Vinegar bath for Skimmer

[falconut]

I've had my ASM-G2 skimmer for over 5 years now. I replaced the Sedra 3500 a few months ago and it has a new impeller with a mesh mod. It's performance has dropped off some within the last few years. It's just not pulling out the thick junk out like it used to. I don't really want to buy another skimmer at this time.

I rinsed it with some vinegar and water to scrub out the hard buildup within the body. I didn't run it in the vinegar, just scrubbed it. The body is all clean looking, but it still just doesn't appear to be the same as it was. I was told that giving it a vinegar bath would help to remove the film that builds up over time and restore it back to new.

Now to the questions, I have a 5 gal. bucket and white vinegar for the bath:

1. I should run the skimmer in the bath, right?

2. Should I use 100% vinegar, 50% vinegar/50% RO/DI mixture, or some other mixture?

3. How long do I let the unit run?

[mike_dani]

I just cleaned mine as it sits in a 300 gallon Rubbermaid tub and grown Coraline on the inside. What I do is soak for a few hours in vinegar, scrub with a paper towel (no scratches) and the rinse. I have noticed it will take a couple of days to break back in and then should perform well. The pump should also be broken down and cleaned well.

[falconut]

Oh, it sounds like you just clean yours with vinegar and don't run it in the vinegar. I've done that, but was told that running it in a vinegar bath helps to remove stuff and bring back performance.

[mike_dani]

I certainly don't see where it would hurt anything to do that. I would just run if for an hour and then rinse well and put back into service.

[RokleM]

If your skimmer and pump are coralline/algae free, running it in vinegar isn't going to do much. Most skimmer perform better with a little slime buildup actually.

As for the performance "decrease", that could be many things completely unrelated to the skimmer. Feeding habits, cleaning food properly, more efficient use of natural filtration, frequency or quantity of water changes, etc. The question is, do you have any reason to believe your skimmer ISN'T doing as much as it needs to and you have issues?

[sjm817]

If you run the skimmer in a water/vinegar tub it will foam like crazy and do a good job cleaning it. I do this when I'm cleaning up a skimmer that I'm going to sell. It wont fix bad performance unless the pump needs a good cleaning.

[falconut]

I seam to have gotten some nusiance algae in my display tank and my NO3 levels have been around 5. They used to be 0 and when it was pulling the really darker crud and none of the nusiance algae was present.

But it sounds like there's nothing to clean off the skimmer with the vinegar bath, so I guess I'll hold on this.

[stanlalee]

If your 100% sure the air/water paths are totally clear and there are no detritus/calcium deposits in the pump/wheel (which would be obvious on visual inspection) vinegar bath isn't going to do a thing. Its used to remove calcium deposits because its acidic which dissolves the calcium deposits. Supposedly it helps remove manufacturing oils from new skimmers (dont know if this is true. never done a vinegar bath to a new skimmer but everytime I do one to an old skimmer its like it has to break in all over again. I dont believe the new film that builds up works any different/better than the one that was inadvertently removed for cleaning).

9 times out of 10 after you've done the cleaning and cleared the air path its the tank that changed not the skimmer. besides the pump and air/water pathways what else is there to degrade? I dont know about anyone else but I have NEVER known any appreciable decline in a pumps performance (even ones I've had since 95' that are still working work just as well now as then). pumps usually either work great, work horribly where something is obviously wrong or not working at all.

Basically (I think anyway) tanks mature naturally processing more organics, stock is added/growing sucking up more organics, skimmer performance declines accordingly, people shop new skimmers and buy a superior model that would have skimmed better than the old one from day one.

[Dustin1300]

I've ran a skimmer and placed in a tub with vinegar/water before and it works great. Sometimes if you cannot easily get to parts the skimmer pump can help push the vinegar around and break things loose!

[chercm]

just checking how long do i need to run the skimmer before putting into the tank ?

do i need to run it in warm water ?

[indysalt]

Just a good rinse and its ready to get back in action

[chercm]

I've ran a skimmer and placed in a tub with vinegar/water before and it works great. Sometimes if you cannot easily get to parts the skimmer pump can help push the vinegar around and break things loose!

how long did you run it in the tub ?

[firemountain]

Interested in this thread....following this.

[ken6217]

I am not familiar with your pump or skimmer but I assume there is a venturi there somewhere. Did you look inside to see if there is any calcium buildup etc? That is usually the culprit. If it is calcium, you need to soak it in vinegar for an hour or so and then remove anything in there.

Sometimes it may not be something obvious. The walls of the venturi can narrow with the calcium lining them.

The above is what happens with my past skimmers.
Ken

[ca1ore]

I've had a few ASM skimmers, and while I think they're a good solid design, mine were always getting clogged in the air nipple on the Venturi. If you can run hot water down the airline frequently, this will prevent the buildup. But once it has begun to clog, you have to remove the Venturi and either soak it in a vinegar solution or if you are impatient, like me, just ream or drill the blockage out.

[iceet]

I've had a few ASM skimmers, and while I think they're a good solid design, mine were always getting clogged in the air nipple on the Venturi. If you can run hot water down the airline frequently, this will prevent the buildup. But once it has begun to clog, you have to remove the Venturi and either soak it in a vinegar solution or if you are impatient, like me, just ream or drill the blockage out.

If you're gonna use a drill make sure the bit is smaller than the hole.

See this site for details: http://www.theaquariumsolution.us/maintaining-mc-and-ap-skimmers-aquabee-pump

[Legalreefing]

My guess is it isn't dialed in right from the mesh mod and skimmers perform best when they have build up. "Breaking in period" like on new akimmers is needed. Pretty much yours is like a new skimmer and needs the build up on the inside to start performing as desired