Cleaning the skimmer jar

Jedi1199 · May 15, 2022

So we all clean out our skimmer cups often... I am curious how often do you actually clean out the whole jar? I've never cleaned mine personally, but I do see that the inside of the jar is very much loaded with gunk. Probably going to get off my lazy butt and clean them tonight. What do you do? Why? Is there a benefit to allowing the gunk to build or should we be cleaning these like filter socks?

Bo. · May 15, 2022

Jedi1199 said:
So we all clean out our skimmer cups often... I am curious how often do you actually clean out the whole jar? I've never cleaned mine personally, but I do see that the inside of the jar is very much loaded with gunk. Probably going to get off my lazy butt and clean them tonight. What do you do? Why? Is there a benefit to allowing the gunk to build or should we be cleaning these like filter socks?

My motivation to clean ebbs and flows... I've got no rhyme or reason for it other than current determination.

neonreef3d · May 15, 2022

Jedi1199 said:
So we all clean out our skimmer cups often... I am curious how often do you actually clean out the whole jar? I've never cleaned mine personally, but I do see that the inside of the jar is very much loaded with gunk. Probably going to get off my lazy butt and clean them tonight. What do you do? Why? Is there a benefit to allowing the gunk to build or should we be cleaning these like filter socks?

my skimmer is set to pick up heavy organics, so the reaction happens bellow the neckline of the cup, when the cup is 1/2 way full with skimmate, i dunk it in a 5 gallon of water, and clean it out, then I pour it on my lime tree as fertilizer.

Jedi1199 · May 15, 2022

I do know, both from personal experience and from a story related by a friend that skim-mate can be lethal to a tank. I got lazy a couple months ago and didn't clean out the cup on the skimmer in my 180G tank. Suddenly a tank that had been running flawlessly for months, fish started dying. Nothing new was added to this tank at all. The normal feeding and fish that had been happy and healthy for months. Suddenly BOOM. dead, dead, dead, dead... Finally realized that I had allowed the skimmer cup to overflow with skim-mate. Cleaned out the cup immediately and voila, problem solved. Not a single loss since that date.

I am happy that I know how toxic this stuff is, but very sad that I lost several of my favorite fish to learn this lesson.

A friend of mine, who runs a coral farm a couple hours north of me, related a story where he accidently knocked over his full skimmer in the sump. Dumped all the skim-mate back into the system and virtually wiped out 3 of his frag tanks in one fell swoop.

So I wonder, knowing full well how toxic this gunk is, should we be focusing on keeping the main jar as clean as possible? Or, at the very least, add cleaning to our more "less often" maintenance like rodi filter replacement day...

Freenow54 · May 16, 2022

I can certainly relate to above. Dropped my cup in mine and everything dead in 2 minutes. I have 2 skimmers. I have to clean my one completely or it gets clogged up slightly, and then will overflow. So I take it out and literally run a strong bleach solution through it by running the skimmer. Do it for about 2 hours. Then take it apart clean any solids out and rinse . Then put it together and run fresh water through it for another 2 hours. Keeps the magnet, and impeller clean, and the air inlet. My other much larger I just run hot water through it so far, and brush off any solids on pump inlet. Feel that it may keep it running longer

SPS2020 · May 16, 2022

I remove and clean the skimmer cup every two or three days. When I replace it, I'll feel if the body has a slick feel to it or if there is any skimmate around the neck. I'll either use a paper towel to wipe it clean or every six months, pull the entire skimmer and put it in a hot water and citric acid soak for several hours, then clean, rinse and reinstall.

WVNed · May 16, 2022

My skimmer has a bubble plate in the bottom. I clean that every 6 months and the whole bottom about once a year.

Tuan’s Reef · May 16, 2022

Jedi1199 said:
So we all clean out our skimmer cups often... I am curious how often do you actually clean out the whole jar? I've never cleaned mine personally, but I do see that the inside of the jar is very much loaded with gunk. Probably going to get off my lazy butt and clean them tonight. What do you do? Why? Is there a benefit to allowing the gunk to build or should we be cleaning these like filter socks?

its dang near impossible to take the cup off of my Reef Octopus 110sss skimmer. I would have to remove the whole skimmer body to be able to take off the cup......So my solution is using a turkey blaster to suck up the skimmate. I'm looking into automation to clean out my skimmer cup.

dedragon · May 16, 2022

the cup or the jug to collect all the waste? I use an akula 160 and the skimmer cup is so oversized i just take the whole thing to the sink to clean. Middle pipe piece also comes out for this skimmer cup so it is really quick and easy to do it

Koh23 · May 16, 2022

Not sure what is question, collection cup i clean once a week, every 2-3 days, depending on feeding i use toothbrush to clean neck, both the cup and the skimmer neck.....

Every few months, total cleaning, dissasembling and washing of skimmer...

G Santana · May 16, 2022

Every 6 months I clean pump and the entire skimmer, the cup every 2 to 3 days.

FiddlersReef · May 16, 2022

Jedi1199 said:
I do know, both from personal experience and from a story related by a friend that skim-mate can be lethal to a tank. I got lazy a couple months ago and didn't clean out the cup on the skimmer in my 180G tank. Suddenly a tank that had been running flawlessly for months, fish started dying. Nothing new was added to this tank at all. The normal feeding and fish that had been happy and healthy for months. Suddenly BOOM. dead, dead, dead, dead... Finally realized that I had allowed the skimmer cup to overflow with skim-mate. Cleaned out the cup immediately and voila, problem solved. Not a single loss since that date.

I am happy that I know how toxic this stuff is, but very sad that I lost several of my favorite fish to learn this lesson.

A friend of mine, who runs a coral farm a couple hours north of me, related a story where he accidently knocked over his full skimmer in the sump. Dumped all the skim-mate back into the system and virtually wiped out 3 of his frag tanks in one fell swoop.

So I wonder, knowing full well how toxic this gunk is, should we be focusing on keeping the main jar as clean as possible? Or, at the very least, add cleaning to our more "less often" maintenance like rodi filter replacement day...

Wow. I think I'll be making sure I turn off the return pump before pulling the skimmer cup off going forward. At least then if it slips and dumps into the sump, I can drain the sump.