To Remora Owners

[lavenderfish]

I have some questions for Aqua C Remora owners. How often do you take your skimmer off the tank for cleaning? I remember reading posts about cleaning with diluted muriatic acid but can't remember the dilution rate.
How long do you run it with this solution for best cleaning? Thanks for helping.

 

[trc]

I've had a Remora Pro for about 5 months, great skimmer. My collection cup has the drain attachment and I probably clean it weekly, unless it is so funky it needs it sooner.

I cleaned the whole unit once, probably after two months. Scrubbed it good and when I put it back in service, had to go through micro bubbles until it got seasoned again.

I took the whole unit off probably two weeks ago and just rinsed it, took out any big pieces. Skimming like crazy, good funky skimmate.

 

[Wieselsport]

I have an Aqua C and was wondering how full your cup is on a daily basis. I could go for over a week w/o dumping. Is this normal or is it not skimming properly. Not to hijack the thread

I have never cleaned mine w/ acid but every couple months take it off and clean it all out-- skimming never changes

 

[lavenderfish]

I could easily go a week with space to spare in the collection cup. It seems to stop collecting as much gunk with the riser tube all gunked up so I clean it about every 3 days.

 

[theJ]

aquaC Urchin (same as your remora) production after 1 day:

 

[Wieselsport]

i bet mine has been going for about a week and it doesnt have that much in the cup

 

[lavenderfish]

Hey theJ
It would take me about 4 days to get that amount but I have a 20 gallon to your 58+sump. If I was getting that out of a 20 daily I think I would have to be overfeeding in a devastating fashion.

 

[CarlaW]

I clean the collection cup on mine weekly. As far as cleaning the whole unit........................... Well, I am not really good at that.

 

[theJ]

Lavander and Weiselsport, oh yea, sorry I didn't even think to ask your tank size ! I think I just wanted to show off my skimmate Thats what my urchin pulls out daily, I feed about every 3 days, I have a super small bioload right now. BTW I clean my cup daily, and clean the whole skimmer once a month.

 

[scytale]

{80 gallon sumpless}
I clean the cup about twice a week; the whole unit, only once so far...
(had the Reomora for about 2 months now)

FWIW: I pull about as much skimmate as theJ pics show, per day.
(I've got the external drain-line, so it's hard to gauge the daily take--but I like to check the cup twice a day and drain it in every AM and PM**) It'll fill to the drain hole in the 9 hours that I'm away (at work or asleep)....


(**I used to have a a P.O.S. Red Sea skimmer--so I really enjoy hearing all that skimmate running down the drain tube into a big bucket :lol: )

 

[scytale]

BTW: has anyone ever put a heater into a Remora??

I've got a Catlina (titanium) heater that looks ugly on the glass--been thinking about tucking it into that huge Remora output chamber......

 

[lavenderfish]

Sounds like a great way to hide your heater. I hide my ATO float switch on the intake side.

 

[burning2nd]

my collection cup will do the same as THeJ's in a day as well


i clean every other or every 3rd day...

you could always lower it if you wanted.

 

[lavenderfish]

my collection cup will do the same as THeJ's in a day as well


i clean every other or every 3rd day...

you could always lower it if you wanted.

I am not really concerned about the skimmate production. It doesn't seem to have fallen off. It has been running since January and the only thing I have cleaned is the skimmer cup. It seems I should be cleaning the unit out periodically for peak performance not just waiting for it to become so gunked up it is inefficient. I want to know what maintenance schedule is working best for others with the same skimmer.

 

[theJ]

i clean mine out monthly, but truthfully after a few months of operation, even 4 with such a small bioload there isnt much to clean out. Lavender, I know you have a small tank but what kind of bioload are you pushing?

 

[lavenderfish]

Here's the bioload. The baby onyx clowns on the top right get fed 2-3 times daily with mostly bits of the Formula variety pack. I rotate some type of coral food everyday. I switch between Reefroids, DT's, Bio life Marine plankton, and once a week I feed chunk size foods directly to the hungry mouths of the cynarina, bubble coral, and fungia. My nitrates run around 10

I did go ahead and clean the skimmer with a very weak muriatic acid mix ( about 20 to 1). It is pulling a bit more gunk. It was used when I got it and the former owner had cleaned it up but you never know how thoroughly someone else will do the job.

 

[LarryB]

let me jump in here, so how do you actually clean a remora? I just take out that white screw on the top and use a little brush. Is there more than that?

 

[lavenderfish]

I don't see a white screw on my unit. Where is yours located? I know the Remoras have had a few minor changes over the years. Perhaps we do not have the exact same model. Do you ever clean the pump that feeds your Remora? I ran the unit pump and all on a bucket of water/muriatic acid out in the garage and thoroughly rinsed everything with the sink sprayer and ran the pump with a few inches of water in the sink to expel the cleaning mix and then repeated again to be sure it was all out of the pump.

 

[burning2nd]

the screw is (let me see if i can explain it)

pump connects to clear tube, clear tube connects to plastic barb fiting that goes, up.. makes 45 degree turn, goes about 1" makes another 45 degree.... then it goes thur the grayish plastic... goes about 1/4" makes a 90degree down (right b4 the spray nosel) that is where the screw should be....

if you lift your cup out, and look to the left strait down, (from the top) u should see a screw.......

 

[burning2nd]

u shouldnt really have 2 clean, it more then maybe twice a year....