How to clean out a protein skimmer

I bought a protein skimmer from another guy and it needs a serious cleaning. It looks like the guy that owned it used copper in his tank. So how do I go about cleaning it so I can use it. Thanks

 

First replace the air tubing, dont bother cleaning that, the stuffs cheap, then id take it apart piece by piece, and soak it in hot hot water for an hr or so and then go in with a brush for pots and just scrub it, if you cant get it apart, fill it with hot water and just keep rinsing it until its good to go! good luck!!

 

agreed,BUT I would also soak it in vinegar over night then rinse out thoroughly..you should be good to go once it re-breaks in...

 

you put some vinegar inside the skimmer and all the parts that need to be cleaned, wait a few hours.. i normally let my equipment soak for 24 hours. the stuff will either "disappear" or come off with the touch of your finger.

 

Just out of curiosity what makes you think they used copper? It just looks like a well used skimmer to me. Give it an overnight soaking in vinegar and a good scrubbing in clean water and it will be good to go

 

You can't tell about copper by the looks of a skimmer, but I definitely would want to check that before I used it in my tank.

 

Invest in large quantities of vinegar.

About a $3 investment will save HOURS of work.

 

I had the guy at the LFS here check it out, and he put his finger in the outlet holes. There was like a black and brown type of powder that was on his finger. So he believes the guy used copper. Thanks for the info guys

 

i agree with the vinegar . i sat my skimmer in a container with vinegar and water and let it run. than pulled it apart and cleaned it. very easy cleaning job.

 

When I cleaned mine I filled the laundry tub to the skimmer operating level added a liter of Vinegar and let it run for the night..

Next day rinsed the hell out of it and she was good to go..

Having it run in the Vinegar solution makes sure that it gets into all the lil spots that we can't reach easily.