What is "THE" HOB Protein Skimmer
 

So I started my setup with the eshopps PSK-100H and it is pulling tons of gross crud from my tank. I've got no issues with how much foam it's producing. My problem is micro-bubbles. I've done just about everything I can think of in terms of twisting the adjustment pipe on the return pipes but I am getting a constant stream of micro-bubbles from it. The tank has been going for roughly 2.5 weeks and everything I've read said that the skimmer would settle down within a couple days.

So if this continues much longer I will be looking for a new HOB Skimmer. I'd like opinions from people on which is THE HOB skimmer, the best one, quietest, least bubbles, etc.

I've had 3 different HOB skimmers and did not find one that did not produce bubbles to some extent no matter how much adjusting I did. I just learned to live with them. Hopefully someone else has better experience!

That's not very encouraging news...

I used the aqua C remora HOB never had an issue with micro bubbles

I started with a DIY HOB skimmer that came with the used set up I purchased. It was an old school, wooden air diffuser, counter current unit, run by a small air pump & a small powerhead. Worked fine, very quiet. If quiet is what you're looking for, don't pooh pooh this old school technology, it does the job.

A year or so later, I purchased a second used tank from a local who was shutting his down. It came with a Remora C HOB skimmer. Supposed to be so much better than old school I had, so decided to give it a go. It turned out to be the noisiest thing in the house & the skimmate it produced was only ever a thin tea. My wooden air diffuser unit produced bona fide sludge, was quiet & used about half the electricity as the Remora. I finally cracked the intake on the Remora one day during cleaning & was happy to go back to the wooden technology!

I did a few modifications to the old skimmer, including a ball valve & slip union on the return line for improved control of water level & an air diffuser manifold so I could run two air diffusers. I've also built my own monster size wooden air diffusers out of basswood, but the last few ended up leaking due to my poor workmanship, so I'm back to store bought diffusers. I use a much larger air pump now as well & I think this helps the air diffusers last longer. I can get 6 months or better out of the diffusers, so that's not bad.

In the end, what makes a skimmer most efficient is smallest bubbles possible & maximum contact time between the bubbles & the water they are diffused into. Much of the newer technology with cones, diffuser plates etc. may help somewhat, but generally the improvement is negligible over old tech, especially when you consider what they charge for some of these things. I've seen few methods that create finer bubbles than a wooden air diffuser and with a long tube & small power head to circulate the water slowly to maximize contact time, the results are more than adequate.

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Downside I guess, is you have to build it, unless you can find a used one somewhere. Mine is starting to have salt creep issues at some of the joints, so I'm going to have to start thinking about either repairing it, or building a new one from scratch... bigger, arrrr

Yeah, it's a little like buying a house: I'd rather buy than build :)

The skim that comes out of the PSK-100H is the blackest, nasiest, barf-inducing junk I've ever come across in Aquaria. If it weren't for the micro-bubbles my water would look invisible.

Any other recommendations on skimmers?

If it's doing such a great job producing nasty skimmate, I'd be inclined to give it a bit more time before throwing in the towel. How & where does the return line enter your display? If it's low in the water, raising it (if possible) might allow the micro bubbles to disperse to the surface before they mess up your visual enjoyment of the tank. Might also try splitting the return into multiple outlets with a tee to distribute the return flow a little. Or even a small box in the display to capture the return flow. This would contain the bubbles. It would need to have openings or be partially submersed to allow the water to escape.

Well this is all I got back from Eshopps:

So do I leave the spacer in there going forward or just the 72 hours? If the skimmer has been running almost three weeks isn't it yet used to the water conditioning? It's almost like they create a sentence and then just randomly replace words.

I'm looking at the Deltec MCE600 as a replacement. Anyone ever tried one of these?

I had a deltec Mce 600. Best hob skimmer IMO.

It did have a small amount of micro bubble but easily fixed with a sponge on the diffuser.

The Mce also house a compartment for Gfo or carbon.

I'd probably run purigen in that chamber. I have a carbon and Gfo reactor in my system already. Does anyone in Canada carry that brand and model? J&L's product line stops at the 500.