Who has Modded their Seaclone?

[1fast300z]

Hello all,
I have a sea-clone 150 which is "rated" for 150 gallons but should not be put on anything larger than a 29 gallon aquarium.. anyway onto my question
I am trying to mod my 150 so it will actually do something because its the biggest waste of money, I found a site that explains how to do one of the mods but I want to make sure I cut the right tube. It says cut 2.5 to 3 inches from the inner tube to allow for more reaction time. Which inner tube are they talking about? I cut the large one that was right inside, assuming thats what they meant. There is one more tube besides that one inside the skimmer. Its a small tube about .5 inches in diameter farther down in the skimmer but it would be extremely hard to get to, they are not talking about that tube are they?
It is very frusterating to have my seaclone and cora-life 220 running side by side and watch as the cora-life's collection cup fills in a day and the seaclone does nothing.. and I mean nothing. Both of the skimmers are using the same air valve so I know thats not the problem, the problem is Aquarium Systems made a poorly designed skimmer which needs to be modded to properly run.
Thank You,
Peter

 

[tromano32]

Hi, I have not modded mine yet, but the tube you cut is the .5 diameter inner tube..... you would have to get inthere with a dremmel rotary tool to cut that .. i think it would give more reaction time, but may introduce more bubles to your tank

 

[frogarm]

I took mine apart by removing the o-ring seal that fits in the top section. This ring seals the collection cup. I took the large inner tube out and removed the small tube in the bottom section. I removed it by carefully prying it loose. Im sure there is a way to shorten it but i just removed it completely. Next i shortened the collection cup itself so the collection tube is 3 inches from bottom edge to top edge. Since obviously the cup capacity is now reduced, I cut the height of the cup down also. The lower profile also makes the tank look better

First thing i noticed when putting the unit back into operation is the flow rate is higher. The water flow also seems a bit more turbulent. Less "tornado" and more spinning froth. Bubbles seem to take a little longer to travel all the way up. I'm able to turn the air valve open a bit more than before the mods. Also I built my own bubble trap which helps immensely. We shall see if the unit works better in this form. It worked "ok" before but I think modifying it was worth it. I took a photo I will post soon.

 

[frogarm]

the bubble trap i built using part of the vacuum attachment from an old magnum canister filter and a spray paint can cap (sterilized). Zip-ties hold it together and hold it onto the outlet ramp of the skimmer. Also for quieter operation the j-tube is covered in pipe insulation.