Prizm Skimmer
The Prism is an adequate skimmer, with a half-decent effectiveness considering its price. That said, they are only good for very small systems and I find mine to be very high maintenance compared to my counter-current airstone skimmer, which I find to be just as effective. But it really is too high a maintenance item for my liking. My two complaints about the Prism are thus: 1) My U-tube loses siphon daily. I have to reprime the U-tube every day. Every day. Ok, so all I have to do is pinch off the airline for about 5 minutes (or attach it to the priming terminal on the collection cup), so it's not like it's a huge amount of work, but I am rather annoyed that I have to do this every day. Did I mention that I have to do this every day. 2) It seems to need to be kept insanely clean. For the first few months it was an awesome skimmer (because it was very clean for having been new). Nowadays with snails, feather dusters, chitons, etc. making their way into the skimmer, it needs to be cleaned out very often. And I mean, take it to the car wash and pressure blast it kind of clean. Because when it is not clean, it does not skim. I have to clean out my skimmer every 4-5 days like this otherwise it's basically not skimming my tank. By comparison, I have two other tanks, one is run by a RSB hang-on and the other an airstone counter-current type. I have to clean those skimmers out about once a month to my once a week for the Prism. Yeah, they get major dirty during that time but the nice thing is that they still perform when slightly dirty whereas the Prism seems to not be able to handle the slightest amount of slime buildup anywhere within itself (including the overflow).
Now, these might be minor complaints. I don't know, it's going to depend on an individual's tolerances. If I had just the one tank, I might tolerate better the increased maintenance schedule. But with three tanks I look for every shortcut I can take otherwise all I'd ever be doing is fussing with this or that (once in a while I like to just sit back and enjoy the tanks for what they are without having to mess about with something or other! [img]smile.gif[/img] )
So .... in conclusion, it is a "not too bad" skimmer given its low-end price (it was cheaper than my airstone counter-current skimmer which I bought used!). There are days I think "yeah this skimmer is OK." Then there are days I want to throw it in the trash. So ... ultimately, I myself wouldn't get another one.
If you've already plunked down the cash for one, don't despair. Mine was a good skimmer for the first little while. It's just that it's not aging gracefully. But if you keep it clean (and I mean CLEAN) you will not be too unhappy with it.
A year from now though you may be looking at a Berlin or a Precision Marine 426 or heck, even a EuroReef and you will be thinking "oh man .... I want one of those." Of course, that's the nature of this hobby altogether though, so that's really not saying much. ;)
cheers
[ 09 September 2002, 08:37: Message edited by: delphinus ]
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