aquac remora pre-skimmer

[packman9111]

Do any of you remora users use a pre-skimmer and if so, do you think it's worth the money?

Thanks - Rick

 

[Ace44]

Are you talking about the bubble trap(the box you put in the tank)? If so,mine seems to work well with it. It's kind of bulky if you have a small tank.

 

[coralph]

I bought the box,and I did not like it. It is hard to keep the proper water level to make it work properly. Also,it took up a lot of room in my 55 gal tank. Wish you lived close by,I would sell you mine cheap.

 

[Expos Forever]

It really helps if you get the "scummy" protein film on your water surface.

 

[ricky1414]

This is not really the same as the remora, but I have the CPR with the prefilter/bubble trap combo box, and I was not too happy with it.
For starters, those without sumps sometimes have a need to skim the surface, right? So the combo box seemed like a godsend. Wrong.

Set the combo box too low and you don't skim the surface, you pull the water from under the surface film, leaving you with the surface layer still.

Set it too high, and within 4 hours, enough water has evaporated to run your skimmer pump dry and fry your tank. (I am not a great DIY'er, too afraid of an auto topoff)

Just get a powerhead, and aim it toward the surface. Voila, no more film, and extra water movement to boot.

***edited for spelling***I am too darn tired to type***

 

[FishinGal]

The preskimmer box was the biggest waste. I use it now as a makeshift stand for another skimmer LOL!

 

[Anonymous]

Waste of money.

1. The box only holds very small amount of water and the pump. Each day I'd come home and it would be almost evaporated, the water level in the box often running the pump dry.

2. Poor fastener design. The pump hangs from a tube. The box hangs from the pump. The weight of the box often pulled the pump off the tube.

3. Took up a lot of space

4. It was good for stopping bubbles. Bubbles aren't necessarily bad for your reef, though. That's a myth.

 

[packman9111]

my only real concern is to skim the surface of the water. I'm not really worried about it running dry, cause I have an auto top off system. I am planning a closed loop using an older "Quiet One" external pump that's supposed to be rated 950ish gph through a scwd. Maybe if I put one of the outlets from the scwd on one side of the tank near the surface and the other side deeper, that would keep things stired up enough to where surface scum wouldn't be a problem. Thoughts?

 

[packman9111]

Oh yea, you might need to know, we're only talking a 26gal bowfront tank.

 

[Paradoxed]

fasten it with suction cups, that's what I did prior to building my sump, worked great, Instructions courtesy of Marco

drill out 4 small holes
(one in each corner of the box), slightly smaller than the suction cup ends
so that when you insert them into the holes you drilled, they won't come
out. But be very careful when drilling out the black acrylic, it's a bit
more brittle than the clear, so make sure you use the correct type of drill
bit and drill speed. You will then need to shorten the black plastic screws
that would normally secure the box to the powerhead so that you can adjust the box exactly where you need it.