protein skimmer cleaning

[buzzer]

I have an aqua-medic turbofloater 1000 which has been running for about 18 months.
Recently though it has stopped skimming enough to allow any gunk into the collection cup although the funnel leading to it still gets a nasty brown colour.
I have noticed tiny algae spots within the chamber where the bubbles are turned over like a washing machine.
What is the best method for cleaning this area and in fact the protein skimmer as a whole, are there any special chemical ingredients such as vinegar or the like that I could soak it in.
As it is I think the skimmer is pretty well redundant so need advice asap to get this otherwise excellent peice of kit up and running again.

[Tang Salad]

I don't think you need to worry much aout the tiny algae spots lower down. They probably don't interfere with operation. If you really want to clean them you can run the skimmer in a bucket with vinegar/water.

The top cone part and uppermost tube need to be kept reasonably clean, otherwise the skimmate will not enter the collection cup.

[frederickk]

I would also use vinegar as tang said

[BigDaddy]

I don't know about your particular model.

However, skimmers in general need the air intake area cleaned when you notice a significant decrease in skimmer production.