Skimmer Venturi inlet

[ctripi]

Starting to plan a new reef and have been contemplating a new skimmer.
Last one I bought in 2004 was a euroreef with a Sedra 5000 pump. The Venturi air inlet would progressively clog with salt creep. So aside from cleaning skimmer weekly, I would also hand ream out the inlet with a drill bit.
After reading about auto-neck cleaners, I am wondering: Has technology progressed to address this issue?

 

[slief]

Starting to plan a new reef and have been contemplating a new skimmer.
Last one I bought in 2004 was a euroreef with a Sedra 5000 pump. The Venturi air inlet would progressively clog with salt creep. So aside from cleaning skimmer weekly, I would also hand ream out the inlet with a drill bit.
After reading about auto-neck cleaners, I am wondering: Has technology progressed to address this issue?

Neck cleaners do not do anything for salt creep in the venturi. That is just a typical maintenance item with skimmers in general as they all can suffer from salt creep in the venturi port. Some run hot water through their venturi lines on a regular basis. I just pop the nozzle off my pump and clean it about once a month. I can tell that my venturi has salt creep building up just by looking at my skimmate. When the port starts clogging, the skimmer will skim wetter which is an obvious sign.

 

[tanksfishtank]

Unfortunately I think this is regular maintenance for most skimmers. Although once a week is quite fast for the salt creep to build up IMO.

 

[Percula9]

If you can invent a self cleaning Venturi system you would make a fortune.

 

[Breadman03]

If you can invent a self cleaning Venturi system you would make a fortune.

Use a peristaltic pump teed into the airline to pump some RODI through the Venturi. It certainly wouldn't eliminate maintenance, but would greatly extend service intervals.

 

[reeftivo]

only skimmers i know of (stock) that draw some moisture into the air line are the lifereef skimmers (draws from the cup) and the Reefdynamics skimmers (2 standpipes/draws from the first which is capped w/nipple). some moisture will go through both skimmers intake. I have one of the RD skimmers and haven't seen any buildup since installing 2 months ago. so far so good.

 

[ca1ore]

It's easy enough to rig a DiY Venturi clearer. I have a small pump, triggered every 6 hours for 30 seconds by my apex, that pumps tank water into the Venturi suction tubes. Keeps them completely salt free.

 

[kc350twin]

Ca1ore

Very interested in doing this. During the winter months my venturi gets clogged once a week due to cold dry air I'm sucking in from the outside. Does your skimmer overflow at all during the 30 sec on cycle?