Skimmer Waste! How often should your cup be filling up?

[Hemmdog]

Every 3 days or so. Zeovit has been making my skimmer skim wetter than usual. It won’t pull anything if I open the valve more though. Hmm.

 

[RudyinFL]

Like Mical. Every Sunday (Unless I mount new frags then it goes crazy). Do my weekly water change, test and clean cups. I have an I-tech 200 on a 120. The cup is usually 1/2 full of dark green liquid and a nice thick layer of gunk attached to the surfaces.

 

[scubajoe]

My skimmate goes into a reservoir. I may Emory once every two weeks. The clarisea reduces the amount of work the skimmer has to do

 

[Crotalus]

My Tunze 9410 DC filled up about every day or two running on a 215 gallon tank. They make a special collector device for the top that allows the foam and not just liquid to be collected with a over 1" diameter hose. I don't think any other skimmer has this option. I have a gallon jug with a handle that is easy to dump and takes a week to fill. It is self adjusting skimmer and has a small footprint. I think it's a great skimmer.

 

[jfoster38122]

I use the drain hole with some tubing on my Reef Octopus skimmer and let it drain my a glass jar. I empty it out about once a week but it is only about half full when I do it

I do the same thing on both my bh90 on each 75 gallon but they drain to a 5 gallon bucket under each stand so I go a couple of months
the buckets have lids with a small hole cut out to keep the smell at a minimum

 

[WVNed]

Mine drains into a 5 gallon bucket and I empty 3 gallons every 5 days.
SRO 5000 skimming 400 gallons

 

[nsuderman]

My cup never fills as I have the drain plumbed directly to my house drain

 

[JP&JL]

I have my skimmer (RSK 900 for a180 gallon DT) draining into a 5 gallon bucket with a pan underneath containing a Neptune leak detection probe that’ll shut it off if the bucket overflows. Empty a partially full bucket once a week

 

[Peace River]

Like many others, I empty my skimmers every week as part of the regular maintenance. Based on my settings the collection cups are usually 1/4 to 1/2 full.

 

[Bruce Burnett]

I say every 3-4 days at about a week it can really stink. I try to skim so I get dark skimmate. If you can stand the smell you can go longer.

 

[DivingTheWorld]

I empty mine every 1-2 weeks. But I use a Reef Octopus 6" Waste Collector. It prevents smell and I can actually go a month or more between cleanings as I have when on vacation.

 

[NanJ]

My husband and I tag team our aquarium maintenance - the icky skimmer job is his! Our skimmer runs dry so, although he empties it once a week, the cup is not full when he does. It usually has about an inch or so of liquid in the cup.

 

[madweazl]

I usually get a week out of mine.

75g system
Deltec SC1351
Medium bio-load
Medium skimmate
8-8.5" water depth

 

[Buck23]

I skim weekly basically wet. Stern in overflow basically green. Smells like wet grass. Some sludge but not much. Going to run it dryer.

 

[MTBake]

About a week for me. Skimming dry.

Deltec sc 1455
130 gallon system
Light bioload but I feed heavy.

 

[Reeferdude1888]

I run deltec APf 600 skimmer , I run it wet and empty it once a Week .

 

[Pod-caster]

I have found that using the drain plug and constantly diverting the crud to a larger container (and away from my sump) is the best way to manage the collection cup.

 

[blstravler]

I empty about once a week - very nasty stuff.

 

[Potatohead]

I skim quite dry and my skimmer is pretty big for my bioload, I can easily go 3-4 weeks. I do usually clean the neck out with a rubber spatula once or twice a week though.

 

[Malevolent]

LifeReef skimmer, run at medium to dry. It’s winter here in Alaska so that means Co2 buildup in the house. I run a Co2 scrubber on my skimmer to keep PH stable which also means I am paranoid of any overflow that could feed straight into my scrubber. To avoid that, I drain the skimmer everyday (about 6oz). Regardless of winter or summer, I clean the cup and neck once a week. I like to see where my bubbles are, at all times. I just started my carbon and npx booplastic reactors with UV sterilizer this week since my system is stable and well established now. Will see if this has any effect on the skimmer/water parameters.