ProteinSkimmer prefilter & 'dust like' appearance on sur

[gatr_head]

I recently bought a friends 46gallon aquarium because they were moving from NH to CA. Anyway, I bought the system which included the Remora model protein skimmer but my friend wasn't using the prefilter skimmer accessory even though he had one. He basically put the little peice of foam front of the MaxiJet 1200 intake to prevent death by power head and cleaned when necessary along with the foam cup.

The tank was clear even on top, but I wanted to use the prefilter to 'increase effeciency' of the skimmer. So I attached the prefilter skimmer accessory to the power head with the screw and submerged it low enough so that only water gets into the power head area.

The water is still clear but when I look up through the water at the top of the tank it looks like a layer of dust floating on top except where the other (2) MaxiJet 1200 power head push water on the surface area.

The power head intake in the prefilter compartment is pointing right towards the divider wall of 2 compartments, is this the correct ?

The skimmer still collects foam but I'm concerned about the layer of 'dust like appearance' on the top when I didn't notice it before w/out the prefilter skimmer attachment.

The inhabitants are 1 shrimp, 1 emerald crab, 1 yellow clown goby, 1 false percula clown and 1 blue chromis along with LR and LS for added filtration.

Any suggestions or is everything OK?

Thanks.
Brian

 

[skipm]

Raise the prefilter box up a bit so that you see it pulling water from the surface into the prefilter and this should help to rid your tank of the film on the surface. If the prefilter sits too low in the water it doesn't effectively skim the surface. HTH, Skip

 

[gatr_head]

I raised the prefilter box a tad but then the prefilter box empties to about 1/2 full - then I'm concerned about the prefilter box running dry or too low to do any good because not enough water is spilling into the container, killing the power head and not working at all.

I'll play with it somemore after my poker night.

Thanks.

 

[VAguy39]

I have the same skimmer with the pre filter box. At first I did not like it. I thought it skimmed less with it. As you stated the pump intake is very close to the center wall. I stuck with mine and now I am happy with it. It took some adjusting. As Skip mentioned you need to make sure the box is high enough to actually skim the surface. It's ok that the water in the box is only half full. You want the water to fall in over the edge into the box. I use mine as a guage when to add top off water. I can tell by the sound of the pump that the water level has dropped a bit. I just add my top off water and the box fills back up to over half way. Keeping your tank topped off is key with this pre filter box.

Good luck,
Mark

 

[gatr_head]

I think the got the prefilter box adjusted OK for now and your right, it's key to keep the water lever constant.

Thanks for the encouragement and advice as always.