Weekly Discussion - Equipment Problems

[Anonymous]

Weekly Discussion - Equipment Problems

Do you have a piece of equipment that you aren't happy with? That you have to constantly mess with? What is it, why don't you replace it, and why did you get it?

About the RDO Weekly Discussion:
This discussion is meant to get at your experience and to share information that is in your head, so don't necessarily treat it as information gathering. State your opinion and, if available, use material, anecdotal or otherwise, that will back up your opinion.
Past weekly discussions will be archived in the archives.
If you have topics that you think would be helpful for the RDO community to discuss, please send me a pm or start your own thread! :mrgreen:

 

[Anonymous]

My Remora HOB skimmer has a surface prefilter (skimmer) attachment. To get visible results (no surface scum) out of the skimmer, you need this unit. My gripes about the surface skimmer attachement are as follows:

Cons:
1. Nice of them to stick you with an additional charge. FFS.

2. The box should not hang from (attach) to the pump - the weight of the box repeatedly made the pump slip off the intake tubing

3. Unlike traditional overflow/sump designs, this box has the potential to run dry on a daily basis.

4. It actually doesn't skim the surface that well ...

Pros:
1. It really helps reduce microbubbles. Yeah, I know the myth about how bad they are is being debunked, but you know, with a skimmer directly on the back of your tank, that's a lot of bubbles. The surface prefilter box has a side chamber that the skimmer drains into that reduces bubbles. Problem is it uses a sponge (which clogs) rather than baffles etc to stop the bubbles
2. ? hehe

 

[tangir1]

alright, you sea-clone people.... speak up!

 

[Mihai]

There is nothing to mess up with at a SeaClone. You just have to throw it away. I owned a SeaClone (came with the setup), I just threw it away and got an EuroReef. See, no messing .

Euroreef won just because I heard that the Aquamedic Turboflotor 1000/1000 multi require lots of messing with and constant adjustment. But I'll let those owners provide the details

Mihai

 

[Anonymous]

Wow, I coulnd't be happier with my Aquamedic turboflotor! Out of everything I own for my tanks, it's probably the one thing I can't say a bad word about. That thing pulls so much gunk and requires zero tinkering on my part.

The only maintenence I ever do is empty the cup, and about once a year I poke all the calcerous worm tubes out of where the air intake is!

And I got it used!

But this thread is about stuff that doesn't work for you, so, I guess I'll have to get back with that one, so as not to get too off topic.

 

[Anonymous]

My submission for equipment problems.

I have this skimmer on my 90 called the Excalibur, it is a hang on run by a small rio that has no way of blocking debris from clogging the pump.

The darn pump is always clogged with bits of algae or fish food, as I have a fish that must be fed heavy meaty food. Consequently, the thing hardly ever skims, which I am sure is contirbuting to my algae problem, which clogs the skimmer, and so on.

I don't trade out the pump because I don't know what would be compatable with it, and the algae doesn't seem to bother the soft corals, and the tank is in the basement so I don't see it as much. But I wish I knew of a better pump that had veturi capabilities and actually fit on the skimmer.

 

[fredso2003]

Alright I give in,I modified my seaclone 100 with all the mods. I found on this site and it still doesnt measure up. Im really tapped out after setting up 2 10galoon frag/prop tanks and I just cant put out the$ right now so I will have to suffer awhile. my first skimmer was a prizm,yea I know I upgraded to an even bigger piece of #%%#&*^*#%! yea well live & learn.FINAL ANALYSIS SEACLONE 100:100% JUNK!

 

[Anonymous]

My submission for equipment problems.

I have this skimmer on my 90 called the Excalibur, it is a hang on run by a small rio that has no way of blocking debris from clogging the pump.

The darn pump is always clogged with bits of algae or fish food, as I have a fish that must be fed heavy meaty food. Consequently, the thing hardly ever skims, which I am sure is contirbuting to my algae problem, which clogs the skimmer, and so on.

I don't trade out the pump because I don't know what would be compatable with it, and the algae doesn't seem to bother the soft corals, and the tank is in the basement so I don't see it as much. But I wish I knew of a better pump that had veturi capabilities and actually fit on the skimmer.

i have the same skimmer, i think. i hated that stupid intake too (mine resides in the garage now).
often times it would be difficult to see the blockage on the opposite side of the venturi tube and often it would be operating poorly with a blockage and i would be completely unaware until my tank started to look bad.
in it's last days i just threw an airstone in it as opposed to relying on the venturi.. it worked a heck of alot better that way.

another poor trait of this skimmer is the inabilty to clean the internal surfaces of the skimmer. the inner discharge bulkhead area is still clogged with tube worm husks and other invert skeltons... this can and did cause overflowing.

on topic:

why?....i purchased it on the advise of an LFS

why didn't i replace it?... and i don't know why it took so long for me to replace it (i kept it running for at least four years), but i know i didn't replace it soon enough. i may have avoided many problems by simply replacing it with a better model.

keep in mind...this is a cheaper product though, i don't think one can expect much more from a 120 dollar skimmer.


i am not running one now, but by far the worst crapola hardware i have purchased for my tank was a powersweep powerhead. nothing but problems there.
i had purchased it in hopes of having a cheap mini-seaswirl and i replaced it immediately because it was a noisy, fussy, underpowered eyesore.
good idea, bad result. [/b]

 

[Anonymous]

i have the same skimmer, i think. i hated that stupid intake too (mine resides in the garage now).
often times it would be difficult to see the blockage on the opposite side of the venturi tube and often it would be operating poorly with a blockage and i would be completely unaware until my tank started to look bad.
in it's last days i just threw an airstone in it as opposed to relying on the venturi.. it worked a heck of alot better that way.

another poor trait of this skimmer is the inabilty to clean the internal surfaces of the skimmer. the inner discharge bulkhead area is still clogged with tube worm husks and other invert skeltons... this can and did cause overflowing.

He he, what I do sometimes is run the thing on a timer, that way when it is off, some of the debris clogging it falls away, and it works a little better.

I need to just chuck it though.