Reef Discussion

[holla_passer]

THE DIY SURFACE SKIMMER

Used the good old cassette case method - but i didn't have any cassettes at home so i used the box from my ipod. was a very good fit, and its held in place by the koralia nano magnets!

immediately got rid of surface scum, very effective - probably the easiest and most effective DIY on this tank!

 

[MTG]

Thanks for the detailed tutorial! :drool

 

[holla_passer]

DIY Surface Skimmer/Weir

So I found that I was always getting a bit of an oily film developing on the surface of the water - turned up the MP10 a little bit but still wasn't really doing much - so then I decided to DIY a simple surface skimmer modification to the tank. I scoured the net for different ideas for surface skimmer and came close to purchasing one of these, but decided against it because I was worried about it being too intrusive in the nano. Also, I really wanted to get something done quick and I wanted to DIY it.

Eventually I came up with a weir/surface skimmer box. I decided to make it using some clear perspex I had at home, but instead I found this clear plastic box that was open on one end - it was pretty much EXACTLY what I was going to make anyway, so I decided to use that. Basically cut some teeth on the top edge and cut another two notches so it could slide onto the underside lip of the Eheim HOB filter. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

The plastic box:

Where the teeth will be cut out (I used a scalpel with blade heated with a lighter to cut out the teeth):

The box slides onto the underside of the HOB:

It basically works by having water in the tank overflow into the box, and then being fed into the HOB filter from the shortened intake pipe.

Overall it has been quite effective, it was free to make, and not very obtrusive in the overall scheme of things.