Skimmer Maintenance

[Delphinus]

For my big tank, my ATO dumps into the skimmer air intake. I'm actually surprised at how well this works. Tank and skimmer have been online for about 3 years now, so far I've only taken the venturi apart on a yearly basis (actually I'm overdue for cleanout #3) and so far there hasn't been anything to clean out when I do open it up and look inside.

Whereas in my smaller system every couple months I have to take a bicycle spoke to poke out various hardened goos and I have to do a vinegar bath (or muriatic acid bath if it's really stubborn) on the actual venturi because I can't reach into the part the intake tube goes into and sometimes there are little floaty bits in there.