Skimmer Maintenance

[Seriak]

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]

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]

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]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

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]

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.