Skimmer not skimming like it used to

reefshawn · Apr 23, 2020

I have a NYOS Quantum 120. The collection cup used to pull all sorts of gunk out... after recently detaching it and dumping it out... it seems like the cup fills with mostly clear water and not gunk anymore. I’ve remove and reattached, and played around with the fine tuning knobs but haven’t seen much difference.

Any words of wisdom?

lpsouth1978 · Apr 23, 2020

Did you just dump the cup? Or did you also clean it?How old is the skimmer and when was the last time you cleaned the pump and skimmer body out. I use an unused toothbrush to clean my collection cup every time I dump it. I also remove the skimmer body and pump to clean them well every six months or so. The skimmer and cup including the neck of the cup, will perform best when kept clean. as gunk builds up, production decreases.

scardall · Apr 23, 2020

adjust your level a little lower and see.

reefshawn · Apr 24, 2020

lpsouth1978 said:
Did you just dump the cup? Or did you also clean it?How old is the skimmer and when was the last time you cleaned the pump and skimmer body out. I use an unused toothbrush to clean my collection cup every time I dump it. I also remove the skimmer body and pump to clean them well every six months or so. The skimmer and cup including the neck of the cup, will perform best when kept clean. as gunk builds up, production decreases.

Tank and skimmer are about nine months old. I did not clean it, but there really isn’t much to clean. I’ll give the toothbrush trick a shot on the next water change and cleaning.

reefshawn · Apr 24, 2020

scardall said:
adjust your level a little lower and see.

will give it a try.

muzikalmatt · Apr 24, 2020

reefshawn said:
Tank and skimmer are about nine months old. I did not clean it, but there really isn’t much to clean. I’ll give the toothbrush trick a shot on the next water change and cleaning.

You might also need to remove and clean the pump as sometimes gunk can build up on the pump impellers that produce the bubbles.