Reef oct hob protein skimmer

[Phishguy3.0]

Hey folks. So I’ve had my reef octopus hob protein skimmer for about a year. I do maintenance on it about 4 times a year. My question is : there’s a very porous sponge in the last chamber which is right before the outflow cup that is full of pineapple sponges and other material, should I be cleaning that out, is that bad for the tank or is that full of good bacteria?

 

[Homebrewer]

I have the same model, same thing has happened to me. You don’t really need the sponge in there, by that I mean, the skimmer will work just fine mechanically without it if you’d rather remove it.

That does look like quite a bit of build up. Is light spilling into the chamber causing excess growth? I’ve had the octo HOB skimmer(s) for over 10 years now and while I’ve had it collect gunk, I’ve not had buildup quite like that.

If it were me, I’d probably take it out altogether or at least take it out and clean it... but I have no idea how it might affect your system, good/bad/or at all, but my guess is that it’s having minimal effect either way.

FWIW, mine is far lower in the chamber because I have a mesh bag full of ROX carbon sitting in the chamber. I don’t run a sump, I’m a canister guy, and I took the carbon out of the canister and added it to the chamber. When in the canister, the carbon would inevitably trap detritus and my nitrates suffered because of it. Now that the carbon is in the return of the skimmer, it has “cleaner” water flowing through it before re-entering the display. Works like a charm. Nitrates and phosphate are rock-steady at 1ppm and 0.06 for a few years now.

 

[Phishguy3.0]

It got loose the other day and floated up. It’s in a dark part of the tank, in the back up against a wall so there isn’t much light getting to it. It’s completely full of sponges plus other material. I’m not sure if it’s good or bad material. I too run a canister. I’ve cleaned it out before I’m just not sure if it’s beneficial bacteria I’m tossing out

 

[Homebrewer]

Do you have a coarse sponge in the canister? I can’t remember the last time I cleaned the one on the skimmer, but I switch out the one in the canister every 6 months for a brand new one, and I rinse out the existing one once a month when I clean the canister.

I see no unfavorable change in parameters after any cleanings or changes, so I guess what I’m saying is I’d probably clean it out if mine looked like that. So long as you don’t change all of your media (including sponges that may or may not harbor good or bad bacteria, etc.), you shouldn’t expect any measurable effect.

If you do, either way, then you would have objective data (via testing) to tell you whether or not what is in there is good or bad. While many have said pineapple sponges are good, I also don’t think that the few that are growing on the sponge are making a measurable difference in your system. Just my opinion.

Sorry for the indirect answer, but I don’t want to give you a hard yes or no; rather I’ll just share my opinion as we have a similar filtration setup.

 

[Phishguy3.0]

Do you have a coarse sponge in the canister? I can’t remember the last time I cleaned the one on the skimmer, but I switch out the one in the canister every 6 months for a brand new one, and I rinse out the existing one once a month when I clean the canister.

I see no unfavorable change in parameters after any cleanings or changes, so I guess what I’m saying is I’d probably clean it out if mine looked like that. So long as you don’t change all of your media (including sponges that may or may not harbor good or bad bacteria, etc.), you shouldn’t expect any measurable effect.

If you do, either way, then you would have objective data (via testing) to tell you whether or not what is in there is good or bad. While many have said pineapple sponges are good, I also don’t think that the few that are growing on the sponge are making a measurable difference in your system. Just my opinion.

Sorry for the indirect answer, but I don’t want to give you a hard yes or no; rather I’ll just share my opinion as we have a similar filtration
I appreciate the answer. It’s not a definite yes or no I usually rinse that out but wasn’t sure if it was good or bad bacteria when it’s probably both and I should be focused on looking at the data to understand how it’s affecting my parameters.