My Seahorse tank Skimmer...LOL

[flower]

LOL...The Aquaticlife 115 skimmer just arrived.

It’s the tiniest little thing I have ever seen. Well first the CD it came with will not play on my computer not even when I get into the files and manually try to get it to run. So I was on my own. The problem is that it is indeed made to go into the tank itself. I don’t like the suction cups, a fear since my days of power heads creating sand storms because the suction didn’t hold.
The hanging gizmos are too short to go in my sump because that water is only ½ full. The little hanging gizmos would work great if they were just long enough. I tried to hang it in my main tank...micro bubbles everywhere...Oh yes the days of cheap skimmers and old nightmares are back.
Well it certainly can’t go in my main tank...... So I'm trusting the suction cups to hold, I put it in my sump, my bubble traps work great by the way. Well I just plugged it in, no skim (too new) but I do have some foam in the neck of the tiny little cup. If I can find a way to make a little stand to keep it at the right height and not have to rely on the suction cups I would feel better about it. Maybe I can rig such a thing out of some egg crate.

 

[meowzer]

Flower.....so far the suction cups are working great for me......
give it time....I had some little bubbles at firsttoo, BUT remember skimmers need to break in

 

[spanko]

Would it work to use the hanger and hang it on one of the baffles? Using the suction cups too.

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by meowzer http:///forum/thread/385179/my-seahorse-tank-skimmer-lol#post_3377090
Flower.....so far the suction cups are working great for me......
give it time....I had some little bubbles at firsttoo, BUT remember skimmers need to break in

I put it in the sump. Suction cups work real good for a short time, then they get too brittle to be useful.. So I have time to rig something up before that dreaded moment. I have a little foam in the neck so I think I have the knob adjusted right for now. I have extra egg crate so I can play around and make a little stand...or something the hanging gizmos can be attached to so I can hang it in the sump.
I have a hood over my sump tank to keep the dog hair out. It can still sit on there even with the little skimmer...I thought I would have to make a curtain or something and loose the hood once I got the skimmer. Well fingers crossed that this little skimmer can do the job until I can get crazy on new equipment again.

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by spanko http:///forum/thread/385179/my-seahorse-tank-skimmer-lol#post_3377092
Would it work to use the hanger and hang it on one of the baffles? Using the suction cups too.

No it sits too low then. The hanging gizmos have a two inch clearance so the housing can sit far enough out of the water. On the baffles it's totally submerged. It is a good spot to add some egg crate and make a spot tall enough. Do you think the two baffles would hold the egg crate in place and yet not hinder the water flow?

 

[spanko]

Have to see a picture of what you are talking about but cannot imagine eggcrate hindering flow too much.

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by spanko http:///forum/thread/385179/my-seahorse-tank-skimmer-lol#post_3377102
Have to see a picture of what you are talking about but cannot imagine eggcrate hindering flow too much.
Well break time is over, I have to finish cleaning out the fridge. Passover is around the corner and I can't work on the house cleaning during Shabbat. So I will log on later with pictures and see what we can come up with, for now the little skimmer is hooked up and running. I know folks use egg crate to hold filter material in place in the sump.
The refugium has more water...in fact it is the perfect height...what do you think of putting the skimmer in the refugium side???? Would it hurt my little critters in there?
BE BACK SOON!

 

[novahobbies]

I don't see any immediate problem with putting it in the fuge, other than the inevitable death of a few more copepods than usual. Seriously, nothing to be concerned with in a well stocked fuge.
I really enjoyed my aquaticlife skimmer. It had a few problems at first, but sorted itself out in the end. And yes -- that CD they send you is pretty much useless. Mine never played either. My only major complaint with the skimmer was bubbles...mine never went away completely. I also had issues of the foam being constantly extremely wet until I finally emailed customer service and talked to them. Seems a good way of fixing that problem is actually raising the skimmer even farther out of the water than the literature recommends. The bottom of my skimmer cup, for instance, was about 2 inches above the water line if I remember correctly.
If you ever run into some $ for a new skimmer down the road, go get the Tunze nano. LOVE this skimmer. Bubbles cleared up in less than three days, and the skimmer pulls between 50 - 100ccs of dark gunk a day using a good dry foam. As good as the aquaticlife skimmer was, the Tunze is on a whole different level of performance.

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by novahobbies http:///forum/thread/385179/my-seahorse-tank-skimmer-lol#post_3377109
I don't see any immediate problem with putting it in the fuge, other than the inevitable death of a few more copepods than usual. Seriously, nothing to be concerned with in a well stocked fuge.
I really enjoyed my aquaticlife skimmer. It had a few problems at first, but sorted itself out in the end. And yes -- that CD they send you is pretty much useless. Mine never played either. My only major complaint with the skimmer was bubbles...mine never went away completely. I also had issues of the foam being constantly extremely wet until I finally emailed customer service and talked to them. Seems a good way of fixing that problem is actually raising the skimmer even farther out of the water than the literature recommends. The bottom of my skimmer cup, for instance, was about 2 inches above the water line if I remember correctly.
If you ever run into some $ for a new skimmer down the road, go get the Tunze nano. LOVE this skimmer. Bubbles cleared up in less than three days, and the skimmer pulls between 50 - 100ccs of dark gunk a day using a good dry foam. As good as the aquaticlife skimmer was, the Tunze is on a whole different level of performance.

Thanks for the tip on lifting it higher. I had a moment, and had to check the site to see what folks had to say. I hate the idea of killing critters I seeded the tank with and paid money for...what about the egg crate idea? If I put some egg crate in between the baffles on the bubble trap..do you think it would slow down the flow of water from one section to the other? It is just enough space to put egg crate down in there.

 

[1guydude]

CD or DVD??? im just wondering? Dont you have some other suction cups lying around flower, i know ive changed suction cups on some of my equipment and this has helped very much! As far as cheap skimmer, it cant be that bad. I can totally relate as i have purchased a $40 skimmer before and was expecting it to be great, turned out to be an expensive bubble machine! So is it in ur fuge flower? I would just set a 4x4 under it and put it where u were originaly gonna but maybe im not getting the picture lol?!?!?!

 

[flower]

Well the suction cups had already come loose when I looked at it after getting done with Sabbath preparations. ....My problem is solved...LOL..The blessings of Shawn’s sump/fuge project is never ending.

LOL...The bubble trap piece that was knocked loose from the original sump he built, is a perfect anchor to hang the little skimmer on...it's just the right height and I didn't have to do a thing but hang it on it. It even balances without falling over.

 

[meowzer]

NOVA.....I'm gonna try your raise it solution and see if it works for me.,....I have NO bubbles, BUT it does skim wet
FLOWER....LOL...I could barely pry the suction cups off the glass....

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by meowzer http:///forum/thread/385179/my-seahorse-tank-skimmer-lol#post_3377157
NOVA.....I'm gonna try your raise it solution and see if it works for me.,....I have NO bubbles, BUT it does skim wet
FLOWER....LOL...I could barely pry the suction cups off the glass....

Same here, when I first put it in the sump...it couldn't hang in there, so I pryed it off and put it in my main tank..microbubbles so it couldn't go there..I pryed it off again. I put it in the sump with only the suction cups and...came loose.

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by novahobbies http:///forum/thread/385179/my-seahorse-tank-skimmer-lol#post_3377109
If you ever run into some $ for a new skimmer down the road, go get the Tunze nano. LOVE this skimmer. Bubbles cleared up in less than three days, and the skimmer pulls between 50 - 100ccs of dark gunk a day using a good dry foam. As good as the aquaticlife skimmer was, the Tunze is on a whole different level of performance.

I just Googled that little skimmer...as soon as I have any extra cash that is what I will get.

Up to 55g is perfect for my tank size with the added water volume of the sump/refugium ...
Well time to light my candles...Shabbat Shalom my cyber friends!

 

[novahobbies]

Shabbat Shalom my dear. Although I must say you're obviously more observant than I am...our family is too "mixed" to do the purging of the chametz every year for passover.
That, and I have no problems eating shellfish.

I know. Bad Jew.
It's worth the saving of a few coins if you can do it, although I know that right now those coins are pretty tight. Don't worry, the Aquaticlife skimmer is more than adequate to the task when tuned correctly. When I started mine, it was also a little noisy at first, but that went away in less than a week. I don't expect you to have many problems with the noise level since it's in your sump. I like that little fix you did...looks like it's gonna stay!

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by novahobbies http:///forum/thread/385179/my-seahorse-tank-skimmer-lol#post_3377226
Shabbat Shalom my dear. Although I must say you're obviously more observant than I am...our family is too "mixed" to do the purging of the chametz every year for passover.
That, and I have no problems eating shellfish.

I know. Bad Jew.
It's worth the saving of a few coins if you can do it, although I know that right now those coins are pretty tight. Don't worry, the Aquaticlife skimmer is more than adequate to the task when tuned correctly. When I started mine, it was also a little noisy at first, but that went away in less than a week. I don't expect you to have many problems with the noise level since it's in your sump. I like that little fix you did...looks like it's gonna stay!

The aquaticlife is for a max 30g tank, I have a 30g tank but I also have a 30g size tank for a sump and it is a little over half filled, So my water volume is more like 45g to 50g. I have a canister running and a refugium and Spanko says it should be good enough. So we shall see, I really don't have a choice at this point so fingers crossed.
We keep Kosher all year so aside from leaven we don’t have too much to be concerned about.

It’s always so hard to allow any bread in the house after Passover, LOL knowing how hard I had to clean everything to get rid of it...it takes a few days to get over it. I’m always glad to eat the bread after a week of matzo crackers don’t get me wrong, it’s the bread in the house I have an issue with...LOL..I watch all the family eat and think about all the tiny little crumbs I can’t see but know is there, and how I will have to get rid of all that next year.

I did stop everyone from eating in the car so I won’t have to clean it of chametz (leaven).

I'm so anal, ask my kids.

 

[novahobbies]

I think it will do the trick for you, and that corner area looks like it will keep the bubbles out of your display tank. Good luck!!