Help With Protein Skimmer

[superman1]

Hello

i have received an aqua medic minifloater skimmer (not the best i know... but its temporary)

and i wanted to know how high should the collection cup be above the water..

thanks

 

[TigerIssey]

I have the Midi flotor, its a simple design and is very effective. You want the water level to sit about 2 - 3" above the inside tube and adjust slightly from there.

Ensure you get the correct sized air pump to drive the airstone and replace the airstone asap. The ones that come with them are not brilliant.

Mine has been skimming away giving me a very dark skimmate. Very effective, most of my corals have seen improved colouration, improved expansion and improved growth since starting to skim.

No need to replace them IMO, very good skimmers.

 

[superman1]

I have the Midi flotor, its a simple design and is very effective. You want the water level to sit about 2 - 3" above the inside tube and adjust slightly from there.

Ensure you get the correct sized air pump to drive the airstone and replace the airstone asap. The ones that come with them are not brilliant.

Mine has been skimming away giving me a very dark skimmate. Very effective, most of my corals have seen improved colouration, improved expansion and improved growth since starting to skim.

No need to replace them IMO, very good skimmers.

really.. i was tempted to buy a prizm skimmer deluxe 2nd for £30.

ive got a tetratec pump which is rated at 300 L ph ... which is what is recommended with it.

i also brought a spare wooden air stone. guess i will do as you say.

thanks alot.. much appreaciated.. the only thing i dont like is that i need to cut into my hood due to the height.

 

[TigerIssey]

Yes I can see what you mean about cutting into the hood.

I have mine in my sump, heres a photo

Skimmate gets darker after it has been running a few days. Still needs time to bed in.

 

[superman1]

oh your lucky youve got it in the sump then.

mine unfortunately is in the tank.. although im tempted to buy a prizm skimmer deluxe which hangs on the back..

so that i can remove the skimmer from inside the tank.

i was wondering if i put my external filter into a sump. and put a hold in the external would this act as a pump and a chamber for the live rock rubble.. this may sound stupid but just had a thought come into my head.. or would the external not work with a hole in the side..

 

[TigerIssey]

Sorry not running an external so not sure what you can do with them.

I also don't know alot about the prism skimmer.

 

[rabbut]

If you cut a hole into an external and don't make it water tight again, you'll end up with a wet floor. As Tina says, you want the skimmer to sit with the water about 3-4" above the riser tube, with the bubbles just touching the base of the neck to start, and adjust from there after it's had a week to bed in. Raise up a bit to dry the skimmate, down a bit to wetten it up a bit. When tuned correctly, these skimmers are as good as, if not better than, any HOB I've used thus far I'd personally have fitted a 400lph pump to it, and bled off air if it was giving too much, but the 300lph pump would just about be enough hopefully...

HTH
Rabbut

 

[TigerIssey]

I have also read today in my new bible that this type of protein skimmer does contribute to tank oxygen content as it creates a waterfall eefect.

The other advantage is that there is no power pump inside the sump or aquarium that will release heat into the water.

This is a big advantage during heatwaves like we saw recently as it is difficult enough to keep a tank cool in those conditions, which also deplete oxygen from the water and cause fish and living organisms to increase their demand for oxygen.

Hopr that makes sense.

 

[superman1]

I have also read today in my new bible that this type of protein skimmer does contribute to tank oxygen content as it creates a waterfall eefect.

The other advantage is that there is no power pump inside the sump or aquarium that will release heat into the water.

This is a big advantage during heatwaves like we saw recently as it is difficult enough to keep a tank cool in those conditions, which also deplete oxygen from the water and cause fish and living organisms to increase their demand for oxygen.

Hopr that makes sense.

hello

yeh that helps alot. i brought the prizm skimmer and after one day the large collection cup which is quite big was a quarter full.... after 1 day!!!!! seems to be doing a great job.. the waterfall seems to giving alot of surface movement to..

only downside is its a little noisey if you adjust it to full blast.. defo looks alot better then the aqua medic... purely because thats in the tank.

yeh according to the site it said it need a 300lph to be effective..

now i have an unused proteim skimmer and pump.. lol

 

[TigerIssey]

I was talking about the aquamedic not the prism.

 

[superman1]

I was talking about the aquamedic not the prism.

oh right.. lol

to be honest it sounded like u were on about the prizm as that actually has a waterfall for the output of the water and the mottor is outside of the tank so wouldnt contribute to the water temp.

 

[TigerIssey]

No its the action of the internal aquamedic protein skimmer, within the aquarium that can increase oxygen levels. Just a watefall into the tank is not the same. It does not have th same concentration of microbubbles.

 

[Musho3210]

Prisms are terrible, stay far away from them.