Skimming my 20 gallon

[SVT519]

I am looking to get a skimmer for my 20 gallon and am having trouble deciding which to go with. My 3 options I have narrowed down are a Prizm skimmer, Seaclone100 or a Hang-On Refugium with Protein Skimmer http://www.aquatraders.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=292&HS=1 as found at this site. If anyone has had experience with any of these or knows a better route with a HOB system, any input would be appreciated. Thanks - Andrew

[Ping]

I have used both a prism and Seaclone on a 20. The Prism is sensative to water evaporation if you dont use a sump. It did not skim as well when the level dropped. The Seaclone worked a little better than the Prism after modification. http://www.reefcentral.com/diy/seaclone_modifications.htm

I think a CPR backpack works best, especially when modified with an airstone. Maybe others know of better units.

Oh and if money is tight and you want a Prism, I have one for sale.

[5.0Stang]

Yea prism's are very sensitive but can be modified once done its pretty good for a cheap little skimmer. O yea ditto on the money tight thing and i got one for sale also!

[SVT519]

Well i fill everyday so i dont think thats a problem. So what are the modifiactions to do? Do either of yall have the "upgrade" on your prizms? PM me with a pic and/or price. Im ready to buy. BTW how many gallons is the Prizm good for? Im looking to upgrade to a 75 at the biggest in the fall. Thanks - Andrew

[JimD]

An airstone modded BakPak is perfect for a 20, I wouldnt even mess with the others mentioned.

[Ping]

Prism says it's good for 100g. I found it was the bare minimum of skimming for my 20L. If you are going bigger in a few months a Seaclone or Prism will not work. A modified backPak may be enough?

[JimD]

Depends on the size of the upgrade and load, I wouldnt push it too much more than a 20, 30 maybe with a light load.

[addboy]

Those hang-on refugeums with built in skimmer are awesome....just make sure you read the instructions....and after that get som Hagen (Aquaclear 70) power heads with quick connect filters and bounce them off of the glass.....all the filtration you need!!!....I have seen those all in one fuges and they really are great.

[runamukus]

I used a prism HOB on my 30 gal tank and it worked wonderfully. After a while I had these little pineapple looking sponges growing all over and they kept clogging the skimmer. Also the coraline algae kept me busy cleaning it too. But I would pull a good 2 cups of goo each week. I pushed my limit with fish but I must say I would buy another prism if I setup another tank.

[coraline79]

I run a Rio Nano Skimmer on my 29 gallon, there is also an oceanic nano skimmer supposed to work pretty well. I have had a great expreience witht the rio. The only drawback to it is, as it gets dirty, it tends to not work as well. you are going to want to clean it about once a month. I have had mine since september.

[emac]

the prisms tend to loose suction really fast for some reason and you always have to reset the syphon. im a big fan of the aqua c skimmers. check out the aqua c nano skimmer. plus the skimmers are made with black acrylic so you dont get alot of growth in them like most other skimmers and better yet they aren't really affected by water evaporation. its more money but you will save in the end. the bak pak's work well too. for the most part they have the same design just the air injection system is different.

i wouldn't bother wasting your money on the current, oceanic or rio nano skimmers.

[Bbristow]

I almost hate to post this because the skimmer that I found to be really great currently isn't available. I have a 24g aquapod and sapphire aquatics out of Houston made an awesome skimmer for it. They were making skimmers that fit each specific nano model. This skimmer works very well. You might post for a used one.

The other great option that I have found is the Tunze skimmer. I don't have experience with this one but I have heard great things about it from my own research. Most people put the sapphire and the Tunze at the same level of quality, and I think they are currently the best available for a nano tank.

It does cost more than others out there though.

http://www.aquacave.com/detail.aspx?ID=1436#

Someone really good at acrylic work could model a skimmer after the Sapphire come really close.

[stoneroller]

I modded the impeller on a Prizm with fishing line to increase production. I think it skims pretty well but don't have much to compare it to. There's also a mod to increase the diameter of the air intake to pull more air; haven't done that though.

[Hydramatic]

A couple weeks ago, bought an AquaC Remora HOT skimmer(with the maxi-jet 1200) from the store emac works at and I'm running it on my 20-high, and it has worked splendidly. The stuff it pulls out isn't exactly black like on larger tanks, but it is about like dark urine, 'cept with chunks of fish poo in it. I'm pretty sure it is overkill, but I like the fact that I can pretty much feed as much or as little as I want and not worry about nitrate ****es and the like.

Since I've had it on there, I've been able to go about a week and a half between water changes with tests reading near zero for nitrates, zero on nitrites, and zero on ammonia, with alkalinity and such being at perfect levels.

The Remora skims very well for a HOT. My tank inhabitants couldn't be happier....

...ok maybe if they had a halide, but that's another thread!

[tony]

if you buy new get the new octopus HOB skimmer

if you need/want to save money go with a cpr bakpak. it will skim that 20 splendidly

[merlin0883]

have a cpr backpack. works better than my sea clone 100. Got an octopus hob to replace cpr. it works soooo much better than the cpr that i took the cpr off. I highly recommend it. you can get a few different models. either the normal, one with a space for mechanical filters, one that surface skims with a space for mechanical filters, or a double powerhead double catch cannister model. i got the surface skimming one cuz i always have my arm in the tank, target feeding or rearranging, and oils occumulate on the surface of my tank. it was only $160 new. fyi