Protein Skimmer Maintenance

DeepBlueSea · 04/26/2007, 10:35 AM

With all these threads about "what's the most popular protein skimmers"......

I thought I'd ask the questions about maintenance.

Personally, my experience is limited with only a venturi style and salt creep in the venturi inlet and an ETSS downdraft which was literally maintenance free other then cleaning the inside of the tubes every 3rd week or so of sludge.

So with all these other models being spoken about, what type of maintenance do you have to keep these models running efficiently.

Thanks

bergzy · 04/26/2007, 11:04 AM

whoohoo!

i think frank at reef concepts has truly perfected ease of skimmer neck cleaning (short of a using a wet neck or expensive auto cleaning brushes).

he has done away with the dreaded collection cup and just uses the neck to collect the skimmate at the top. maintenance is the easiest of any skimmer i have ever had. just undo the union and take the neck off. all it requires is a quick rinse under the sink faucet along with a paper towel wiping the guck off.

no more unscrewing of a million nylon screws, no more getting into the nooks and crannies of the collection cup. no more cleaning the internal and external surface of the collection neck. there is only one surface to clean...the internal collection neck. it literally takes me one minute to take the neck off, rinse it down and put it back on. no more scrubbing with a toothbrush etc etc etc...

every other skimmer i have own HAS to deal with that dreaded and nasty skimmer neck and collection cup. when something is easy to maintain...you have no avoidance to do it.

i clean the collection neck about 2 times per week because this takes less time than when i had to clean my old collection cup just once.

i clean the beckett injector when i see decrease foam and know that a particle is locked in there. happens about once a month.

04/26/2007, 10:35 AM	#1
DeepBlueSea Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Gillette, NJ Posts: 217	Protein Skimmer Maintenance With all these threads about "what's the most popular protein skimmers"...... I thought I'd ask the questions about maintenance. Personally, my experience is limited with only a venturi style and salt creep in the venturi inlet and an ETSS downdraft which was literally maintenance free other then cleaning the inside of the tubes every 3rd week or so of sludge. So with all these other models being spoken about, what type of maintenance do you have to keep these models running efficiently. Thanks

04/26/2007, 11:04 AM	#2
bergzy Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: OC CA USA Posts: 5,299	whoohoo! i think frank at reef concepts has truly perfected ease of skimmer neck cleaning (short of a using a wet neck or expensive auto cleaning brushes). he has done away with the dreaded collection cup and just uses the neck to collect the skimmate at the top. maintenance is the easiest of any skimmer i have ever had. just undo the union and take the neck off. all it requires is a quick rinse under the sink faucet along with a paper towel wiping the guck off. no more unscrewing of a million nylon screws, no more getting into the nooks and crannies of the collection cup. no more cleaning the internal and external surface of the collection neck. there is only one surface to clean...the internal collection neck. it literally takes me one minute to take the neck off, rinse it down and put it back on. no more scrubbing with a toothbrush etc etc etc... every other skimmer i have own HAS to deal with that dreaded and nasty skimmer neck and collection cup. when something is easy to maintain...you have no avoidance to do it. i clean the collection neck about 2 times per week because this takes less time than when i had to clean my old collection cup just once. i clean the beckett injector when i see decrease foam and know that a particle is locked in there. happens about once a month. __________________ The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule it. H.L. Mencken Ben. Current Tank Info: 180g sps, 90g cube clam biotope.