protein skimmer not working anymore?

[Jarrett]

i have a remora protein skimmer on my 45 gallon tank for about 5 months nnow which has been working great, i recently had to treat the tank with herbtana for ick so i shut it off for a week to do the treatment its not been on since saturday and it hasnt collected any water or dirt really theirs a very low ammount of water which is a dark brown so it has collected a little bit but thats all thats in their does it need time to break in again? or do i hafta adjust the flow again which i dont know why i would have to because it worked perfectly before shutting it off any help would be appreciated thanks guys!

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

The herbtana junk probably gunked up the injector. Have you cleaned the injector out? (You should do it every couple months, regardless.) Turn off the skimmer and take collection cup out and unscrew the plug that's at the top of the elbow on the intake tube coming from the pump. Use the brush that came with the skimmer and scrub up and down several times. Screw the plug back in. Be sure to put that plug back in before turning back on the pump, or you'll have quite a mess!

 

[Jarrett]

alright im gonna try that this saturday thank you man i dont think my skimmer came with a brush tho could i use something differant? anything that would fit in the hole i guess

 

[Jarrett]

ok so i cleaned the injector and while i was at it i just cleaned the whole skimmer and ran hot water through it, now im assuming it is going to have to break in again right? if so how long untill i should notice an improvement and if this doesnt work what else could be the problem to why its not working anymore

 

[Jarrett]

im noticing i am getting micro bubbles again right after i just fed is that a good or bad sign? or means nothing

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

You'll probably have a little break in period again, depending on how well you cleaned it out. Other than clean the injector, clean the pump, and clean the neck of the collection box, there's no other maintenance you can do on the thing.

 

[Jarrett]

Yea it hasn't collected anything yet hopefully It does

 

[FishFreak1961]

I am having the exact same problem. I have had it about a year and it worked fine and I noticed it wasn't skimming well anymore and I took it apart and cleaned it, took out the screw and brushed up and down that hole with a small
brush, this was 2 nites ago and it shows no sign of skimming at all. I have the
Maxijet 1200 pump with it and the preskimmer box. I am thinking of going another route. I have a 36 gal sw tank. I have a seaclone 100 on my small
20 g QT which has turned in to just another tank heaven forbid anyone gets sick --and it is skimming fine. I'm about to think that they work the best for me.

 

[FishFreak1961]

To add to that I also am aggravated by they need to monitor the water depth
constantly to keep it at a perfect level to perform properly. I have caught it
running too low and making noise and I may have just let it run that way too
long by mistake.