Rickvn
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Hi....can somebody please advise me on how extensively to clean my skimmer? I have had it running for 7 months or so. All I clean is the collection cup which includes the riser tube up the middle where the foam creeps up and overflows into the cup. I also clean the pump & venturi. But I never clean the reaction chamber. I just read a few articles about how the whole thing should be cleaned including the reaction chamber, using tap water to remove fatty deposites and other rubbish. They also say vinegar solutions can be used. Then the same articles say that you should allow a new skimmer time to break in as they need to mature and that during the break-in they won't work fully. So my question is....won't a thorough cleaning undo all the maturing process and leave me with a sterile skimmer that could take weeks to get back up to full efficiency? Thanks. Rick.