Prizm Deluxe Skimmer

[bededog]

Anyone have one of these? Seems to work pretty well. My question is how often, if it is working correctly (dry foam), should I have to empty the collection cup? I am thinking about every third or fourth day. Is this right?
Thanks.

 

[goobernif]

i have one, mine doesn't seem to be emptied but once a month. funny thing about that though is if you have a lot of LR and plants, then a ton of the organics are taken up by these....
also if you have your valve wide open you'll get more of a 'wet' foam as opposed to 'dry' if your collection cup is pretty transparent then you're running too fast. your collection cup should be filled with a deep brown slime, not murky water.

 

[cprdnick]

I have one. I clean mine out once a week. Not because I need to, but for another reason. Have you ever smelled a cup of skimmate? Try smelling it after it's been in that cup for a month. :sleepy: . I want to vomit. There are few smells worse than that in the aquarium industry.

 

[fez]

I just got mine this week. It's been running for about three days now. Does foam start accumulating right away? Looks like its having trouble making foam. Any suggestions?
My tank has about 20 lbs of LR and only a chromis and a pep shrimp.

 

[cprdnick]

The foam building up is stuff that is eventually going to make it to the cup. It'll just keep building up until it overflows into the cup. The less dissolving crap in your tank the less work your skimmer will do. When you start adding livestock and feeding more, then it will start filling up more often. I have never actually had a dry setting fill the cup all the way up, even in a months time.

 

[goobernif]

oh yeah, skimmers work better after a few days, they have to get 'broken in' like everything else... if in a few more days you're still having problems, like too much foam or none at all then try some adjustments. oh and here is a pic of a diy surface skimmer i made for 10 cents. found a plant seed grower thingy... can't think of the name, but plugged up the bottom holes with silicon, cut some slits around the top, and slid it on.. works great.

 

[cprdnick]

here's a thought, did you attatch the little suction tube to the right

[hr]
on the skimmer cup? One is for strictly flow, and the other is to provide suction to the cup to "help" the bubbles to the cup.