Swabbie Abuse!

AVAST Marine · Jan 24, 2011

Went to clean the Swabbie on my skimmer for the first time in at least 2 months today. It was such a mess I just had to take some pics. I waited so long because I've been trying to push the Swabbie to see what will break it. The cup was almost completely filled with solid skimmate, the consistency of muddy clay. It weighed about 20 lbs. There was a tiny channel that ran down to the drain in the bottom which goes to a superlocker. What's amazing is that despite this filthy cup, the neck was clean and the skimmer has been producing steadily the entire time. I empty the 5 gal superlocker about every 3 days.

Had a few crazy foam days last week which is what prompted the cleaning:

14" dia. cup with 8" neck. You can see the ring of mud that formed above where the blade wipes the top of the cup:

Hard to tell that there is a wiper blade under there:

I had to use a piece of wood to scoop out the entire cup. 20lbs of reef poop:

Reef lvr · Jan 24, 2011

Ewe..lol.. thats awesome!

Paul_N · Jan 24, 2011

WOW! talk about operating under extreme conditions. Looks like a bucket of tar.

Reef Pets · Jan 24, 2011

WOW! Outstanding performance! What model skimmer is it?

lurchw00t · Jan 24, 2011

How does all that taste? :xd:

sportzfish · Jan 24, 2011

All too familiar with that routine!!!

Sea MunnKey · Jan 24, 2011

This one's gotta Top it all ... extreme skimmage. Bamm :xd:!!!

Paul

nixer · Jan 24, 2011

thats awesome! sick, but awesome.
you just sold me on the swabbie.

anyone know which one i need for an xp3000 and an swc 160

cmcneil · Jan 24, 2011

What did you do bring that cup to the zoo and get a gorilla to poop in it lol.it looks like the swabbie can handle some serious abuse.you wouldn't happen to make one that fits a 6" OD cup with a 2.5" ID neck would you?

btkrausen · Jan 24, 2011

Thats amazing, I so want one.

So is the swabbie blade tilted a bit so when it turns, it brings all the solid stuff to the top to dumb over into the collection cup? I wonder what swabbie would I need for my Reef Octopus 3000 Super Space Saver Internal Skimmer?

soccerbag · Jan 24, 2011

Darn. I'm sold. That is crazy!

ctenophore · Jan 28, 2011

reefpets said:
WOW! Outstanding performance! What model skimmer is it?

It's a custom one we built. 22" diameter, 80" tall, hammerhead pinwheel driven.

nixer said:
thats awesome! sick, but awesome.
you just sold me on the swabbie.

anyone know which one i need for an xp3000 and an swc 160

I think the XP-3000 has a strange cup diameter. It may be 8" but definitely worth measuring. The SWC 160 should be 6" diameter.

cmcneil said:
What did you do bring that cup to the zoo and get a gorilla to poop in it lol.it looks like the swabbie can handle some serious abuse.you wouldn't happen to make one that fits a 6" OD cup with a 2.5" ID neck would you?

Yes we just started making a smaller blade that fits necks 1.75" to 3". Also 5" diameter cups. These can be ordered normally on the site.

btkrausen said:
Thats amazing, I so want one.

So is the swabbie blade tilted a bit so when it turns, it brings all the solid stuff to the top to dumb over into the collection cup? I wonder what swabbie would I need for my Reef Octopus 3000 Super Space Saver Internal Skimmer?

There really isn't much of anything solid that accumulates when run every 4-6 hours. Maybe a few bits of dirt but they are swept up by the foam head when the wiper turns. No need to tilt the blade. Re: SSS 3000, I didn't see any size info on this model. Can you measure the collection cup diameter?

FiReBReTHa · Jan 28, 2011

ctenophore said:
I had to use a piece of wood to scoop out the entire cup. 20lbs of reef poop:

btkrausen · Jan 28, 2011

ctenophore said:
There really isn't much of anything solid that accumulates when run every 4-6 hours. Maybe a few bits of dirt but they are swept up by the foam head when the wiper turns. No need to tilt the blade. Re: SSS 3000, I didn't see any size info on this model. Can you measure the collection cup diameter?

I measured it a week ago, and I believe it was around 4.75, but just a bit less I believe. I can double check again. Would be a great tool for my setup, as I clean my collection cup out probably twice a week.