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Hi buddyboy,

One simple solution is to buy a surface skimmer made by aquaclear. It has some adaptors to fit various intake sizes and simply splits the intake draw from mid tank and surface. Here's a pic of one attached to an A.C. unit on my old 33G. It cost about $17.99
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d1...r/100_1010.jpg

Of course, it doesn't take the place of drilling but it did effectively remove the surface layer of dissolved organic material.
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Harley-Davidson XL883

Do you feed lot's of fatty foods?

If you try to use a little bit more dry food like New Life Spectrum you may see this disappear.

Just a thought. :)

Good point G1GY! But I couldn't deprive my clowns of their MYSIS!

In any case, thanks all the great suggestions!!! Maybe i'll look around for a used CPR overflow. Has anyone tried to fit a 10G tank under their 55G/38G/29G/20G stand? Can you squeeze it in there?

Also, Samw, i'm just curious but what is an open loop protein skimmer (with AquaC Urchin)?

I've read that term applied to skimmers before. When referring to a reef system, a closed loop pump configuration refers to a pump that is just hung on the tank to move water around the tank. Whereas a pump configured for open loop pumps the water from one tank to another and the water somehow makes its way back to the original location (through pipes, overflows, etc). When the term is applied to skimmers, it is similar. A closed loop skimmer recirculates the water inside the skimmer and doesn't actively draw water into it from the tank. Water from the skimmer and the tank is passively exchanged through small holes or openings. An example is the Tunze 3110 and all Co-Current skimmers such as the Coralife Co-Current Super Skimmer (airstone driven). An open loop skimmer draws water from outside the skimmer, where the water is skimmed inside, and then the water is returned to its original location.

After having taken DO measurements using various skimmers, I have seen that open loop skimmers did increase DO levels in my tank whereas similarly powered closed loop skimmers did not (meaning the closed loop skimmers couldn't keep up with the oxygen demands of my tank).

I don't believe that at all.......I have no returns above the water cause I don't like the sound of it......and I have never had scum on the water top......If your gonna go with a sump then all you need us enough water turn over to keep them scum away from the surface.....so in other words take the size of you water volume...Multiply it by 4 or 5 and that's how much turn over you will need!!!

I mentioned later on that I forgot my system is reversed from the typical system. I don't have an overflow in my main tank thus you can see the surface scum from my pic. I didn't make that up. Basically, I'm saying that I made a mistake in my first post because my main tank IS like a typical SUMP and my sump is like the typical main tank.

I second this idea. I have these things on both of my sumpless tanks and the surface of my water is wonderfully clear. Try and hook it up to feed your protein skimmer for added benefit.