Cleaning skimmer cup

[hatcher2014]

Just a quick question? When everyone cleans there skimmer cup how do you do it do you just dump and replace or do you give it a good wipe down to get all of the gunk off of it. Just kinda of curious how everyone does it cause i have tried both ways. If i rinse and wipe off all the gunk it seems that it takes a little longer to get back to skimming. But if i just rinse it it seems that the build up keeps the bubbles from rising up all the way. Maybe it just looks like it either way it still skims. Just wondering what everyone else has experienced.

 

[reefgeezer]

I rinse most of the gunk with hot water and wipe out what is left. Usually required 2-3X per week.

 

[cherubfish pair]

The gunk in the cup neck will hinder foam from rising. Should take cup lid off and run a brush around the neck every other day. Twice a week at the least. Then every week or every other week take the cup off and give it a good scrub and clean the whole thing.

 

[hatcher2014]

yeah thats what i was thinking but just wanted to hear what others were doing

 

[KCombs]

FWIW both post 2 & 3 are pretty much what I was thinking....
I've tried to notice trends as best one can given the intermittent nature and plethora of variables involved in skimmer production...

best I can tell, a good quick wipe every other day seems to be the best compromise between effort and efficiency ..... I'd say 1-2X a week would be the absolute minimum

 

[reefinsomnia]

I dont have a huge bioload so i just dump it once a week and fully wash it till nothings on it.

 

[Millticket]

I scrub mine down twice a week using a toothbrush I get from dental visits. I don't like using the cheap toothbrushes they give you for my teeth, but they are effective skimmer cup scrubbers

 

[freeswimmingfis]

I use a foam paint brush. It is wider than the neck of my skimmer, so I just insert it and spin it a few times. I do this a few times a week and skimmer is good to go.

 

[Palting]

I do it once a week, been doing it for almost 3 years. I don't believe having gunk on the cup neck or inner chamber hinders anything. It takes about a week to fill my skimmer cup 3/4ths with dark thick skim, so I clean, rinse and remove the gunk only once a week.

 

[MrClam]

Just curious does anyone drain their skimmer cup into a larger container? I have been considering setting this up for mine to reduce the need for emptying to mayb once every 2 weeks.

 

[reefinsomnia]

Just curious does anyone drain their skimmer cup into a larger container? I have been considering setting this up for mine to reduce the need for emptying to mayb once every 2 weeks.

Ive been procrastinating on doing that for the longest time ever. But the whole problem with that is youll still have all that gunk in the cups neck until you manually clean it. Thats just my opinion

 

[Dr Colliebreath]

I clean mine about 2x per week. I take the skimmer cup off and rinse/clean the cup and lid thoroughly with a brush, then wipe dry with paper towels. It only takes about 3 minutes.

I use this brush - https://www.oxo.com/p-296-bottle-brush.aspx - and it really works well. It also rinses clean easily (unlike a sponge).

I like to clean the cup completely as build-up seems to inhibit the effectiveness of the skimmer.

 

[Donkeykong]

Just curious does anyone drain their skimmer cup into a larger container? I have been considering setting this up for mine to reduce the need for emptying to mayb once every 2 weeks.

I see setups like this when guys like to wet skim, so it gives them longer in between emptying all the fluid, this works since wet skimming tends to have less solid gunk build up on the neck. Not advocating or condemning this, just saying what I have seen in practice.

 

[mrbigshot]

weekly for me, don't have a very large Bio load and not a very big tank. as long as you ate willing to take the cup off and clean it weekly than you can drain it. otherwise don't bother. I have a drain on mine and I wont use it. its easier to take the cup off an clean it well. I do the cup weekly, the Skimmer body monthly, and pull air line and run it in the water monthly to remove the salt creep. vinigar every 6 months or so. its to hard to get the pump out of mine so it gets cleaned when soaked in vinegar. that's supposed to be cleaned monthly as well. I skim dry if that matters

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Xparent Blue Tapatalk 2

 

[hatcher2014]

yeah i bought my skimme used and the guy i got it from put the drain plug in it really low been putting off plugging it. cause i thought about draining into a big container but then that means there is two things i have to clean and i dont really like that idea.

 

[ptreef]

mine seems to run a little slow just after cleaning and foam seems to be non issue when neck gets dirty. So I have a drain setup on my cup I drain about every 2 days as it fills. I remove cup and clean neck and inside like thouroghly ~ 10 days

 

[kissman]

Just curious does anyone drain their skimmer cup into a larger container? I have been considering setting this up for mine to reduce the need for emptying to mayb once every 2 weeks.

The one reason I don't do this is if I have it draining I will get lazy and not clean the cup out, because it will never fill up

 

[hatcher2014]

yeah that another reason why i dont set up an overflow bucket cause a month will go by and they i have a 5 gallon bucket to empty and i would prolly throw up after i opened it to dump it.

 

[Ghstwolf]

I just rinse mine out under warm water from the kitchen sink.. Just run my hand around on the inside of the neck to get the gunk off and if it's really bad I use the sprayer.