Who uses a swabbie?

[bad santa]

I've been thinking of getting a swabbie for my skimmer cause Im too lazy to clean the neck every few days.
For those of you that have one, do you like it? How often do you clean out the swabbie? Weeks?month? TIA

 

[Reefers4U]

awwww, what a horrible way to use someone in the Navy - but I guess I can understand it.

 

[Enjoy]

I've had mine for almost a year now, and I love it. It does get gunked up every so often, but I clean mine at most - once a month. The build quality is great, and the customer service is top notch.

 

[tran383]

I've had mine for about 9 months! I love it. The worst part about it is cleaning it when you have to ~ monthly.

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[savethereef]

i have mine and love it. i clean it once a month. Its a nasty task though ewwww. i have mine go off once every two days for 1 min.

 

[RandyFolds]

My first thought upon seeing these is 'how does that not just knock everything back into the water column?' Seems like it would only be effective if you skim very wet.

The auto-cleaning functions on commercial skimmers that I have seen operate on a different principal and flood out the cleaned goop. This thing seems to just return it to the skimmer column. The bulk of skimmers ability for nutrient lock-up is in the 'gunk', not the 'tea'.

 

[wishntoboutside]

great thread. What a teaser for me. I have been waiting for my new sump to get finished and a new skimmer with a self cleaning head is going in. I think I have had the skimmer now for at least 2 months. What a crime not to use it. Looking foward to a weekend of plumbing =).

 

[Enjoy]

Randy, That was one of my worries as well. It seems that if you run it often enough - "gunk" never really has a chance to build up thick on the inside of the neck. I have mine set on my Apex to cycle for 1min twice daily.
IME, the cleaner the neck is the smoother the transition for gunk to go from the neck, to the cup.
My other concern was killing the foam head inside the neck, but it has very little impact. When I feed any frozen food (daily) it destroys the foam head compared to the swabbie.

 

[saltyg135er]

I got mines and I also uped to send in my lid so that they woukd do a retrofit to my skimmers origial lid. It's great and easier to take out with the retro fit. +1 on great customer service.

 

[bad santa]

Great reviews guys. Do you guys empty out the cup or do you have it drain into a waste container?

 

[Enjoy]

I recently bought the Skimmate Locker from Avast as well, but have yet to hook it up.
I mainly bought it for the pressure sensor it has in the lid to prevent overflow of nog.

 

[RandyFolds]

Randy, That was one of my worries as well. It seems that if you run it often enough - "gunk" never really has a chance to build up thick on the inside of the neck. I have mine set on my Apex to cycle for 1min twice daily.
IME, the cleaner the neck is the smoother the transition for gunk to go from the neck, to the cup.
My other concern was killing the foam head inside the neck, but it has very little impact. When I feed any frozen food (daily) it destroys the foam head compared to the swabbie.

Cool. That was what I was thinking, you'd just have to run it really frequently. The big industrial RK2 self cleaners have this big ole' hose down process that requires a substantial drain line to accommodate...no old juice bottle for those puppies...

So the consensus is that they are awesome? I could definitely use these on a couple of my clients heavily stocked tanks. Every time I show up, their is a 1cm gunk layer in the column and as the adage goes, time is money...When you aren't around but once every week or two, you have to skim pretty dry or you risk trouble with skimmate going back into the tank, or just the drop in function once the collecting cup is full. I don't run anyone's cups to a collection container, just cause it's too much potential for disaster. I'd rather have the skimmer not working than a bunch of organic crud messing up someone's $200,000 persian rug...

 

[DANNY G2004]

Any one use one for Super Reef Octopus?
And how did you like it?

 

[tran383]

Great reviews guys. Do you guys empty out the cup or do you have it drain into a waste container?

I usually drain mine into a waste container when it fills up about half way. I have mine running on my Apex for 1 minute every 4 hours.

 

[vdubfiend]

I love mine
It really works and for the money it's a good deal

 

[bad santa]

Does the swabbie have a quick disconnect for maintenance or do you have to unplug it from the controller?

 

[vdubfiend]

You have to unplug it
The cord is about 5'

 

[milkman55]

Any one use one for Super Reef Octopus?
And how did you like it?

I have a Swabbie on my SRO3000 and it works great. Only clean the skimmer about every six weeks and just drain the cup every three days or so.

The gunk really builds up on the shaft in the center, but the walls of the skimmer stay clear and I get good production.

When I clean the Swabbie, it would not surprise me to clean a pound or two of solids off the squeege and top of the lid.

 

[solitude127]

Do you think this will work on a coned neck?

 

[bad santa]

I got mines and I also uped to send in my lid so that they woukd do a retrofit to my skimmers origial lid. It's great and easier to take out with the retro fit. +1 on great customer service.

Is it better to use the original skimmer cup and have avast retrofit it? What are the differences in using the OG lid or avast own lid?