Best way to clean skimmer?

Hey guys I just bought a Coralife Super Skimmer 125 for my 55 gal tank, I got it for $50 looks in great condition, only problem is he hadn't cleaned it so its very dirty, my question is whats the best way to go through and attempt to make it look brand new so my gf doesnt flip out when I hang it on my tank hahaha ;D

 

;D bump

 

Have you tried straight water with a brush and a rag?

Rick

 

soak it with vinegar... once done with soaking, rinse lots of hot water and a scrub with a brush or cleaner pad, just make sure the scrub brush hasn't been used with soap previously... I have a set of "reef safe" cleaning utensils that I buy specifically for reef stuff and only use it only on reef stuff so it doesn't cross contaminate with soap, etc.

When I clean mine, I fill it with about half vinegar, half water and run it for a day or so with this in it (outside of the aquarium of course).

After you rinse it, you can neutralize the vinegar and the smell by filling it with water and adding baking soda and running it for a few minutes...

 

I 2nd Gabba......:thumb_up:

 

awesome thank you gabba, that's along the lines of what I had thought just wanted to make sure, interesting about the baking soda I never would have thought of that

 

There shouldn't be a need to neutralize the vinegar. Just rinse it off with fresh water, always works for me. The only time I use baking soda to neutralize is when I've used muriatic acid to clean something. Vinegar...just rinse.

 

The last time I did mine, I could still smell vinegar after rinsing... while it's not going to hurt anything if there is a little vinegar left over, I still wanted to neutralize the chamber and remove the smell, so I used baking soda. But even if you get a tiny amount of vinegar in your system, it's not going to hurt anything.

 

i was told to put the skimmer in a bucket of water with vinegar and let it run over night completely under water. well you remove the collection cup. but get the picture, this way also cleans the air lines of any salt creep.

 

+2 on that