Protein Skimmer upgrades for RSM 130

[Sinakal]

Ok new reefer here and I noticed my stock skimmer for my RSM 130 is not woeking to good the bubbles are not reaching all the way to the collector cup its at the neck of the skimmer... Ill post pictures later. I read in another tread that it could be a water height issue, and the floor is not level where my tank is it leans foward about an 1/16" to an 1/8" at the top i keep the water as high as it can go and i adjust the skimmer to get the maxium amount of water to the back of the tank but no luck on getting the skimmer to work properly
With that being said I have a intank media rack and am looking to buy a new skimmer. Im looking at the Tunze Nano DOC Protein Skimmer 9002 and the AquaticLife Internal Mini Protein Skimmer 115 the Aquaticlife skimmer is half the price of the tunze and wanted to see if one is better then the other and has anybody used the Aquaticlife skimmer in their RSM 130
any help will be greatly appreciated
thanks

 

[Reefmack]

Welcome Sinakal! If it's the older 130 model my skimmer did the same thing - nothing ever got into the cup. The InTank media rack and Tunze 9002 are a combination used by many 130/130D owners. I don't know how good the AquaticLife skimmer is - I can't recall any 130 owners trying one.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

to ReefSanctuary and RSM Club, a real Sanctuary of reef forums, with lots of very nice members

Lots use the 9002 & love it - on side note I used wooden shims to level my tank.

 

[Sinakal]

thanks Reefmack ya thats all im seeing is the tunze 9002 being used hmmm maybe ill be the first to experiment with the aquaticlife the only diff i can really see is the height of the aquaticlife is shorter then the tunze

 

[Reefmack]

If you try the AquaticLife let us know how it works for you!

 

[Sinakal]

to ReefSanctuary and RSM Club, a real Sanctuary of reef forums, with lots of very nice members

Lots use the 9002 & love it - on side note I used wooden shims to level my tank.

Thank You... and yes after moving my tank for the second time im thinking about shimming it but its so perfectly setup i dont want to drain and move /shim hehe

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

I had mine on carpet & just drove them under front edge & then cut off excess - tanks was full, if that helps any.

Start a tank thread & post us some pics of your tank - we would love to follow along !

 

[Sinakal]

I had mine on carpet & just drove them under front edge & then cut off excess - tanks was full, if that helps any.

Start a tank thread & post us some pics of your tank - we would love to follow along !

ill try and shim it with it full hmmm..... and yes i'm going to start a tank thread ive enjoyed reading some of the tanks already... Who knew reef keeping could be so much fun now im addicted and spending all of my money lmao!!!!!!:dryer:

 

[Reefmack]

Too easy to spend too much LOL!

 

[StevieT]

thanks Reefmack ya thats all im seeing is the tunze 9002 being used hmmm maybe ill be the first to experiment with the aquaticlife the only diff i can really see is the height of the aquaticlife is shorter then the tunze

You get what you pay for with a skimmer. A cheap skimmer like the aquaticlife may be no improvement than the stock RSM skimmer. They are popular in the smaller biocubes because they fit and are tuned to a lower water volume. Just my advice.

 

[Sinakal]

Very understandable StevieT...... Well I went cheap and picked up the Aquaticlife Nano and im getting alot more bubbles... was messin with it all night we will see what if any knida of protein skimming I get out of this thing.. fits perfectly in the RSM 130 I mean like a glove lol.. ill post pictures.. But i can understand why this is the KIA and the tunze is the porsche. Ill probally upgrade to the tunze after awhile im lovin the intank media rack!!!!!!

 

[Sinakal]

Pictures

 

[Reefmack]

Looks promising Sinakal! It may take a few days for the skimmer to break in. Till then you may just get foam. Keep us posted on it.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

+1 ^

 

[StevieT]

Let it break in for a few days up to two weeks. Sweet ass blue and white media basket I haven't seen one of those in a while. Except when I change my media I never upgraded myself to any of the later versions.

 

[tundra420619]

Let it break in for a few days up to two weeks. Sweet ass blue and white media basket I haven't seen one of those in a while. Except when I change my media I never upgraded myself to any of the later versions.

Hey Syn-
im with StevieT, give it a week or 2 and then see where u r at.
looks good.

Steve-
i bough that rack a long time ago planning to upgrade to the tunze, but never got around to it.

 

[Sinakal]

Let it break in for a few days up to two weeks. Sweet ass blue and white media basket I haven't seen one of those in a while. Except when I change my media I never upgraded myself to any of the later versions.

hey thanks StevieT!! yea thanks to Tundra420619.. he bought from ya and never bought a new skimmer so i thought i give it a try fits perfectly... one question.... if I use floss and mechincal media on the top shelf then purigen on second and chemi pure on the bottom do i need to keep putting a carbon filter on my return side? or is it redundant.

 

[Reefmack]

Sinakal - the main purpose of the rack is to be able to get rid of anything under the 2 pumps - no more need to pull the pumps to try to get at the media under them. We call that the Chamber Of Death (COD)

 

[Sinakal]

lmao @ "Chamber Of Death (COD)"

thanks Reefmack i will let it sit in there for a month or so then retrive it out of the COD with my COD tweezers lol

 

[Reefmack]

COD tweezers are a good thing! You never know what your hand will find down there, and you don't want to be grabbing a bristleworm!