Grug
Aquarium Advice Regular
Hi all. Long time no speak.
After being a bit destroyed by my initial failure at reef keeping.. i left my tank to "marinade" for about 6 months.. with a hermit crab. a duncan anemone and a leather coral guy who we call bubblegum. they were all happy .. and life was blooming in the tank.. but i knew i needed more filter capacity before starting with fish again. but how to put in a protein skimmer in this very neat/tight unit. (before you all say it.. no i dont have space for a sump. its been said.. lets just leave it at that)
The Aqua one 620T is a slim tall 130ish L unit which fits the space i have perfectly. it comes with light box and overhead trickle filter and a 600ish L/H power head to supply it.
Being on a tight budget but not wanting to go with the cheapest unit around.. i finally decided on the aqua one G220 skimmer with 1400L/H power head and rated for 800L tanks.. hoping that Aqua one might have anticipated my need to use this and therefore make it possible to fit into some spot on my system. I was right!
$130 from a LFS in eastern subburbs melboune.
A quick trip to bunnings.. and then one more the day after.. ($25 total.) and i have ended up with this.. am pretty **** proud of myself.. and now waiting for some results.
So .. what you need is the G220 skimmer.. (you could go for the smaller one i guess.. but for $8 difference .. why??
1m length of 25 mm hose from bunnings.. 7cm joiner peice for 20mm hose. (so i guess its about 22mm) and 2 x 22-30mm hose clamps 1x 18-22mm hose clamp. 1 x 19mm hose end plug.. (bigger if you can find it.. to fit the end of the 25mm hose)
here are the results.
http://www.masa.asn.au/phpBB3/gallery/image.php?album_id=359&image_id=1190
Its not pretty.. but it takes after its owner..
http://www.masa.asn.au/phpBB3/gallery/image.php?album_id=359&image_id=1191
Short hose replaces the original spray bar that came with the tank.. i drilled some 3mm holes into it after measuring where they would need to be. Might replace this bit as i dont like where the holes are spraying.. I did 2 rows of 7 holes.. this bit will be a bit of trial and error..
http://www.masa.asn.au/phpBB3/gallery/image.php?album_id=359&image_id=1192
Long hose goes across the top with no drilled holes... through a hole in the filter box hood that looked like it was made for the job.. Actually.. i have no idea why the hole was in the top box in the first place.. didnt fit a heater or anything.. so now it serves a purpose. this is another bit of trial and error.. originally i had the outlet just pouring into this section.. but it was noisy.. really pee inducing noisy.. and a microbubble factory.. so i stuffed some foam in there sorted the noise.. but still lots of bubbles.. so i went to town with one of the bubble traps supplied with the skimmer and came up with this.. its working very well.. but if the sponge blocks.. im not sure where the system will overflow.. so i will keep an eye on this..
If i did it all again tomorrow.. i would work out how to have the skimmer on the other end of the tank.. but that would require some serious dremel cutting work..
Looking forwar to your ideas and comments..
After being a bit destroyed by my initial failure at reef keeping.. i left my tank to "marinade" for about 6 months.. with a hermit crab. a duncan anemone and a leather coral guy who we call bubblegum. they were all happy .. and life was blooming in the tank.. but i knew i needed more filter capacity before starting with fish again. but how to put in a protein skimmer in this very neat/tight unit. (before you all say it.. no i dont have space for a sump. its been said.. lets just leave it at that)
The Aqua one 620T is a slim tall 130ish L unit which fits the space i have perfectly. it comes with light box and overhead trickle filter and a 600ish L/H power head to supply it.
Being on a tight budget but not wanting to go with the cheapest unit around.. i finally decided on the aqua one G220 skimmer with 1400L/H power head and rated for 800L tanks.. hoping that Aqua one might have anticipated my need to use this and therefore make it possible to fit into some spot on my system. I was right!
$130 from a LFS in eastern subburbs melboune.
A quick trip to bunnings.. and then one more the day after.. ($25 total.) and i have ended up with this.. am pretty **** proud of myself.. and now waiting for some results.
So .. what you need is the G220 skimmer.. (you could go for the smaller one i guess.. but for $8 difference .. why??
1m length of 25 mm hose from bunnings.. 7cm joiner peice for 20mm hose. (so i guess its about 22mm) and 2 x 22-30mm hose clamps 1x 18-22mm hose clamp. 1 x 19mm hose end plug.. (bigger if you can find it.. to fit the end of the 25mm hose)
here are the results.
http://www.masa.asn.au/phpBB3/gallery/image.php?album_id=359&image_id=1190
Its not pretty.. but it takes after its owner..
http://www.masa.asn.au/phpBB3/gallery/image.php?album_id=359&image_id=1191
Short hose replaces the original spray bar that came with the tank.. i drilled some 3mm holes into it after measuring where they would need to be. Might replace this bit as i dont like where the holes are spraying.. I did 2 rows of 7 holes.. this bit will be a bit of trial and error..
http://www.masa.asn.au/phpBB3/gallery/image.php?album_id=359&image_id=1192
Long hose goes across the top with no drilled holes... through a hole in the filter box hood that looked like it was made for the job.. Actually.. i have no idea why the hole was in the top box in the first place.. didnt fit a heater or anything.. so now it serves a purpose. this is another bit of trial and error.. originally i had the outlet just pouring into this section.. but it was noisy.. really pee inducing noisy.. and a microbubble factory.. so i stuffed some foam in there sorted the noise.. but still lots of bubbles.. so i went to town with one of the bubble traps supplied with the skimmer and came up with this.. its working very well.. but if the sponge blocks.. im not sure where the system will overflow.. so i will keep an eye on this..
If i did it all again tomorrow.. i would work out how to have the skimmer on the other end of the tank.. but that would require some serious dremel cutting work..
Looking forwar to your ideas and comments..
