2 Tips to Keep Your Tank’s Best Friend Happy
Protein skimmers are your tanks’ best friend. They pull out fish waste (poo) and dissolve oxygen into your tank water so that your fish can breathe.
They are also prone to overflowing when they aren’t looked after regularly.
Here are 2 things that you can do to make sure your skimmer stays happy:
1. Clean the collection cup and neck regularly. Many people think that until the cup is full, they don’t need to clean it. Sorry, bad idea. Skimmers lose their skimming efficiently quickly when the neck to the collection cup gets dirty. By the time the cup is full, the neck will most certainly be dirty and your skimmer won’t be running at full capacity. That means excess waste will build in your tank.
Cleaning the cup every 4-5 days is enough to keep your skimmer happy so make a habit of cleaning it regularly.
2. Clean the venturi. The what..? The venturi is a plastic piece that snaps onto the front of the skimmer’s pump and sucks air from the outside world into your skimmer so it can skim.
Often the venturi gets clogged with dried salt and minerals from your tank water, restricting airflow which can eventually cause your skimmer to fill up with water and overflow. (It always happens to me in the middle of the night)
Clogged Venturi
An easy way to know if your venturi is getting dirty is if you are having to close down the outlet pipe more than normal to get the skimmer to skim.
Cleaning the venturi is easy. Remove it from the pump, remove the airline going to it and soak it in hot RO/DI water to dissolve the minerals and salt that are clogging it.
Once its clean, pop it back on your skimmer, hook up the airline, then turn on your skimmer. I then place the airline in glass of RO/DI to clean out any saltwater that entered the venturi when you were re-installing it. You’ll be amazed how much better your skimmer works after your done cleaning the venturi.
Skimmers are necessary part of successful reefkeeping and by following these 3 steps, you’ll be ensuring your reef is happy and headache free.
Browse the Store! Questions?
I have been wondering why my skimmer never seems to collect alot of sludge. Never thought about cleaning (instead of just rinsing) the cup and neck – ever since I did this, there has been alot more junk getting collected. You saved me from buying a new skimmer – thanks so much for writing this article!
You’re welcome! Skimmers can be finicky and with a little TLC, they become your tank’s best friend.
– Mark
How much flow is correct? I look for flow patterns within my tank by tying a small piece of string to the end of my squirt feeder. By lowering it into various areas, I can estimate direction and power. My question is how much is too much or too little? I have a small 20 gal with coral ans CUC only, but don’t want to introduce a typhoon into their environment.
Thank you