How do you clean your skimmer head?

[ken6217]

I have had reef tanks for 20 years and this just dawned on me. How do other people clean their skimmer heads?

I'm asking because I usually clean in, out, top, bottom. Of purse when you clean everything, it will take a title time to get a coating at the base and the riser tube.

I assume that skimmers that have the auto clean feature only have the neck cleaned and not the base that sits into the skimmer body. This will always have some coating.

Just curious if cleaning it all 100% will cause it to lose some efficiency for a day or so.
Ken

 

[MikeReef79]

Good question, I take the Collector Cup off and clean it %100, takes me like 2 - 4 min, and I do it once every 3 - 4 days... My Reef Octopus 3000 works like a champ and can see new gunk forming 5 min after starting the skimmer up again. So I don't see any loss in skimming personally...

 

[rovster]

I have a nano skimmer and use a tooth brush to wipe the tube clean every few days. Once a week I just pull the head off and use a bottle brush to clean the whole tube. I don't really clean the body of the skimmer. Should I?

 

[d2mini]

I clean the cup of my LifeReef once a month, only because so much gunk has built up on the interior wall of the cup that i have a hard time seeing the skimmate level. Every few days when it's full i just drain it into another container, so i don't have to remove the cup. The cup has a drain valve on it. To clean the cup i just spray it out with the garden hose and then give it a quick wipe down with a piece of paper towel. I also give the inside of the neck on the skimmer body a quick wipe. Then I'm good for another month. That's the only maintenance I've had to do so far. Skimming starts right back up when i turn it back on.

 

[ken6217]

I clean the cup of my LifeReef once a month, only because so much gunk has built up on the interior wall of the cup that i have a hard time seeing the skimmate level. Every few days when it's full i just drain it into another container, so i don't have to remove the cup. The cup has a drain valve on it. To clean the cup i just spray it out with the garden hose and then give it a quick wipe down with a piece of paper towel. I also give the inside of the neck on the skimmer body a quick wipe. Then I'm good for another month. That's the only maintenance I've had to do so far. Skimming starts right back up when i turn it back on.

Sure Dennis, got to get that Lifereef reference in there.

Actually you should probably clean the neck at least one a week for better performance.

I was just curious if I should be cleaning everything.
Ken

 

[d2mini]

lol, sorry.
Since all skimmers are different, figured mentioning the model would make sense.

The neck hardly gets dirty, that's why i don't bother.
I used to run a neck cleaner on my Alpha, but this skimmer doesn't seem to need it.
It definitely needs less maintenance than my previous skimmers did. YMMV.
I think you just have to look and see what your particular skimmer running on your system needs. And like you, i try not to remove any of that coating unless absolutely necessary.

 

[ken6217]

lol, sorry.
Since all skimmers are different, figured mentioning the model would make sense.

The neck hardly gets dirty, that's why i don't bother.
I used to run a neck cleaner on my Alpha, but this skimmer doesn't seem to need it.
It definitely needs less maintenance than my previous skimmers did. YMMV.
I think you just have to look and see what your particular skimmer running on your system needs. And like you, i try not to remove any of that coating unless absolutely necessary.

I know. I was just kidding with you.
Ken

 

[ridetheducati]

Skimmer agnostic response:

If you see waste building up regularly, clean it often (at least weekly).

If you see worms and other calcium based build up, clean it periodically (months).

 

[klwheat]

I used to clean my sro5000sss every other day. Take the cup, empty it out, clean it inside and out really quick with a bottle brush used only for skimmers. (I still do this with my ES5 in my 90 reef). Now, I have the auto neck cleaner and external collection cup for the sro. It's NICE! Now, cleaning for it is empty the collection cup every week, and pour a cup of warmed water down the drain tube every few weeks when I think of it.

 

[brad_G]

I have a nano skimmer and use a tooth brush to wipe the tube clean every few days. Once a week I just pull the head off and use a bottle brush to clean the whole tube. I don't really clean the body of the skimmer. Should I?

After about a year my daiblo xs-200 was lacking so I broke it down and cleaned it completely. It was full of sponge matter and pretty nasty crap. After cleaning it had a break in period probably longer than the original one but now is skimming better than ever!

Also if you skim dry the neck of the cup will junk up faster than if you wet skim ime. Also I believe performance goes down after the neck gets dirty but this is just personal opinion and actually have nothing to base it on other than it seems that way to me.

 

[mayjong]

Also I believe performance goes down after the neck gets dirty but this is just personal opinion and actually have nothing to base it on other than it seems that way to me.

me too

 

[ca1ore]

I have experimented with all sorts of skimmer modifications, none of which, in the harsh light of day, actually amounted to much ..... until I bought an after-market automatic neck cleaner. I simply don't have the discipline to clean the neck as often as I should, so my skimmer was not operating at peak efficiency. All that has changed as the neck cleaner keeps things working well. I only now need to clean it out about every month or so .... and never do the body or shoulders.

 

[Reeferz412]

Every time I take off the cup for cleaning (week to week and a half) I clean the cup and use a toothbrush to clean the neck and top of the chamber. I then just let the skimmer dump water into the dt and all the junk that I cleaned out of the chamber. Works for me.

Every 2-3 months I clean the skimmer completely and clean all of its parts, its good to keep the pump clean since it is the heart of your skimmer.