Solana skimmer

[Anonymous]

I have a tank and the stock skimmer is crapola. I have been curing rock for over a week and running the skimmer for two weeks and haven't produced a measurable amount of skimmate. Mods aren't of much interest to me as this thing is really loud for a small venturi drive and I just want to get it gone.

So I have been trying to decide what I want to do. This tank is a 34g model so aggressive water changes could be an ideal way for someone to manage the tank but that someone is much more dilligent than I am so a skimmer is a must.
I have looked at the typical upgrades people have done, be it a Tunze 9002 or CPR etc.. Also the new Tunze 9004 should be stateside soon which sounds like the most likely needlewheel option for me.
...But I don't think that I want a needlewheel.

So, I will pose this question without submitting any drawing or making any considerable thought as to how dumb my ideas might be... Have you ever seen anyone use the back chamber of one of these AIO tanks as a counter current/air driven skimmer?

I had this crappy little biocube skimmer laying around and I am really digging the extra quiet right now. If I could get it to where I didn't have a needlewheel making more racket I would be stoked.

I have seen HOB skimmers that will pump water into a chamber with an airstone but I can't say I have ever seen a skimmer that essentially just uses a cascade of water in and out of a chamber.
Maybe the return water from the display portion could be run through a valve to regulate a counter current somehow?

Don't get me wrong, I am not unwilling to do my own thinking.. I just have been outta the game for a while.

 

[Anonymous]

In the context of small skimmers like yours, an air driven limewood airstone is every bit as efficient (if not more so) as a small venturi/needlewheel pump at producing fine bubbles. The hassle is that you have to recharge or replace the airstone once a month or so. Make that task simple and your life will be happy.

 

[Anonymous]

In the context of small skimmers like yours, an air driven limewood airstone is every bit as efficient (if not more so) as a small venturi/needlewheel pump at producing fine bubbles. The hassle is that you have to recharge or replace the airstone once a month or so. Make that task simple and your life will be happy.

agreed.
Ever seen one of these units modified to the way I am thinking?

 

[Anonymous]

I have a tank and the stock skimmer is crapola. I have been curing rock for over a week and running the skimmer for two weeks and haven't produced a measurable amount of skimmate

If you're not putting proteins into the water column a skimmer isn't going to produce skimate. Curing rock won't do it unless things are dying off the rock, if you put dry rock in a tank it will cure it, but won't make skimate

 

[Anonymous]

I have a tank and the stock skimmer is crapola. I have been curing rock for over a week and running the skimmer for two weeks and haven't produced a measurable amount of skimmate

If you're not putting proteins into the water column a skimmer isn't going to produce skimate. Curing rock won't do it unless things are dying off the rock, if you put dry rock in a tank it will cure it, but won't make skimate

This was 25 lbs of uncured liverock. The die off is plentiful and I had a large cyano burst followed by the present algae bloom. I have dead worms and pod exoskeletons rolling around on the bottom of the tank... i would think there has got to be some excess proteins in the column.

 

[Anonymous]

In the context of small skimmers like yours, an air driven limewood airstone is every bit as efficient (if not more so) as a small venturi/needlewheel pump at producing fine bubbles. The hassle is that you have to recharge or replace the airstone once a month or so. Make that task simple and your life will be happy.

agreed.
Ever seen one of these units modified to the way I am thinking?

never seen the actual tank built into a skimmer, but I've seen more than one person add an airstone to a CPR Bak-pak

 

[Anonymous]

The little Biocube skimmer was overflowing with skimmate this morning... which means it had like 3 tbsp in it.

I suppose I could place a cheapo Lee skimmer in the skimmer compartment but it seems like a PITA place to keep it. It would be a suction cup mount and getting an eyeball on it for adjustments would suck. They also aren't even 2" in diameter on the riser.

Anyway, thanks guys.

 

[Anonymous]

Without seeing your AIO tank setup, I would say it is very difficult to get it to work well as a skimmer. The air bubble need to flow upward and the water need to come down to get more contact time, but I can't envision how this going to work if you also need to trap the skimmate. It is possible, just it would be easier to get a limewood skimmer and put it inside the back chamber or you can get a HOB type.

 

[Anonymous]

Lee's skimmers actually kick ass for what they cost. Place a needle valve on the airstone to adjust rather than trying to fiddle with the height of the skimmer body.