Skimmer Cleaning and Performance

[Squidhead9]

How does the cleaning of a skimmer affect its performance. I know some people have bucket overflows and only clean their skimmer once in a while. I personally clean mine daily. Has there been any study done on what cleaning schedule maximizes the performance of a skimmer.

Is it most efficient when clean and am I doing the best thing. Or do skimmers work most efficiently after they already have some buildup.

Any thoughts.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I've not seen a study, but mine produces less and less overflow liquid as gunk coats the inside of the column containing the aerated water. I expect that means poorer performance, but I've not tried to quantify the amount sticking to the neck and amount of solids actually in the skimmate over time.

I clean mine between 2 and 4 weeks, unless I'm lazy. :D

[Chemistry Guy]

I've heard arguments for both. Like Randy says, the more gunk in the neck, less skimmate can get up into the collection area. But I've also heard people say that cleaning the oils off the surface of the walls basically means you have to re-break in the skimmer. I'm not sure how valid that argument is though.

[cindre2000]

It usually takes a couple of hours for all of the skimmers I have ever worked with to break back in after a cleaning. However, at the same time, the way I set those skimmers, I will get a good production into the cup for a while and then the production migrates to the neck. Usually, the most skim I get is in the neck, sometimes over a cm thick at the base. The cup usually has less than an inch of liquid and only a think layer of gunk (even after several weeks).

I set the water/bubble height to the base of the neck. It then builds on itself to climb up. It might be possible to set the height near the top of the neck and see if the production is similar or greater; but I worry that the cup would fill too quickly.

[PhreeBYrd]

Cleaning a skimmer riser column too well will almost always require that the skimmer 'break-in' again before production resumes. There's no good answer to "how often to clean?", since every tank is different. I only clean my skimmers when production slows, and usually by then the riser column is quite heavily (opaquely) coated with crud. For my tanks this is generally about 2 weeks, sometimes longer.

FWIW, here is my advice: Don't scrub the heck out of your skimmer's bubble column to clean it. Use a softish bristle brush (I actually use a hamster bottle brush sold by Drs. F&S) in running water to clear away the accumulation. Don't rub down or 'polish' dry the column, just pat it dry to remove excess tap water. If you're doing this right, you'll find that a very thin film of 'biomatter' is left on the working (inner) surface of the column. When you reassemble and restart your skimmer, it will begin production almost immediately (within a couple of minutes).

Definitely, cleaning a skimmer every day can be detrimental to its performance; this is almost guaranteed if the cleaning is aggressive.

[SumBub]

+1 on Phree's advice. I clean mine about every 1-2 weeks and just a light scrub to get the crud off. It'll break in quite nicely.

[addicted2reefin]

after about two days my skimmer gets a nice thick layer of gunk on the neck. i let that go for about a week. skimmer seems to produce best about 2-3 days after cleaning.

[Elliott]

if I don't keep adjusting the water column a little higher each day the crud just keeps collecting lower and lower in the bubble column of the skimmer, I wish someone would come up with a device to keep a skimmer "tweaked" :D

[108reefer]

They have, Deltec makes a "self cleaning head" it has brushes in the neck that "sweep" all the crud into the cup, then fills the cup with water and rinses for you. completely programmable. I think the unit sells for about $1200 and fits most of their larger skimmers. I opted for the "manual" version - Me and put the $1200 to better use, like more frags, and better lights.

[Elliott]

They have, Deltec makes a "self cleaning head" it has brushes in the neck that "sweep" all the crud into the cup, then fills the cup with water and rinses for you. completely programmable. I think the unit sells for about $1200 and fits most of their larger skimmers. I opted for the "manual" version - Me and put the $1200 to better use, like more frags, and better lights.

I meant a device to keep a skimmer tuned so that it stays where you left it, for example if you set the height of the bubble column it would maintain that height by adjusting skimmer's outflow :D

[DC_40gallon]

I personally keep my eshopps skimmer to where the top of the bubbles is at the middle to top part of the neck where the collection cup connects. This seems to give me a nice dry skim and even on a lightly stocked tank and running a 330 gph powerfilter with dual carbon filter media, I have to clean it every 3 days or I can't even see through the collection cup for the gunk.

[iceman79]

+1 on what dc gallon said

[rkaires]

Three to four days between cleanings seems to work best for me for optimum production. I use the spray nozzle in my sink with warm water to knock the crud off and paper towels to dry. As far as breaking in, my skimmer starts producing foam again in 15min.

[Marklu]

I use a method identical to rkaires and my skimmer has never seemed to operate any worse for it.

[Squidhead9]

Based on some of these responses I gone to cleaning every three to four days and it appears that I am getting better performance. Stuff really smells foul after a few days though.:hmm6:

[rswood1]

I don't clean the neck for at least a month. After cleaning it takes two to three days to get back to normal.

[C-21 USAF]

I "think" it depends on the style of skimmer.

My H&S A200 (recirc) seems to work best when cleaned at least once a week or production decreases. I can actually see it decrease after a few days of build-up.

The ETSS Evo 750 (downdraft) I used to have seemed like it could go a lot longer without cleaning and still produce well.

[redfishsc]

My skimmer is a DIY model made from PVC. I clean the neck monthly, the body tube every couple of months. Sometimes if production really drops I'll do the neck cleaning every two weeks.

[Ptt911]

Three to four days between cleanings seems to work best for me for optimum production. I use the spray nozzle in my sink with warm water to knock the crud off and paper towels to dry. As far as breaking in, my skimmer starts producing foam again in 15min.

same here.

[Wilberheim]

With my PM 1 I would get a nasty coating inside the body and neck of the skimmer. This was after a week or so and becuase im lazy I wait until its pretty bad. The mess in the body didnt effect skimming, it was the beckett getting clogged with snails and such that were sucked in from the sump.