Is This Skimmer Ok?

[Robert247]

I am geting a rio 125 and was wondering wether a Red sea prizm skimmer would be suitable and what u think of it generaly?
Is it noisy?
efficient?
hardy?

 

[AK77]

Hi Rob,

I have one. I had a major pain in the bum trying to get it working, as it was sucking in too much air initially. They do get a lot of bad press but, since I overcame the problem I had with mine, its worked fine. It now hangs on the side of my sump underneath the main tank of my Rio 180. There are better skimmers out there, there are worse ones too.

Its not too bad for noise. If you run it at full pelt you can hear it, but then again you don't really want to be running it full power because of microbubbles and you'll be skimming water off mainly.

They are reasonably efficient and do remove a fair bit of gunk from your water in a short space of time. There is very little that can go wrong with them, aside from somehow cracking them or if the pump failed, Other than that, they are pretty much ok.

 

[Robert247]

The thing is i am getting it second hand so i am not expecting instructions with it. how do you fit it do you just hang it over the side and does it mater about the water level in the tank because i dont have a sump

 

[norite]

You will probably get a lot of people here telling you to get something else, coz Red Sea aren't efficient etc. etc. blah blah blah...

anyway... I have a red sea skimmer , I got it second hand, and it works fine. Yes, it attaches to the back of the tank, there's a large black plastic screw what holds it against the tank. To get it going is very easy - just fill up the middle compartment with tank water, plug in some airline on the inflow pipe - there's a space for this you'll see. Then start up the skimmer, and then you'll need to prime it by sucking on the airline tube; this will draw water through the inflow pipe, from where the powerhead can push it through and out. make sure the flow valve is set to open (parallel to the inflow pipe)

Oh, the higher the water level, the better it will be coz there's less head pressure so the pump doesn't have to work as hard. hopefully this should all make sense when you get it and have a good look at it...

 

[Robert247]

Thanks a lot I will have a look at it when i get. I have to wait for the tank because i have had it orderd and i am just iching to get it running. I think i will just have to have a play with it. I can also ask the poeple at the shop a bit about how to set it up as well.