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lincsco 
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 Topic: protein skimmer
Posted: February 13 2011 at 11:44am |
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I'm curious how often people clean their protein skimmers and what they do to clean them (other than dumping the collection cup)? I have a ASM G3 skimmer that I've ran for a year and I noticed I had a lot of buildup inside the body of it.
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Lincoln
South Jordan
90-gallon reef
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tileman
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Posted: February 13 2011 at 12:00pm |
You should do a complete cleaning every six months to keep it working in peak conditions
Take it out and clean pump, clean out venturi, soak in a vinegar bath to clean body.
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335G Reef
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http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2015/2/aquarium
ReefKeepers TOTM Feb. 2012
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kody72
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Posted: February 13 2011 at 1:20pm |
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+1
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bfessler
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Posted: February 13 2011 at 1:36pm |
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Besides the 6 month treatment you should just need to empty the cup and clean the neck with clean water at least once a week. If you're getting a lot of gunk a couple time a week may be necessary. It will work more efficiently if you keep the neck clean.
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Burt
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ejcatmul
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Posted: February 13 2011 at 5:15pm |
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When you say clean water, are you just rinsing out the neck or wiping it out? I have the SWC 120 and have cleaned it once entirely. Does that mean the break in period starts over after you clean it?
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"Noob"
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bfessler
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Posted: February 13 2011 at 7:52pm |
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I wipe it out with a rag and clean water. This doesn't affect the break in of the unit. The break in refers to removal of oils that are on the acrylic during assembly. cleaning the neck of the skimmer actually improves it's efficiency. Don't use any type of cleaner or a rag that may have soap residue on it and you don't have to go down deep into the skimmer. Just clean any crud that is sticking to the wall of the skimmers neck. Most of it on my skimmer is inside the neck of the skimmer cup portion that is removed when you dump the cup.
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Burt
An equal opportunity reefer,
I support all hobbyists and organizations involved in Marine Aquarium Keeping.
[email protected]
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lincsco
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Posted: February 15 2011 at 10:28pm |
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So after cleaning my skimmer and giving it a vinegar bath for a couple of hours, it is skimming much more and the skimmate smells a lot worse (which I assume is a good thing). I think I'll scheduling a cleaning every six months or so. Cleaning it seems to make a big difference. Thanks for the suggestions and information.
Edited by lincsco - February 15 2011 at 10:28pm
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Lincoln
South Jordan
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badger126
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Posted: February 16 2011 at 12:58am |
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Just to continue this thread, I am currently using the SWC 160 cone, which fully disassembles to allow access to the inside of the skimmer chamber (YAY). Before this I was using a Euro Reef RS5-3 and even to this day I can't get all the crud from inside the chamber, vinegar baths and all. A bunch of it is coralline, but there's other stuff too. Any advice to get this stuff out so I can clean it properly for storage/selling?
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