- Location
- Baiting Hollow Long Island NY
I don't have a sump but I still need to skim the surface of my tank and for many years I used this home made surface skimmer. The strainer on the bottom right side lets in some water but not enough, I let the rest of the water overflow into the top to skim the water. When the water in the device gets lower it creates more suction and more water is forced through the strainer on the side.
There is a powerhead that sucks water out of the tube on the left side and directs it to the large HOB protein skimmer then back to the tank via the algae trough. The problem is that without a sump, the water level in the tank varies a little from day to day even though I have an auto fill.
The surface usually has a film on it because this model was not automatically adjustable so sometimes the top of the unit was to deep and sometimes it was just above the water. To correct this I added a new top that is connected with floats so the top of the surface skimmer is just slightly below the water at all times so it very effectively skims the thinnest top surface film off the water. It will clear a film covering the entire top of the 6' long tank in a couple of minutes. My tank gets a film because I feed oily food every day like live worms and fish oil soaked pellets. I don't like those surface skimmers with the square teeth as they do not skim the very top surface very well.
This is the old model with the rigid top
New model with the two adjustable floats.
And how it sits in the tank skimming just the top fraction of an inch off the surface. I have been toying with this for many years and I think this prototype is perfect. If I get time I will build a better looking model.
There is a powerhead that sucks water out of the tube on the left side and directs it to the large HOB protein skimmer then back to the tank via the algae trough. The problem is that without a sump, the water level in the tank varies a little from day to day even though I have an auto fill.
The surface usually has a film on it because this model was not automatically adjustable so sometimes the top of the unit was to deep and sometimes it was just above the water. To correct this I added a new top that is connected with floats so the top of the surface skimmer is just slightly below the water at all times so it very effectively skims the thinnest top surface film off the water. It will clear a film covering the entire top of the 6' long tank in a couple of minutes. My tank gets a film because I feed oily food every day like live worms and fish oil soaked pellets. I don't like those surface skimmers with the square teeth as they do not skim the very top surface very well.
This is the old model with the rigid top
New model with the two adjustable floats.
And how it sits in the tank skimming just the top fraction of an inch off the surface. I have been toying with this for many years and I think this prototype is perfect. If I get time I will build a better looking model.
