Public service message. Do not wash your shimmer catch cup.

[Brenden]

My skimmer is plumbed for the waste to drain directly to the sewage so I never really have to mess with it. I have had to get a paper towel and wipe a strip on the inside edge of the catch cup so I can see to make sure the skimmer is functioning correctly a few times. The other day I decided to clean the catch cup out good (not the tower) . Big mistake! now I am waiting for the slime to build back up so I can "tweak it again" It is not producing foam good yet. just thought I would save someone else from the pain. Skimmer is a AquaC EV1000

 

[Dr.Nate]

I've been "cleaning" my collection cup with RO water every 2 weeks or so....I find after I clean it, it doesn't produce skimmate for a couple of days. So are you saying to just dump out the skimmate and not necessarily clean the collection cup? Kinda makes sense, I guess.

 

[Hara]

I wash all of mine out weekly...never been a problem for me before.

 

[Brenden]

The way my skimmer is made the catch cup contains about 4 inches of "tower" I did not think it would matter much but it did. From now on I will just clean the outside parameter of the cup and not the inner tower part. Like I said it is plumbed to dump the waste out into the sewage so I never really had a reason to mess with it before.

 

[steve-s]

I wouldn't leave it too long between each cleaning. Once enough stuff collects along the inside surface of the neck, bubbles will start popping long before they reach the collection cup. Your skimmers efficiencey will be greatly reduced.

You might not see it at this point but once you get all those fish in there and their waste to deal with, the skimmer gets pretty gross quite quickly.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Fluff]

I clean mine weekly as well as part of my regular maintenance. It takes a few hours to start bubbling again but that's not really a problem.

 

[zenn]

i clean mine out every 2-3 days. Granted, it's a smaller skimmer (AquaC Remora)...but after i clean it out, it starts bubbling over pretty much within the next hour or two. I've always got a good inch of water in the bottom of the cup and the neck tube is caked with solid waste every time.

 

[hcuellart]

Like steve-s said, if you fail to clean the skimmer's inside neck then the same waste will prevent from collecting anything at all. I would try maybe spacing a bit more the cleanings, but not stop them altogether.

 

[MT79]

I use my aquarium gloves when handling my skimmer cup to prevent oil from my skin getting on the riser/cup. It really improved the recovery time after cleanings, usually the same day I'll get some foam now where as before it took 2-3 days. HTH

 

[MarineFlake]

When you clean it, you clean off the 'coating' that builds up in the neck. It usually takes a good 24 + hours for the (saltwater) bubbles to recoat the neck and make it all the way to the top again. To see what I am talking about, next time you clean your skimmer (About once a quarter here) place it in your sink full of fresh water and crank it up. (Watch that you have the overflow pointed where you want it) You will notice that it does not bubble in the neck like salt water. Point is, cleaning is good an a *must* according to all mfg's maint manuals if you want to keep it performing a peak levels. It will eventually slime over and perform again less something is broke. Sure its a pain, but if skimmer setup/maint was plug and play, there would be about a million less questions in this forum.
**As a note, I have read in some manuals that cleaning the collection cup (necK) with warm (very warm) water helps skimming restart faster. This has been my experience and if Im in a hurry, I will use a good warm, almost hot tap water to warm the collection cup up with. You can also try dipping the whole thing in your sump, thereby coating the neck with saltwater again which will shave some time off re skimming as well. Personally Ive never been in such a hurry to start skimming again, I couldn't wait a couple days, but hey, thats just me!

GL!

 

[jaiden]

Perhaps my skimmer or my water or something is different... I'm no expert, as this is my first tank and skimmer (remora), but here's what I think anyway:

First, I have started cleaning my skimmer cup/tower every day. My cyano problem is under control now. I re-read my skimmer manual and IIRC, I think it says to do this anyway

Second, I get foam within an hour or so. I have the cup set very low.

Third, and most importantly: The whole point of a skimmer isn't to make foam but to get DOC's out of the tank. Every day I clean a splattering of formerly-D OC's from the inside of the tower, and the inside of the cup.

I don't really pay much attention to my skimmate. It's wet, but who cares? I used to leave the skimmer 1-2 weeks at a shot, just dumping as needed, and my cyano was out of control

your results of course may vary.