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Xsjadolateralus
09/13/2010, 07:07 PM
How often, if ever, should I clean out my skimmer cup (I mean actually clean it, not just dump skimmate)? It was really gunked up :frog: and it wasn't really collecting any skimmate for about 3 weeks. My tank is currently going through it's cycle, as I've just moved recently. I cleaned the cup up real good. Is this a part of skimmer maintenance, or do I want to just empty it and leave the heavy build up?

Thanks

kcochran0010
09/13/2010, 07:11 PM
I know alot of people clean the cup when ever the empty the skimmate!

BorHor
09/13/2010, 07:18 PM
I try and clean mine every time I empty it.

Xsjadolateralus
09/13/2010, 07:22 PM
Wow, okay. Maybe that's why I haven't seen skimmate in three weeks??!!:(

Thanks :beer:

While we're on the topic. I was told to keep the cup suspended higher, to get the darker and thicker skimmate. Is this always a good idea. If someone could explain the whole thing to me, that would be great. From what I've read, it's considered a "dry" skimmate and by lowering the cup, you get a wetter skimmate, which has more nutrients from your water.

:inlove: RC :)

rayn
09/13/2010, 07:47 PM
You really want a mixture. Not to wet and not to dry. You have to play with it to find the setting best for you. If you are going wet, you loose water and salt and have to top off that way and watch your salinity more. Dry, you don't loose the water(salinity) but it seems to gum up the collection tube quicker.

Xsjadolateralus
09/13/2010, 07:54 PM
You really want a mixture. Not to wet and not to dry. You have to play with it to find the setting best for you. If you are going wet, you loose water and salt and have to top off that way and watch your salinity more. Dry, you don't loose the water(salinity) but it seems to gum up the collection tube quicker.

And gumming the collection tube is a bad thing? Does it skim less if it's caked on? I'm guessing it does. Probably why I haven't been seeing skimmate.

Honestly, I've never cleaned mine out since I started the reef (6+ months). Good thing I asked.

I thought my system just might not be producing much because of the low bioload and the skimmer/refugium I have is rated for a much larger volume of water. Also, I have a soccer ball of Chaeto in the fuge. I only have one ocellaris and one golden watchman goby.

I suppose while I'm here I should ask about snail pooh. Does snail pewp add nitrates in the same way fish pewp does? Is there any significant difference, as far as skimming is concerned?

I have one huge turbo, three stomatella, about 30 nerite, and some very young unidentified pointy shelled snails.

iamwrasseman
09/13/2010, 08:05 PM
i like to end up with a dark skim mate somewhere between tea and coffee but closer to coffee . the darker the skim mate the more concentrated the skim mate is which means that there is more organics in it which is best IMO.
on the subject of cleaning the inside cup where the bubbles are produced i have had much more consistent skim mate by gingerly cleaning it with a paper towel and only removing the excess build up of "gook". if you over clean it then it will take a day to re coat the inside and start producing well .
hope i helped and good luck to ya ~

Xsjadolateralus
09/13/2010, 08:15 PM
i like to end up with a dark skim mate somewhere between tea and coffee but closer to coffee . The darker the skim mate the more concentrated the skim mate is which means that there is more organics in it which is best imo.
On the subject of cleaning the inside cup where the bubbles are produced i have had much more consistent skim mate by gingerly cleaning it with a paper towel and only removing the excess build up of "gook". If you over clean it then it will take a day to re coat the inside and start producing well .
Hope i helped and good luck to ya ~

tyvm.

rayn
09/13/2010, 08:17 PM
Ive never really had a problem with it restarting to skim after cleaning.
No the gunk on the riser tube will inhibit the skimming. I've watched my cup fill in a day, then only half in three days. The difference?.......gunk on the riser tube.

iamwrasseman
09/13/2010, 08:24 PM
also remove and lightly clean the "riser tube" two times a week and you will find some consistency in your skim mate production .
also i would really calm down on feeding as you said you were over feeding . my rule of thumb is to imagine that the stomach is the same size of one of their eyes and you will find out how much you are overfeeding .
in a closed system such as a fish tank excess nutrient "food ,phosphate, silicate , have no where to go so in excess you will find that algae has abundant "fuel" and will grow like wild fire . also remember that in your tank your not trying to set a record for quick fish growth but rather sustain their life and slowly grow them over years not weeks .

thegrun
09/13/2010, 08:26 PM
Each brand of skimmer is different. I had an old aqua C skimmer that would take a week to skim correctly if I cleaned it. I currently am using Tunze skimmers on my two tanks and they do better when clean.

iamwrasseman
09/13/2010, 08:34 PM
certainly they are all different in many ways . i maintain tanks for a living and am pulling my insight from the use of many different skimmers and have only general information posted here . i can add that my ETTS down draft skimmer really works well no matter what you do with it but most middle to low dollar units are much more touchy and because of this they are more difficult to dial in and as a result every time you touch them they skim differently . if you keep attempting to dial them in right after you "over clean" then it becomes difficult or almost impossible to get them to consistently work well .

Xsjadolateralus
09/13/2010, 08:41 PM
Thanks for the info. I hadn't actually said that I overfeed. I am new to reefing but I do have experience with fish and animals in general and understand to underfeed if anything and go from there. If the fish seem hungry and swim near the top constantly, then you should worry about feeding more.

Again, thanks for the tips and I'll try to put them to good use.

I rinsed my cup out completely and removed the gunk with my fingers. We'll see how it effects the skimmer. Hopefully it just helps.

iamwrasseman
09/13/2010, 08:48 PM
sorry about the overfeeding mistake ,best wishes

Xsjadolateralus
09/14/2010, 10:55 AM
Well, the skimmer is back to normal.

Thanks again everyone.

lordofthereef
09/14/2010, 03:48 PM
If your tank is cycling, it is not uncommon to see lots of skimmate at the start and then nothing after a while. I assume you are not "feeding" the tank? You aren't going to be perpetually removing organics if you are not introducing them in the first place.