Self clean skimmer by routinely overflowing it?

[Brett S]

I’ve never been good about regularly cleaning my skimmer and not surprisingly it was way overdue for a cleaning. I finally broke down and cleaned it and as I did I was thinking about ways to help the skimmer stay cleaner longer and I came up with an interesting thought. (Well, I thought it was interesting at least)

I already have an automatic neck cleaner, which helps, but the skimmer cup and other areas that the neck cleaner doesn’t reach get sludge build up fairly quickly.

I have seen people install sprayers inside the skimmer cup to wash it down and keep it clean and I considered trying to do something like that, but it seemed like a lot of work and I don’t really have a good source of high pressure clean water under my tank.

Then it occurred to me that my skimmer has a variable speed DC pump. I adjusted it so the skimmer normally runs with the pump at about 70%. Then I configured my apex to turn the pump up to 100% for a few seconds four times a day. This causes the skimmer to overflow into the cup and (theoretically) rinse out any gunk that’s accumulating there.

The skimmer drains into a reservoir that gets pumped out into the drain by my apex every time it’s full, so extra water running through the skimmer isn’t a problem.

It’s using tank water to flush the skimmer, so I did have some concern that if that water gets replaced with fresh water through my ATO that it will cause the salinity to drift down. It’s not using a lot of water... maybe a cup or two a day (I have 300G in my system, so that’s a relatively small amount). But in order to offset any salinity drift I reconfigured my auto water change to add slightly more salt water than it removes.

Let me know what you guys think about this? Any concerns that I might have missed?

 

[homer1475]

Sounds like a sound plan to me. The only problem I can see, when I clean my skimmer cup, a jet of water never does it. I need to physically clean the cup with my hand or towel of some sorts.

 

[Brett S]

Sounds like a sound plan to me. The only problem I can see, when I clean my skimmer cup, a jet of water never does it. I need to physically clean the cup with my hand or towel of some sorts.

Yeah, that’s definitely the case for me too, but that’s also after several weeks of buildup. I’m hoping that by flushing it several times a day it will be able to keep stuff from building up in the first place.

I’m not sure if it’ll work like that or not, but I’ll let it run like this for a few weeks and see how it does.

 

[homer1475]

Only way to find out, is run it.

Yeah my gunk buildup is from a few weeks too. Curious to see how this works out. You might be on to something.

The salinity issue could be a real problem, but a cup or so a day on a 300G system shouldn't be an issue. I could see it being a problem on smaller systems, but one your size shouldn't have any problems.

 

[road_runner]

I used neck auto cleaner on my bubble king in the past but I felt it reduced the skimmer production. I think it was due to the volume the auto cleaner occupy which reduce the foam volume..
As silly as it is, I keep a rubber spatula next to simmer, once a day I clean the inside of the neck using the spatula and wipe the waste inside the collection cup. Then completely clean the skimmer neck when I do my water change.

 

[ca1ore]

Neck cleaner keeps the functional surfaces of my skimmer working optimally. I don’t really worry about the rest. Once every few months I’ll pull off the head assembly to give it a good clean, but even that seems to happen less and less frequently.

 

[Brett S]

My skimmer is pretty big... the neck diameter is 4.75 inches, so the neck cleaner itself doesn’t really take up too much space in the neck. But what I’ve found is that while the neck cleaner is great at keeping the neck itself clean, after some time I get buildup on the lid of the skimmer where the foam goes up and over the neck into the cup. And perhaps somewhat ironically, there is also a significant amount of build up on the neck cleaner itself. Both of those will reduce the effective size of the skimmer neck and can affect performance. And those are the areas that I’m hoping to keep cleaner by flushing the skimmer.

 

[MnFish1]

IM starting a poll about this :)

 

[Eagle_Steve]

y'all are going to laugh, but I keep a toilet brush next to all of my skimmers under the stand. Once a week, I dump the cups, scrub the skimmers inside, replace the cups, the gunk gets knocked loose, causes the skimmer to overflow for about 15 seconds, when that stops, dump cup again and scrub it. removes all the gunk in about a minute or 2 and no build up of anything in my skimmer but some coralline. Total time is 3-4 minutes a week per skimmer and they stay clean.

 

[Mastiffsrule]

I used neck auto cleaner on my bubble king in the past but I felt it reduced the skimmer production. I think it was due to the volume the auto cleaner occupy which reduce the foam volume..
As silly as it is, I keep a rubber spatula next to simmer, once a day I clean the inside of the neck using the spatula and wipe the waste inside the collection cup. Then completely clean the skimmer neck when I do my water change.

y'all are going to laugh, but I keep a toilet brush next to all of my skimmers under the stand. Once a week, I dump the cups, scrub the skimmers inside, replace the cups, the gunk gets knocked loose, causes the skimmer to overflow for about 15 seconds, when that stops, dump cup again and scrub it. removes all the gunk in about a minute or 2 and no build up of anything in my skimmer but some coralline. Total time is 3-4 minutes a week per skimmer and they stay clean.

The spatula and toilet brush are great ideas. As long as the toilet brush isn’t used for multi purpose. :)

I think too much emphasis is on cleaning the neck. I let the gunk build up in the neck and the same amount of skim fills the cup clean or not. Every couple weeks I twist off the cup, put in a bucket and carry to the sink. Quick rinse clean. The when I go to reinstall I take a paper towel and wipe the body out while it is overflowing. And Done. The amount of time installing a cleaner and other stuff to save time and keep things clean actually cost more money and take more time than just hand cleaning

It does also depend on if the cup comes out easy or not. Then cleaners may be worth it

 

[road_runner]

The spatula and toilet brush are great ideas. As long as the toilet brush isn’t used for multi purpose. :)

I think too much emphasis is on cleaning the neck. I let the gunk build up in the neck and the same amount of skim fills the cup clean or not. Every couple weeks I twist off the cup, put in a bucket and carry to the sink. Quick rinse clean. The when I go to reinstall I take a paper towel and wipe the body out while it is overflowing. And Done. The amount of time installing a cleaner and other stuff to save time and keep things clean actually cost more money and take more time than just hand cleaning

It does also depend on if the cup comes out easy or not. Then cleaners may be worth it

I do not think keeping the build ups is a good idea.
1- I believe it reduce the skimmer efficiency and foam production
2- the build up is nutrients that will keep breaking down until bubbles can no longer carry it and end up going back to the water which increase no3 po4...
My 2 cents

 

[Eagle_Steve]

The spatula and toilet brush are great ideas. As long as the toilet brush isn’t used for multi purpose. :)

I think too much emphasis is on cleaning the neck. I let the gunk build up in the neck and the same amount of skim fills the cup clean or not. Every couple weeks I twist off the cup, put in a bucket and carry to the sink. Quick rinse clean. The when I go to reinstall I take a paper towel and wipe the body out while it is overflowing. And Done. The amount of time installing a cleaner and other stuff to save time and keep things clean actually cost more money and take more time than just hand cleaning

It does also depend on if the cup comes out easy or not. Then cleaners may be worth it

Lol at dual purpose. Fish sewage from skimmer only for these brushes.

 

[KIRBLIT]

I used neck auto cleaner on my bubble king in the past but I felt it reduced the skimmer production. I think it was due to the volume the auto cleaner occupy which reduce the foam volume..
As silly as it is, I keep a rubber spatula next to simmer, once a day I clean the inside of the neck using the spatula and wipe the waste inside the collection cup. Then completely clean the skimmer neck when I do my water change.

I can't believe I never really thought about this, I think I'm going to steal this idea. I have a 7" dia neck on my skimmer and this is perfect. It's simple, cheap and above all, effective and that's all that matters.

 

[Mastiffsrule]

I can see an argument for keeping it clean. I agree when it comes to cleaning I try to be vigilant. But to me cleaning and maintenance are 2 different things.

I actually look at cleaning the neck as more like maintenance which I hate. Thimgs I consider maintenance are cleaning wet sides of MP40, power heads, return pumps, heaters, etc. Things I consider cleaning is scraping glass, vacuum sand, replace media, and water changes

I am wondering why you think it reduces skimmate. Have you measured production pre and post cleaning? I always like to see others views. That’s how I learn, and hope i am not coming off argumentative.

And also I can see your point about nutrient breakdown. But if that is the case there would not be a need to clean the neck since it breaks down.

Let me know your thoughts

 

[road_runner]

I can see an argument for keeping it clean. I agree when it comes to cleaning I try to be vigilant. But to me cleaning and maintenance are 2 different things.

I actually look at cleaning the neck as more like maintenance which I hate. Thimgs I consider maintenance are cleaning wet sides of MP40, power heads, return pumps, heaters, etc. Things I consider cleaning is scraping glass, vacuum sand, replace media, and water changes

I am wondering why you think it reduces skimmate. Have you measured production pre and post cleaning? I always like to see others views. That’s how I learn, and hope i am not coming off argumentative.

And also I can see your point about nutrient breakdown. But if that is the case there would not be a need to clean the neck since it breaks down.

Let me know your thoughts

Anecdotally I think my skimmer look less efficient when its dirty.
But I remember that read some literature and talked to skimmers vendors like bubble king folks and they said dirty inside of the neck will pop the bubble faster and reduce the foam thickness.
Now if you skim wet you might not notice the difference, but it is reducing the performance.
For me as said I care more about taking things out as soon as possible before it break down to no3 po4 and cannot be removed by skimmer foam anyway...

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Anecdotally I think my skimmer look less efficient when its dirty.
But I remember that read some literature and talked to skimmers vendors like bubble king folks and they said dirty inside of the neck will pop the bubble faster and reduce the foam thickness.
Now if you skim wet you might not notice the difference, but it is reducing the performance.
For me as said I care more about taking things out as soon as possible before it break down to no3 po4 and cannot be removed by skimmer foam anyway...

Thanks for replying. That is an angle I really never thought about. I could see it as being a factor in performance.. Still wondering about real world applications but that is a solid theory I had not entertained prior. This is why I love it here. Thanks again.