How does a surface skimmer work?

[sinful]

I'm not sure I get the concept of the surface skimmer. I have a 14 biocube and considering doing the cassette case mod, but not really sure what it will accomplish? If someone could explain this to me that would be great, thanks!

 

[jacksonpt]

Primarily it pulls surface water into the filtration system. This keeps the surface clean of floating debris.
Depending on how fast it skims (how fast water is pulled into the filtration chambers, it could aslo cause some surface agitation, which helps with gas exchange.

 

[sinful]

so how exactly do you position the cassette tape? basically your just blocking most of the intake or do you put the smaller end towards the intake?

 

[jacksonpt]

I'm not familiar with the biocubes. I assume it's a secondary intake you want to block, presumably NOT at the surface of the water. I have similar intakes on my Aquapod... I think all that really matters is that the intake gets blocked. You can probably use most any flat piece of plastic, as long as you can get it to stay put. I ended up using a reef-safe epoxy.