Cleaning a Beckett skimmer

[rayn]

Just as the title says. I have pulled the top part out and cleaned it, but it still refuses to bubble. Do I need to clean down through the spiral tube as well?

This skimmer (Bashsea) used to be a beast, but now it just flows water.

HELP!

 

[redfishbluefish]

I'm not familiar with that skimmer (had two MRC beckett skimmers), but pull apart the beckett and make sure there are no obstructions. Opened beckett should look like this:

I'm more suspect of your pump for the skimmer. Becketted skimmers need tremendous water flow. Make sure the pump is clean and running properly. Open the pump and clean it up.

 

[rayn]

Yep, looks just like that. That was pulled and cleaned out, found a small snail shell in there.

Pump is a panworld 250ps, I would hope it is enough. It also provides flow back to the tank and that doesn't seem to be impeded. Wouldn't hurt to pull it offline and clean it to make sure though.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Again, not familiar with your skimmer, but when I ran an MRC I had a MAG 24 dedicated to the skimmer....that's 2400 gph flow. The Panworld you have is rated at 1900 gph and you're also using it as the return pump. My guess is that you need more flow.

 

[redfishbluefish]

I looked up a couple Bashsea recommend flow rates and this is what I found:

Bashsea 6-24: 800 to 1000 gph pump
Bashsea 6-30: 900 to 1200 gph pump
Bashsea 8-24: 1100 to 1300 gph pump
Bashsea 8-30: 1600 to 2000 gph pump