Stuff Living in My Skimmer

[bla403]

Hi Guys,
I have a reef octopus skimmer and there is some brownish buildup that gathers in the second section under the collection cup on top of the inverted cone. Lately I have noticed some things living in it and wanted your opinions on this.
Copepods similar to the ones in my tank live in there and appear to breed in there since i have a bunch of tiny ones now. I also noticed about a 1.5" bristleworm in the stuff now to.
Any Ideas?
Also how often do you clean your skimmers?

 

[btldreef]

I clean my skimmer every week.

 

[acrylic51]

I don't clean it every week, but when I start to get buildup I'll clean it....Just shut or down and have at it.....It'll take a bit for the skimmer to get a little build up to come back up to par.

 

[btldreef]

I should've added "but I'm a maniac about cleanliness"
My tank stand is custom built and right now, because of heat issues in my tiny apartment, we have the entire bottom exposed and since I have a very heavily stocked tank with a huge bio load, the apt starts to smell if I don't clean the skimmer weekly.
If you see build up, the skimmer needs to be cleaned.

 

[acrylic51]

If you see build up, the skimmer needs to be cleaned.
Agree....

 

[nycbob]

the collection cup, i clean every 3-5 days. the skimmer itself, i clean mine every 3-4 months. as long as ur skimmer is working effectively and producing good skimmate, hold off on the cleaning since doing so will cause the skimmer to break in again.

 

[flower]

Originally Posted by nycbob
http:///forum/post/3280489
the collection cup, i clean every 3-5 days. the skimmer itself, i clean mine every 3-4 months. as long as ur skimmer is working effectively and producing good skimmate, hold off on the cleaning since doing so will cause the skimmer to break in again.

I have a tube running down to a sealed gallon collection jug, which I empty as needed, I also only clean my skimmer every 3-4 months.

 

[bla403]

That is about what I do. I drilled my skimmer cup so it empties into a larger container which I empty when it fills. I clean the skimmer every other month or so but when I do, I take out a good 2 tablespoons of greenish muck from in the riser tube.
Is it safe to assume that I am the only guy with copepods and bristle works living in the mid section of my skimmer or have you guys experienced this in between long skimmer cleanings.
The past 2-3 months I have not been getting that much skimmate from the skimmer but at the same time I reduced my bioload by 1 large foxface in my 55 as he outgrew the tank.

 

[flower]

Originally Posted by Bla403
http:///forum/post/3280495
That is about what I do. I drilled my skimmer cup so it empties into a larger container which I empty when it fills. I clean the skimmer every other month or so but when I do, I take out a good 2 tablespoons of greenish muck from in the riser tube.
Is it safe to assume that I am the only guy with copepods and bristle works living in the mid section of my skimmer or have you guys experienced this in between long skimmer cleanings.
The past 2-3 months I have not been getting that much skimmate from the skimmer but at the same time I reduced my bioload by 1 large foxface in my 55 as he outgrew the tank.

I get those little sponges in my canister filter tubes. Copepods are tiny, they should be pushed out by the skimmers output...you have weird sort of a mini refugium thing going on, so it can't be all bad. If the skimmer were full of poisons and bad for your tank I would worry, but not if it is teaming with life. JMO

 

[bla403]

Here is an image so you can take a look. The picture is of the middle portion of the skimmer. The top is the cup. You can see the inverted cone and the bubbles as well as the water level in that section.
The stuff that concerns me is the light brown stuff that collects around the outside on top of the inverted cone. Inside that brown stuff is where all the copepods & a bristle worm now live. The longer the skimmer goes between cleanings the more of that buildup I get.
You can also see all the white circles which I think were feather dusters attempting to grown.

 

[bla403]

any thoughts?

 

[robertmathern]

If it concerns you then clean it always better safe than sorry. Whats it going to hurt losing a few copepods and bristle worm. They will be back. Thanks for the post I thought I was the only one that had crepy crawler in my skimmer. I have alot of pineapple sponges in my asm g5. But then my skimmer is bigger than some peoples tanks lol

 

[bla403]

My sump is covered in the little pineapple sponges. I also have a small orange spnge in my main tank and I have 2 of them in the sump now that keep growing. I dont mind all the copepods in the sump its just weird that they live in that skimmer environment.

 

[ryancw01]

Well, all those critters you mentioned are good for the tank. I think that bristle worms are fine too even if no one else likes them. Anyway, if the buildup is slowing down your performance then it should be cleaned out but otherwise I wouldnt worry too much about it. Just clean it out once a week and you should be good.