Beginner Help

[Bill]

Is anyone aware of a canister style protein skimmer....i wanna change from a cichlid tank to a salt tank but i dont have enough room behind my tank for a hang on skimmer....i want soemthing that has an intake down to my cabinet and water gets pumped back into tank

 

[reefrunner69]

I am not aware of any that work that way. You could do a sump...but your back in the same boat as a HOB skimmer (the aftermarket overflow is going to require 4"+ behind the tank...although I have seen some people do it off the side of the tank. The problem that I see is regulating the waterlevel in the skimmer, not to mention the fact that if the cup is not above the surface of the water in a "canister style" skimmer, if the power goes out the water will back siphon and go all over the place.

 

[Bill]

the closest thing i found was a stand alone or free stnding model....but i cant really tell what it looks like....have you seen these?

 

[reefrunner69]

Yes, a stand alone or freestanding skimmer, would either...
a) be one that is useable outside a sump. (but would still have the same downfall as mentioned above)
b) would have to be tall enough to return the water back to the tank.

 

[Bill]

very dumb question, but why cant i just pump water outa the tank....into a sump....run the protein skimmer there, then pump it back?....My tank is not drilled for this stuff, so im trying to think of another way

 

[reefrunner69]

why cant i just pump water outa the tank....into a sump....run the protein skimmer there, then pump it back?....

Because there would be no way to regulate the flow. One pump would outrun the other. Identical pumps will have a difference in flow from one pump to the next, but even if they didn't one pump would have a substantial amount of head pressure and the other would have virtually none. Should you get the pumps to pump the exact same amount out and in...one will get dirty faster than the other impacting the amount of turn over, etc...You would end up with a mess. I'm sorry I'm not offering much help.

 

[loganj]

Have you looked at the Prizm skimmers? They are pretty thin...don't take up much room behind the tank.
Logan J

 

[jackdp]

Ya take a look at the prizms they're like 80 bucks and are only about 2.5" thick so you can get by with only about 3 inches behind tank.

 

[michealprater]

I'll have to take a look but I belive they make in tank skimmers, would that help?

 

[loganj]

They do make air driven CC skimmers that go inside the tank. The Lee and the Berlin CC work like that. They are not very attractive though. I am using the small Lee in the propagation tanks right now and, believe it or not, it's doing a pretty good job. I don't know about the Berlin, but the Lee doesn't have a very good system to anchor it inside the tank. Mine is bad about coming loose and floating around. It is kind of a PITA to clean and you have to drag it out and change the airstone once in a while. I have a small skimmer from Aqua Clear Aquatics in Jacksonville, Fla that would probably work in the tank. You would have to leave about 6" of it sticking out of the water. It uses a Rio 600 (yuk) and also works fairly well. Not much help I know, but it's all I know of.
IMO, you'd be better off to try to find a way to use a Prizm or Seaclone on the back of the tank.
Logan J
Logan J