I have a Seaclone 100 protein skimmer that does not skim. I have had my tank up and running since October and it still doesn't skim. I thought if I gave it time to break in and everything it might start working. What should I do?
protein skimmer not skimming
- Thread starter BeGiNeR_7
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binaryterror
Aquarium Advice Freak
What do you mean by "it does not skim"? Does it not make foam? How many fish are in there?
Yeah basically it does not make foam. It did once just a little and never did again. I have two fish in there right now. A yellow tang and a clarkii clown. The tank is a 75 gallon tank.
Does it not make foam because I only have two fish?
Does it not make foam because I only have two fish?
binaryterror
Aquarium Advice Freak
Yes, that is probably the reason. Mine never made foam, until I got my 2 Clowns and the Moorish Idol. The it started overflowing with foam. You just need a heavier bio load. Thats all. HTH
Yes the SeaClone has a dismal skimming rate and there are much better skimmers on the market but until you increase your bio-load I wouldn’t run out and get another one just yet. The AquaC Remora Pro would be an excellent skimmer when you do decide to upgrade.
Also do you use any additives like “stress coat”? Most additives will kill the performance of any skimmer.
Also do you use any additives like “stress coat”? Most additives will kill the performance of any skimmer.
jasno999
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Yes you are going to hear a lot of people tell you that the SeaClone is a piece of junk. People hate the thing. And well they have reason because for the most part they are right. I too own a SeaClone and out of the box the skimmer is not very good. IT produces little to no skimmate and it requires you to make adjustments to the air input each day to get it to function.
That said you, like me and many others, may not have done your skimmer research prior to purchasing the SeaClone or maybe you just got it because it has once write ups by the manufacturer and it is one of the less expensive models. Either way you have 2 options. Get a new skimmer or try and make the one you have work.
If you don't want to fork out more money then you can try modifying the SeaClone. There are several mods out there and you can just search "SeaClone Modification" on GOOGLE. But here they are:
1) You can add an air pump and air stone to the system. By cutting a hole in the top of the collection cup lid and lowering air tub and a wood air stone to the bottom of the skimmer you can produce extra bubbles to help make skimmate. It does help but I need to prefect it and try a different and more powerful pump
2) You can attempt to cut the small 1" diameter tube at the bottom of the skimmer. This is typically about 4 inches long but if you can cut it down to around 2inches you will benefit from having the bubbles increase their reaction time with the surrounding water. Some people say you can wiggle that tube loose take it out cut it and put it back in. From my experience it is near imposable to remove that tube so unless you have a dremil and you can cut it while it is still in the skimmer good luck. I was not able to do this mod.
3) In theory this mod is a good one and I have seen some results from it already but will know more when I get home today. It is simple. In order to force the majority of the bubbles and air out thru the collection cup you need to find a way to seal the collection cup to the middle cylinder. I did it using silicon tape. I wrapped a bunch of the tape around the bottom of the collection cup so that when I put it back on the skimmer it was a little bit of an interference fit with the middle cylinder. This equated to an air tight seal and I could tell pretty quick that the air flow thru the cylinder has increased by a lot.
Good luck. Let me know how it goes.
That said you, like me and many others, may not have done your skimmer research prior to purchasing the SeaClone or maybe you just got it because it has once write ups by the manufacturer and it is one of the less expensive models. Either way you have 2 options. Get a new skimmer or try and make the one you have work.
If you don't want to fork out more money then you can try modifying the SeaClone. There are several mods out there and you can just search "SeaClone Modification" on GOOGLE. But here they are:
1) You can add an air pump and air stone to the system. By cutting a hole in the top of the collection cup lid and lowering air tub and a wood air stone to the bottom of the skimmer you can produce extra bubbles to help make skimmate. It does help but I need to prefect it and try a different and more powerful pump
2) You can attempt to cut the small 1" diameter tube at the bottom of the skimmer. This is typically about 4 inches long but if you can cut it down to around 2inches you will benefit from having the bubbles increase their reaction time with the surrounding water. Some people say you can wiggle that tube loose take it out cut it and put it back in. From my experience it is near imposable to remove that tube so unless you have a dremil and you can cut it while it is still in the skimmer good luck. I was not able to do this mod.
3) In theory this mod is a good one and I have seen some results from it already but will know more when I get home today. It is simple. In order to force the majority of the bubbles and air out thru the collection cup you need to find a way to seal the collection cup to the middle cylinder. I did it using silicon tape. I wrapped a bunch of the tape around the bottom of the collection cup so that when I put it back on the skimmer it was a little bit of an interference fit with the middle cylinder. This equated to an air tight seal and I could tell pretty quick that the air flow thru the cylinder has increased by a lot.
Good luck. Let me know how it goes.
G
Guest
Guest
I too have purchased the seaclone skimmer.
Don't have much experience with skimmers but from what I read this one is not too good.
I had mine on my old 55 gal tank and it seemed to pull some green cheese out of the tank.
Today I installed in my 120 which has been running for about 4 months or so and its already started collecting some cheese.
Some say it won't skim. What does that mean?
I know that this one needs some fine tuning with the air intake adjustment but once that was done its suddsing up and pulling something out.
I'll guessing that until I see a good unit running I won't understand.
Don't have much experience with skimmers but from what I read this one is not too good.
I had mine on my old 55 gal tank and it seemed to pull some green cheese out of the tank.
Today I installed in my 120 which has been running for about 4 months or so and its already started collecting some cheese.
Some say it won't skim. What does that mean?
I know that this one needs some fine tuning with the air intake adjustment but once that was done its suddsing up and pulling something out.
I'll guessing that until I see a good unit running I won't understand.
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Tex
Aquarium Advice Freak
From what I've read on this site, how could they stay in business? Has this skimmer been around for 5 or 10 years? It seems there are far better alternatives out there.
mwrmma
Aquarium Advice Activist
i bought the seaclone 100 for my 90 gallon tank, and after reading up on it, i decided to return it and go with a coralife 220. hopefully this will serve me better.
jasno999
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I think they are able to stay in buisness because most people that purchase them don't do research before hand. I also think some people liek them for the cost. And others like LFS that use them well they have the time to play with and adjust them each day so they don't care. And becasue they have them work to some degree they then sell them and tell people they work because they want to make a buck. It is strange but I have seen these skimmers in a local store- on every tank. And the tanks were really awsome tanks. So go figure.
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