If you like it quiet, get yourself a good sized acrylic tube, a small pump, assorted tubing, hoses & fittings, a couple of wooden air diffusers & a good quality air pump. There have been some recent studies that show there's not a huge difference in the amount of organics removed by a high priced skimmer vs an old school diy counter current wooden air stone job. Provided the skimmer is sized reasonably close to what your tank needs, the difference in skimmer technology will be neglibible. Main factors to effective skimming are bubbles as small as possible & maximum contact time between bubbles & water. A cone, bubble plate or recirculating the water for longer contact time is not going to make a huge difference. A tall tube for maximum contact time & a couple of wooden air stones will work as well as anything out there & you'll use a lot less energy & produce much less noise.
|