Skimmer neck cleaners

[naptalene]

Am I missing something here.....

I love the idea of them but I can't get my head around how they can give a performance increase over manually cleaning your skimmer once or twice a week.

To my mind the driveshaft and blades are in the centre of the foam column and will interfere with the bubbles forming. And all you've done is move the oils/scum from the neck surface to the blades..... so it's still there?

Anyone got experience to share?

 

[jsker]

I picture would help use visualize how you have it set. Other wise I would say make sure the bubbles are at the tops of the curved part were the skim cup meets the main body.

 

[JOE_2217]

Here's a link to the article...

https://reefbuilders.com/2017/06/22/reef-octopus-neck-cleaner-protein-skimmer/

 

[naptalene]

That's one of the many

I'm asking a bit of theory, not how to setup my skimmer.

A skimmer creates a dense section of bubbles that join and create larger bubbles as they travel up the neck. They need to make it over the top of the neck into the collection cup to remove the poop( that's the simplified version as I understand it) that massive assembly has to pop bubbles and cause the foam to collapse prematurely compared to an empty neck. Added to that is the fact that the stuff you are scraping off the neck is now simply building up on the blades.... so it's still there.

So I guess I'm asking what's the point in installing a unit to improve efficiency if it messes with the basic principle that your dealing with?

Weren't they originally designed for people who travelled and couldn't clean the neck so it was the lesser of the evils?

 

[naptalene]

Sorry, I never said thanks for the replies!!

 

[joseserrano]

It is supposed to allow the bubbles to travel better if the acrylic is clean and doesn't have the build up. The whip would theoretically need to be cleaned after a while from build up, but some of that should wash off with the bubbles traveling through it. There are also more sophisticated neck cleaners that incorporate water being shot into the neck while the swabbie spins.

 

[pugcrush]

Save your money. Just use a small cake batter spatula.

 

[naptalene]

It is supposed to allow the bubbles to travel better if the acrylic is clean and doesn't have the build up. The whip would theoretically need to be cleaned after a while from build up, but some of that should wash off with the bubbles traveling through it. There are also more sophisticated neck cleaners that incorporate water being shot into the neck while the swabbie spins.

That's my understanding, but that assembly HAS to screw with the bubbles traveling up far more than the film on the sides. And even if you blast the film off the blades, that's falling back into the tank.....

Save your money. Just use a small cake batter spatula.

I never thought of going hi-tech with a spatula lol. I use paper towel and avoid touching the neck.

I'm intrigued as they seem to be appearing more and more and I'd like to know if they actually improve anything.
Doesn't look plausible IMHO, but I have found that my assumptions are often very wrong.

 

[Jlentz]

It's really nice to only have to clean the skimmer only once a month or two.

 

[joseserrano]

The skimmer pulls out the drop off pretty quick. Its fairly efficient from the ones i have seen in person. Below are a couple of examples. Commercial skimmers have a similar option of just water and not the swabbie. In the end though i guess its a matter of ease for some people to not have to have as much contact or maintenance with their skimmer waste.

 

[emvanburen]

Skimmer cleaning was one of my least favorite parts of the hobby. Not having to do it every few days is really nice.

 

[Bruce Burnett]

Since my skimmer is 32 inches tall I don't have room for a swabbie. It is easy enough to take the entire cup and neck off my skimmer and clean it once a week. Takes me maybe 10 minutes and if I want I could stretch it out to two weeks. But you would normally run the swabbie once each day so they keep the skimmer working well.

 

[melev]

I love mine, and have been using one by Avast for about 5 years or more. I cleans the neck of my skimmer so the gunk collects in the cup itself. I can clean the cup once a week or even longer due to the swabbie. It hasn't interfered with anything.

Keep in mind I was the kind of person that cleaned the cup every single day to maximize efficiency. This is a massive time saver.

 

[naptalene]

Ok cool, so to confirm, no loss in the efficacy of the skimmer after installation?

 

[naptalene]

I see the blade in the video is angled so there would be minimum drop off on that option.

I also noted how heavily that tank is skimming. I'm on an extremely light bioload with an oversized skimmer. So my point of reference is apparently quite skewed.

 

[melev]

Ok cool, so to confirm, no loss in the efficacy of the skimmer after installation?

No loss at all. Overall, it's a vast improvement over one that doesn't have one to me. Unless you are willing to clean it every day.

 

[naptalene]

Awesome, thanks everyone

 

[Makers Marc]

Ok cool, so to confirm, no loss in the efficacy of the skimmer after installation?

Im going on month 2 with my Reef Octopus sro 3000int and ANC. Your hypothesis has some merit to it.

Right now, the sludge gets stuck on the swabbie 1 week after cleaning. The skimmate stops flowing into the cup and starts popping on the blade. So ive been having to wipe down the blade with paper towel each week which begs the question, how is this different than what ive done before buying the neck cleaner?

 

[melev]

Stuck on it where? I have some sludge on the underside of the lid, but the neck stays clean. My skimmer's cup hasn't been removed and cleaned in two weeks, and my waste collector is nearly 1-gallon full at the moment. I've been running the neck cleaner with a waste collector for years.

When I didn't use the neck cleaner, I removed and cleaned the cup and neck daily. Now I do it maybe every two weeks, sometimes longer.

 

[Makers Marc]

Stuck on it where? I have some sludge on the underside of the lid, but the neck stays clean. My skimmer's cup hasn't been removed and cleaned in two weeks, and my waste collector is nearly 1-gallon full at the moment. I've been running the neck cleaner with a waste collector for years.

When I didn't use the neck cleaner, I removed and cleaned the cup and neck daily. Now I do it maybe every two weeks, sometimes longer.

Gets stuck on the underside of the neck cleaning lid and on both sides of the squeegee too. After one week, the skimmate level in the cup stops rising and I noticed the bubbles seem to pop in the neck onto the squeegee.

My only other guess is its bc my tank has brand new dry rock and sand, that i still have a good amount of dusty powder that is settling around my sump floor.

So maybe this powder is causing a temporary sludge texture that is stickier than normal?