How often do you clean equiptment?

I took my power heads out last night and took them apart and really cleaned them out with some hot water and a tooth brush. I also took my skimmer out and cleaned it inside and out. Last two things I did were to clean my phos. reactor and reaplaced the old carbon for some fresh and I cleaned my T5. I wiped the top and sides and took some windex to the splash guard. I need to keep up on this more often.

Question: When it comes to my skimmer, I know I should clean my collection cup regularly. But, what about the whole skimmer? I took the whole thing apart pump and all. Will this have any effect on my tank?

How often do you clean house on your tank?

 

I pull out the bucket and vinegar every two months now. I once waited 6 months and everything just got so caked with coralline and other funk.

The only effect cleaning your skimmer will have is that it will have to break in again. I find my break in period after cleaning much shorter than when the skimmer was new

 

i probably remove and scrub off my PHs every two weeks or so (fortunately i have the problem of DEAD hair algae coming off my rocks and sticking to them, woot). every four months or so i will pull them all apart and get after them real good, then i run them in a 5g bucket with 1:2 vinegar and water for 30 minutes followed by 30 minutes in RO.

the skimmer, i clean the collection cup about once a week or whenever its full. i've got a remora so i clear out the tub leading to the cup as well. i try to clean the WHOLE thing once every six months. for some reason i get a lot of sedimentary crud in my final chamber.

i also have a canister filter. it change the media as frequently as i think of it. they can collect detritus and become nitrate factories. i switch out the foam pad and scrub the container once every six months along with the skimmer

 

I rotate what i clean(powerheads one week,clean filter inside and out another week,etc)there may be a lot of muck,but theres alot of good bacteria that you don't want to kill off all at once,especially since i only have a 20 gallon.

 

ditto, i get crazy micro bubbles for a few days whenever i screw with my skimmer but then it settles down

 

Will any vinegar work for cleaning?

 

PH's and pumps in vinegar everytwo weeks when doing waterchange.

 

well, balsamic and red wine vinegars taste better on salads than algae.... lol.

i use the cheapo walmart white vinegar. the sell a gallon for a few bucks