Cleaning your skimmer?

Does anyone completely clean their skimmer from time to time? Mine was not preforming like I thought it should last night, so I removed it and rinsed and whiped it out. It was nasty. This action I hope will not cause a problem. The skimmer has been work for 6 months now. I do emty the collection cup, but never a complete cleaning. The skimmer is a Aqua CV 120 with a Mag 5 pump.

 

i have the same one. i clean the neck and the detachable cup that's it.

 

i got the ev180 and at least once a year i pull it out and do a complete cleaning.still runs perfect right after

 

I clean the neck of the skimmer cup weekly but I don't wipe it down. Whatever water pressure doesn't remove, stays. If one cleans the neck down too well, the bacterial biofilms are removed and it can sometimes take a day or two to start skimming again.

 

this is what I do too, and then every other month i'll pull and clean the intake. you'll be surprised by the crud that builds up and restricts the waterflow!

 

As others have said, cleaning the neck and cup are necessary from time to time. The frequency depends more on your time and access to the equipment to conduct the maintenance....for my PM Bullet 3, after 3 months, there is abount 1/4 inch of "mud" in the cup which was not wet enough to drain out...

 

I have the Coralife Super Skimmer 65. I remove the collection cup and wash thoroughly. I know what Curt said and I have not heard that but will research it. I did read the opposite prompted by someone on this forum, that you should keep all the gunk out of the neck to assure better skimming. Anyway, I take the whole skimmer out and check the pump impeller, intake etc. and clean it good every 2-3 months. This has never created a problem and the skimmer goes right back to skimming when it is put into use again.

 

i cleaned my entire skimmer for the first time like two weeks ago, ive had this skimmer for 6 months, it wasnt running properly so i ddeided it needed a good cleaning and i took all the pumps apart and it was full of nasty chunks both in the intake and outtake pumps. i put it back together hoping it would finally pull some dark skimmate, still not, oh well, not much else i can do for that

and this was teh octopus bh 800s

 

Sounds like most of you do clean yours from time to time. I just wanted to make sure it would not upset my water chem. in any way. When I started it back up the DT was alittle cloudy but by morning it was back to normal.

 

yes i take mine out about every 6months or so and run it in fresh water for a hour or two.