Advice needed!

[MizTanks]

I'm having to clean my skimmer cup out every 2-3 days as the gunk builds up in the neck so much that it actually stops the foam from reaching the top, hence a bigger buildup. Is there anything I can do to prevent this. I would like all that built up gunk to actually make it into the cup.

3 days after cleaning.


Here it is now that I've cleaned it. To show the cup level. The foam/water comes to the bottom of the neck.

[Hopkins]

One of the things that comes to mind is to skim wetter. Increase your foam level past the bottom of the neck. Hopefully this will allow more of the skim-mate to reach the cup instead of building up on the neck.

[ReefTech]

One of the things that comes to mind is to skim wetter. Increase your foam level past the bottom of the neck. Hopefully this will allow more of the skim-mate to reach the cup instead of building up on the neck.

i agree with hopkins. to stop that from happening you need to increase the foam past the neck. it may take a little trial and error to get it where your happy with the results but once you find the sweet spot it will elimanate the neck from becoming clogged. i run the reef octopus diablo 250 xs skimmer and mine is always dialed in to where the foam is around an inch above the neck. i always get a dark green tea colored skimmate in the collection cup but thats just how i like to run mine.

[AZDesertRat]

Many people wish they had your problem! Your skimmer is doing its job very well without and excess of water and drop in salinity from wet skimming. You must have a pretty high organics content and my guess is the skimmate will taper off as the organics are under control.
What are the particulars on your system such as size, bioload, feeding habits etc? Is there a way can reduce the organics present with things like more ferquent of larger water changes, reducing feeding or a lower bioload?

[binford4000]

One of the things that comes to mind is to skim wetter. Increase your foam level past the bottom of the neck. Hopefully this will allow more of the skim-mate to reach the cup instead of building up on the neck.

+1 you will have to dump the cup more often but it should reduce the build up in the neck. It is because the skimmer neck is such a small diameter that it is very easy for the dry skim to close it up. Looks like it is doing a good job tho. Increasing water change volume and frequency would help reduce it also.

[MizTanks]

26g tank. I do 5 1/2g WC bi-weekly sometimes earlier but never later. I feed Nutramar ova/ArticPods 2xdaily small amounts, keeping Scooter happy is a must. This is why I got the big skimmer
I'll try lowering the cup as suggested. I forgot to mention that I blow the rock off daily-lol. Thanks guys! Oh and yes, the skimmer works wonderfully! One of my better purchases for my tank