self cleaning skimmer

[jonboy]

Has anyone tried to build a self cleaning skimmer?
I was thinking of a sprayer to hose down the cup and maybe the skimmer tub...Lazy reefkeeping advanced classes....
I was thinking of adding a cleaner on the skimmer collection cup of my diy
beckett skimmer.
I built a proto type out of some parts from home depots reef dept the other night.
I am concerned with how to set up the drain ....if i set the skimmer up to drain after cleaning to the sink, bypassing the auto shut down....if the skimmer begins to flood, oops, there is the possiblity of draining the tank....
any ideas how to prevent this?
jonathan

 

[DonW]

Has anyone tried to build a self cleaning skimmer?
I was thinking of a sprayer to hose down the cup and maybe the skimmer tub...Lazy reefkeeping advanced classes....
I was thinking of adding a cleaner on the skimmer collection cup of my diy
beckett skimmer.
I built a proto type out of some parts from home depots reef dept the other night.
I am concerned with how to set up the drain ....if i set the skimmer up to drain after cleaning to the sink, bypassing the auto shut down....if the skimmer begins to flood, oops, there is the possiblity of draining the tank....
any ideas how to prevent this?
jonathan

I wouldnt wory about cleaning the cup itself. You can let it get really funky with no effect to skimming. You need to keep the inside of the neck clean. Sprayers dont work and just create valley's in the funk which makes skimming worse. A wiper combined with a sprayer would be perfect and if it only cleaned the neck it would'nt flood. Wipers are easy.

Don