THE DIRTY SKIMMER "CUP" - lets all play along

How often do you clean your skimmer cup

  • every few days

    Votes: 56 21.2%
  • weekly

    Votes: 130 49.2%
  • bi-weekly

    Votes: 51 19.3%
  • monthly

    Votes: 12 4.5%
  • hardly ever

    Votes: 3 1.1%
  • automated drain/self cleaning

    Votes: 12 4.5%

  • Total voters
    264
Day 7 time to clean this nasty stuff í*½í¸Âí*½í¸‚
This amount of collection is consistent weekly. What do you guys think? Skimmer underrated or just right for my tank?


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I think a drain that empties into a reservoir like many skimmers have is great to avoid any gunk from overflowing. In addition, IMO, it's not the amount of skimate produced in a week that determines proper application, but whether the skimmer has periods where it produces no skimate. Right?
 
I think a drain that empties into a reservoir like many skimmers have is great to avoid any gunk from overflowing. In addition, IMO, it's not the amount of skimate produced in a week that determines proper application, but whether the skimmer has periods where it produces no skimate. Right?

It never idles for me:(
 
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This HOB model I picked up with a donated reef tank has not produced any skimate in a week on a 30 gal. All it produces is a lightly tinged wet skimate. No matter how much I adjust the air intake, it can't be set to produce a good dry skimate! And the bubbles going back into the tank! terrible, I don't like this design.
 
I misses a few days while out of town, and wasn't able to tweak the skimmer, so it didn't produce like it normally would.

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And im tapped out. Had to wait for the wifey to go to bed so i could clean inside, and i still got busted.lol
Here is my final day 7 - was starting to stink up the place :) maybe i should look at cleaning more.

Was a fun time playing - will have to look back at my pics and skimmers and see their peak production days so i can work in a system off that of when i should be cleaning
 

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I was out of town yesterday so I missed day six. Doesn't really matter as the skimmer has stopped producing skimmate. It needs a good cleaning and it will be as good as new!
Day seven:
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Here is day 7. Also why I don't normally go a week between empties, as it overflows and goes back into the tank.
 

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One week. There it is
 

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Day 7:
168hrs after clean
7 full days of Skimmate!

"120 hrs after biweekly 20% water change"

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Skimmer neck must be getting pretty nasty by now b/c I am only getting about 1/8"-1/4" of skimmate now.


Bubble King Mini 180
90 gal mixed Reef
30 gal Sump w/ Refugium
No GFO No Carbon
6 Clownfish, 4 Firefish Gobys, 3 Tangs, 1 Mandarin Dragonet, 1 Leopard Wrasse
1 cube of Rods Food mixed with Reef-Roids & Reef Chili & Amino's every other day.

Clean and ready for a new week!
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This fun and very informative.
 
Just cleaned mine out earlier. Neck was super thick so no changes for pics. Added a jug to skim a bit wetter.
 

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Day 7
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And the consistency at the bottom of the cup

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most of the thick sludge got sucked in the drain when I opened it so there was maybe 2-3 times this amount...
Was a fun game but no fun cleaning. we should create some animated gifs to show all those beasts filling up over 7 days.
 

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

  • Yes!

    Votes: 32 45.7%
  • Not yet, but I have one that I want to buy in mind!

    Votes: 9 12.9%
  • No.

    Votes: 26 37.1%
  • Other (please explain).

    Votes: 3 4.3%
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