider isn't fixed it will slide up and out of the skimmer exposing everything.

 

[Pigpen17]

Yeah, That's the problem I'm having. My plastic screw is about to break. I don't think I can pull it out again and have it survive. If it breaks in the housing, then I'm in real trouble. I am hoping a vinegar bath with bubbles will clean it right up. As long as I won't cause damage.

 

[Pigpen17]

Well, it worked out, but not as I expected. I put it in a bucket of vinegar and water mix and let it run for 24 hours. Usually that would do the trick. I always put my coralline and sludge covered powerheads in the same thing and they come out good as new. But this was not the case. I had to break down the skimmer and clean it all in the sink. There was some weird orange stuff in the impeller housing, so I cleaned that out. Somewhere in the works a big piece of algae came shooting out, so that's good. Maybe that was my problem. Anyway, I cleaned everything up as well as I could and then put the dirty bits back in the bucket with a powerhead and today it looks good.

I have no idea what the orange stuff was. It looked kind of like rusty water. I hope the vinegar didn't eat away at some important bits. So I am going to throw it together this morning and test it out in a bucket of water first. Make sure everything still works.