Finally Ordered a Skimmer

[Cougra]

Well after 5 years of keeping a reef tank without a protein skimmer I finally bit the bullet and ordered myself an Aqua C Remora.

The first one I got was a piece of junk (US Aquarium) that was very difficult to adjust, very unreliable and didn't do a very good job of keeping water in the tank. It always overflowed the collection cup within hours of being set up, when I finally thought it was working well and didn't overflow for the entire weekend I would ALWAYS come home to a flood from the darn thing acting up. It was the most expensive piece of junk I have ever baught and I wasn't in any possition to go out and replace it. After a while I got used to keeping a marine tank without a skimmer and knew how to tell when I fed to much or needed any sort of water changes. Everything was doing well.

However since I had a major tank crash (not due to water quality factors!) and only one fish left in the tank, I decided that I was going to improve the mechanical part of the system before getting more livestock.

Now, the question I have about the skimmer is that there is a prefilter box that can be added to the unit. Is it worth getting?

 

[aquaman3680]

Yes you can add a prefilter box to the remora, I dont think that you would really need it if you have some type of mechanical filtration like a bio wheel or something like that. The only reason you would get one is to get the oils off the top of the tank for better oxygen exchange.

JMO

Matt

 

[PhilOlsen]

I would add it to any HOB shimmer, it will ensure you are skimming from the top 2-3" which is where the majority of your organic wastes end up after breaking down, it also dufiuses the bubble coming out of the skimmer, JMO though.

 

[cheeks69]

I would add it to any HOB shimmer, it will ensure you are skimming from the top 2-3" which is where the majority of your organic wastes end up after breaking down, it also dufiuses the bubble coming out of the skimmer, JMO though.

Ditto ! In my other tank which was sumpless this film became very problematic and led me to get a surface skimmer for my HOT skimmer.

 

[sasquatch]

Wow thats great news Michelle! does that mean your going to be around more???? Steve

 

[kyle1284]

most deff here are some pics of it working... i just put mine up yesterday and the top has no film now as it did before hand.

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h299/kyle1284/IMG_4591.jpg

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h299/kyle1284/IMG_4592.jpg

Totaly Worth every penny in looks and performance!

 

[BoomerD]

It's certainly unattractive in most tanks, (ugly black box) but I used them with all my Remora skimmers (I had 2 Pro's, 1 regular) Kind of a pita when changing water without a sump, (as the water level drops, it no longer can go over the overflow into the pre-filter box) but that's easily enough dealt with.
IMO, they're worth the hassle and expense.

barely visible on the left.

 

[Cougra]

Wow thats great news Michelle! does that mean your going to be around more???? Steve

I'm slowly getting back into the saltwater part of the hobby again. It's been hard getting motivated again but I never intended to leave it all together. I just needed some time to refocus and find out what's important to me and what interests me the most in the hobby.

Kind of a pita when changing water without a sump, (as the water level drops, it no longer can go over the overflow into the pre-filter box) but that's easily enough dealt with.
IMO, they're worth the hassle and expense.

Boomer: That's the part that I'm most concerned about. I'm going to have a very basic system with as few pipes leading outside my tank as possible. I know that I go away for 1 to 2 week periods of time fairly often and am concerned that there may be a lot of evaporation in the tank while I'm away causing the skimmer pump to run dry. I'm not going to have a topoff unit on this tank because I don't have anywhere to put one. What would you recommend I do with the surface skimmer box while I'm away? Is it easily removed from the tank for when I'm away?

I also have a powerhead at the top of the water that constantly breaks the surface so that there isn't any surface scum accumulation in the tank.

What size tanks do you have these skimmers on? My tank is only a 30 Gallon one so I don't want to take up too much room if I can help it.

 

[kyle1284]

I'm slowly getting back into the saltwater part of the hobby again. It's been hard getting motivated again but I never intended to leave it all together. I just needed some time to refocus and find out what's important to me and what interests me the most in the hobby.



Boomer: That's the part that I'm most concerned about. I'm going to have a very basic system with as few pipes leading outside my tank as possible. I know that I go away for 1 to 2 week periods of time fairly often and am concerned that there may be a lot of evaporation in the tank while I'm away causing the skimmer pump to run dry. I'm not going to have a topoff unit on this tank because I don't have anywhere to put one. What would you recommend I do with the surface skimmer box while I'm away? Is it easily removed from the tank for when I'm away?

I also have a powerhead at the top of the water that constantly breaks the surface so that there isn't any surface scum accumulation in the tank.

What size tanks do you have these skimmers on? My tank is only a 30 Gallon one so I don't want to take up too much room if I can help it.

mine is a 75 Gallon and the pre filter is easily removed all u have to do is unscrew the screws that are against the pump and pull the skimmer up a little bit and pull the prefilter out!:apimp:

 

[cheeks69]

I also have a powerhead at the top of the water that constantly breaks the surface so that there isn't any surface scum accumulation in the tank.

I don't know what your bioload is like Michelle but I had a couple of ph's pointing to the surface in my old tank and it made absolutely no difference. As time goes on the proteins buildup and are very problematic as I'm sure your well aware. I would get it and remove it if necessary JMHO.

 

[Cougra]

Cheeks, I've always had a very low bioload in my tank, however before I had a sump with a home made overflow that skimmed the surface so I didn't have much problem with the buildup.

I think I'll get the surface skimmer at some point (the skimmer is already on order and can't add to that order) and remove it whenever I go on holidays. I currently only have only one clownfish and one nassarius snail in the tank and I'll still keep up with regular water changes.

 

[billyr98]

Nice to see the motivation back Michelle... Good Luck with the new skimmer

 

[Stevenmi]

The prefilter box will also allow you to run a little bag of carbon if you so choose...

Steve

 

[Cougra]

Well, my skimmer finally came in last night. I didn't get the overflow box yet. I'll try this one out for a while until I can save up enough for the overflow/surface skimmer box.

Does anyone have any advice on how to start the unit up?
Would it be better to get it to run with some newly made saltwater for a couple days to help with the break in period?

I'm very leary of putting it on the tank and leaving it as my old skimmer would constantly overflow as soon as you turned your back on it. I just got my tank stablized at the moment and do NOT want to have to worry about a new skimmer overflowing when I'm at work.

 

[Woodstock]

You could hook up the unit and take the collection cup off if you're worried about overflowing. Put the cup on when you'll be around to monitor it.

Or... you could install the overflow elbow and let it run into a gallon jug. I'll find a link for you...

 

[Woodstock]

Seems it will only work if your unit is made for the drain fitting.

If you do not have that, you could raise the cup and install a 1/2" elbow drain a bit higher.

 

[Cougra]

It doesn't have the overflow elbow, but I think I'll use the idea to remove the cup when I'm not around for the first little while. I don't want to drill anything until I get it working first!

It's a little wider then my old skimmer was so I need to cut the opening in my canopy a little better before I can put the skimmer in place. Hopefully I'll get that done in the next day or so. I dread to see how it's going to react on my tank since I haven't had one in a few years now. I'm sure it'll go nuts for a while!

 

[Woodstock]

Definately raise the cup all teh way up to begin with. From that position, you can slowly adjust it down to produce the skimmate you want.

 

[lgerold]

You will love your skimmer. I'd suggest the overflow, if for no other reason that it will help prevent disaster with something wandering in.

 

[BoomerD]

Removing the collection cup will make quite a salt-creep mess as the bubbles pop and spray all over everything near the skimmer....

For me, having the overflow drain wasn't much of a worthwhile cost, because after a few days, you have to clean the cup and center-tube, or they pretty much stop producing anyway.
IF the collection cup gets full, it will (usually) just drain back into the center tube and get mixed back into your water. Not really desirable, but better than going all over the floor I suppose.