Prism protien skimmer, reviews???

[mattt6511]

I recently bought a prism protien skimmer used for about 50 dollars, i know iv heard some not so good things about this, but its for my 29 gallon fish only tank, any advice is this oky for just my 29 gallon, or should i not even hook it up?

 

[tjara03]

Do you currently have a protein skimmer on the tank??

 

[mattt6511]

no i have nothing on it now

 

[tjara03]

Well then IMO something is better than nothing until you can get something better to throw on it... i ran my 20 gal for a while with just a little LR and two HOB filters just fine... if i could have gotten something for that cheap i would have trown it on... HTH

 

[Konrade]

That's wierd I just bought one for 25 dollars for my 29 gallon. Anyways I like it, it may need a little tweaking to get it just right, but it's pretty simple too set up.

 

[tmkx3]

I am a and I have a prizm pro on my 125g. I can't say that I have any real complaints, but maybe I don't know any better. I have a very small bio-load. I guess I will have to wait and see

 

[ccCapt]

The Prism isn't too bad, but it seems to need to be adjusted every few days. Mine skims fine as long as I stay on top of it. I like to wet skim so every few days I need to increase the water flow through it.

 

[DragonForce]

I also have a prizm with the surface skimmer. Just make sure you increase the flow every few days to keep it skimming properly.

 

[steve-s]

I have the prizm pro, no surface attachment and it works just fine.

Cheers
Steve

 

[dianeww]

Steve, I'm glad to see that you're using the prizm pro. I was given one, and was distressed to see the comments on it here. Mine's been running just a few days, and it's collecting a lot of dark waste (skimmate?)

The motor's a little loud. Might it help if I disassemble and reassemble the whole thing? Maybe the impeller might be out of line? Or will it always be noisy?

 

[greenmaji]

Im not steve but I was reading your question and had some thoughts so here it goes..
IMO.. there is a wide range of "loud"..
if a pump is makeing more noise then a normal conversation then it would be a good idea to try to take the pump apart and give it a good rinse to make sure there isnt any sand or grime mucking up the impeller.. and reaseating the impeller to see if that quiets the pump down some... HTH

 

[mattt6511]

i dont quite understand u guys say every few days i have to adjust the flow i dont get it what do u mean, on my other tank i have a remora c protien skimmer and on that i dont adjust anything

 

[greenmaji]

the remora is a differnt design.. it has a jet nozzle injection.. AquaC holds the pattent on that one.. it funtions diffently then every other skimmer on the market..
in other words.. the comparison is much like apples and oranges.. HTH

 

[mattt6511]

oh, oky, well i really think my remora is a pretty good skimmer, but wiht my prism what exactly do i adjust on it?? i cant just set it and forget it?

 

[cowman345]

You might consider a Seaclone... they're not too expensive (if i remember correctly) and are easy to adjust... I've had really good experience with mine, it used to suck junk out of the water like magic once tweaked properly.

-dave-

 

[mattt6511]

yeah i looked into the seaclone 100 but i already bought the prism they are both in the same pricerange/class both pretty cheap

 

[steve-s]

The motor's a little loud. Might it help if I disassemble and reassemble the whole thing? Maybe the impeller might be out of line? Or will it always be noisy?

The motor shouldn't be loud at all unless touching the tank side, the impeller is not seated correctly or damaged. If not filled with water prior to starting, damage will occur quite easily. Usually the impeller stalk snaps.

As far as adjustments, I never need to. The only regular maintenance I need to do is clean the neck and cup every few days and clean the air intake. It gets clogged rather quickly depending on humidity. When first added, I would run it at a lower intake setting/speed until it gets "seasoned" otherwise it will skim straight SW. After a week or so, crank it up until the bottom of the foam line in the skimmer itself rises to where the neck begins to taper.

Cheers
Steve

 

[HoopsGuru]

Regular Prism...not so good

Prism Pro...seemingly a much better design.

I tried to use two separate regular Prizm and they now both sit in the garage. They do not seem to skim much, and require regular "tweaking" of the water level. Of course, then you feed, the skimmer overflows, and you are back to square one . Best advice would probably not be to tweak it to maximum performance because it will go overboard at some point. If you have one, work with it as best you can (I favor larger water changes at this point bypassing the use of the Prizm altogether)...if you are looking to buy one go for the Pro model.