Skimmer Questions

[hypertech]

My new skimmer seems to be producing nastier stuff and has started running quieter which is good. My understanding is that this is because of a film that had to buildup inside the unit - "break in".

When I clean the collection cup - should I really clean it out - ie clean off the tube surfaces, etc or will this decrease performance? Should I just dump it out?

Also, is the water in the skimmer cup nasty salt water or has the salt somehow been removed from it? If it is salt, I should probably replace the water taken out with salt water or add a pinch of salt to my topoff water correct?

[MNGold15]

I would scrub the cup off. I clean the cup til it is spotless with my skimmers. They seem to work much better after the cleaning. I would not worry about it taking out saltwater, just watch your salinity, unless you are skimming extremely wet, which I doubt.

[Goldpony75]

I have always just rinsed the inside of the chamber good and cleaned the cup really well and seems to work well for me. the skimmate is just nasty salt water, it is not skimming the salt out of your water but it is saltwater, so if your taking alot of skimmate out then topping of with mixed water is recommended on a nano system like yours. its best to check your salinity at least once a week until you get used to what to add when. hope this helps.

[hypertech]

I've got it set to skim as dry as I can but it is still pretty wet.

I think I'm going to mix up a small container of salt water and replace the amount taken out via skim mate with saltwater then.

Otherwise my ATO will replace it with fresh and slowly lower the salinity level.

[David Grigor]

You want to remove all the skum from the skimmer cup, inside and out each time you empty. I use an scrubby pad made for acrylic so I don't scratch it.

Most instances unless you have a very small volumne of water in your show tank, the amount of salt lost through skiming is negligable. If your real anal about things you can add more but usually just adjusting during water changes is fine.

[hypertech]

Its a 29 gallon and the skimmer cup has to be emptied about every other day.

Over 2 weeks, its about a quarter gallon of salt that would be replaced with fresh.

[David Grigor]

Bj's tank is a 29g. I don't mess with trying to replace it. I loose about 100ml every 2 days that equals a little less than 1 liter in between water changes. 100ml for our little tank is pretty wet skimmate. If yours is more than double that, it must be some really wet skimmate. All tanks are different though and you may be in the honeymoon period where the skimmer may slow down after it has caught up with the excess nutrients from having a poor skimmer or no skimmer on it prior.

[hypertech]

No skimmer prior.

This is a sapphire skimmer that fits in the back chamber and apparently is well known for running a little wet.