Clean/Dirty Skimmer

Just a question out of curiosity..

When I clean my skimmer (the collection cup cone mainly) it fills up within an hour or so..so i have to turn it down until the cup gets dirty again (a couple days) then it skims wonderfully!

Anyone else experience this?

 

Mines the other way round - once its dirty it stops collecting.

 

My CSS220 did that. Every time I cleaned it, it would flood the cup. But I had to tinker with it a lot to keep a steady production. My water level fluctuated in the skimmer compartment.

 

Mine goes flat also. Won't do a thing for days.

 

hmm..well i'm glad i'm the only one with fluctuating skimmate! Thanks!

 

mine css also takes a couple days before collecting goo

 

Usually when the collection and reaction tube gets too dirty, it will stop skimming. The gunk gets accumulated in the neck and doesn't push over the top. If you go a long time without cleaning the neck, it will completely close off with gunk.

 

Correct you are....but there is a fine line and it depends on the skimmer. I accidently cleaned my neck by turning the water pressure way up. Oops. Took a week or two to really start skimming again. Mine needs gunk on the side to work correctly. So just find the skimmers comfy spot and go with the floooowwwwww......;D

 

Mine draws gunk consistently while clean. When it gets dirty it works sporadically. The dirtier it gets the less it works.

 

It's good to hear that, PharmerJohn. Four days ago my skimmer started belching out watery foam like crazy. I got it all settled back down, but now it hasn't skimmed diddley squat in four days.

After day two, I took it out and sprayed out the body with a garden hose, triple-checked everything, and put it back in. Still nothing.

I was starting to panic til I read this thread, mostly because cyano is popping up, but I guess I'll just do a bunch of water changes and take a chill pill.