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View Full Version : Skimmer Maintenance


Seriak
05-13-2014, 07:22 PM
I am finding that my air intake is slowly clogging with something (Salt, calcium, etc) and a part of my regular maintenance is to clean out the air intake tube right from the pump connector to the top intake. If I don't, the skimmer slowly takes less air in resulting in a wetter and wetter skimmate or constant adjustments to get it back to where I want it. Does anyone have an automated solution for this?

hillegom
05-13-2014, 09:56 PM
What about putting the air intake into a warmish (100 deg?) water pail once a week. Suck up about a litre of RO water . That should dissolve the buildup of the salt/calcium/alk or watever it is

Delphinus
05-13-2014, 10:09 PM
For my big tank, my ATO dumps into the skimmer air intake. I'm actually surprised at how well this works. Tank and skimmer have been online for about 3 years now, so far I've only taken the venturi apart on a yearly basis (actually I'm overdue for cleanout #3) and so far there hasn't been anything to clean out when I do open it up and look inside.

Whereas in my smaller system every couple months I have to take a bicycle spoke to poke out various hardened goos and I have to do a vinegar bath (or muriatic acid bath if it's really stubborn) on the actual venturi because I can't reach into the part the intake tube goes into and sometimes there are little floaty bits in there.

Seriak
05-14-2014, 01:51 AM
For my big tank, my ATO dumps into the skimmer air intake. I'm actually surprised at how well this works. Tank and skimmer have been online for about 3 years now, so far I've only taken the venturi apart on a yearly basis (actually I'm overdue for cleanout #3) and so far there hasn't been anything to clean out when I do open it up and look inside.

Whereas in my smaller system every couple months I have to take a bicycle spoke to poke out various hardened goos and I have to do a vinegar bath (or muriatic acid bath if it's really stubborn) on the actual venturi because I can't reach into the part the intake tube goes into and sometimes there are little floaty bits in there.

You skimmer doesn't overflow when the ATO is on?

Delphinus
05-14-2014, 03:13 AM
It's not on enough to overflow it. It only kicks on for a few seconds at a time. It does raise the foam a tiny bit.