Coralife 65 Floor Flooder

[Brent F]

A fix for it is to drill a hose near the top of the collecton cup and install an overflow line back to your sump. That way, if something goes wrong and the skimmer starts pumping water into the cup it won't end up on the floor. I had to do that with my Corallife 220 and my Red Sea Prism (which is far worse for overflowing).

The last time I had a problem with mine was when I added a large rock to the tank. It raised the water level in the sump enough to cause the skimmer to start filling the cup with water. I heard it and was able to turn it off without a flood.

The key to the corallife working correctly is stable water levels

[tang daddy]

As a once quite knowledgeable fellow said to me,

"You Get What You Pay For"

I laughed at him and said my budget is X and this is all I can spend, the coralife 250 is a great skimmer and pulls skimate like all the others so why would I spend 200 bucks more.

When I had the first flood in my room I spent half a day sopping up wet stinky carpets for 6 hrs and thought to myself buddy knew what he was talkin about!!

The second time it happened was the same scenario as the first time only this time I had spent even longer cleaning. Out of sheer frustration and back breaking work I swore to myself that I was going to get a more reliable skimmer.

The way I see it is this Coralife makes cheap skimmers!
They work well if you keep up with the maintanence and the water level in your tank does not fluctuate. Because alot of us run lights, flow, open tops etc. there is a considerable amount of water evaporation this fluctuation causes a cheap skimmer^ to overflow, even if you went with a more reliable skimmer it would do the same infact any skimmer with dropping water level will cause it to react this way.

Understanding the basics on how skimmers will act you may help yourself from flooding again.

Is there any way you could incorporate a sump into your system?

If so then you could run your skimmer inside the sump and hopefully never deal with this situation again.

If you cant do that then there are more reliable hang on skimmers that upon the collector cup filling it dumps it back into your tank.
I don't see this option being a good one because a concetrated amount of skimmate being poured into your tank can be very stressfull to your corals depending on size of your system and how much time it has to mix back before entering the system.

I would definately spend the extra money and get a in sump skimmer with a sump.

Or the last option is to not use a skimmer at all and just do larger water changes!

I hope this helps you in your quest to resolving your problem, coming back to a flood is always hard to deal with to boot the clean up sucks.

[b-diddy]

Originally Posted by rjanzen

I bought this same skimmer and also had floods. The problem is when salt builds up in the air intake nozzle and blocks the flow of air into the powerhead. If you place your finger over the air intake, you will see the collection cup rapidly fill with water. If you poke a toothpick once a week into the air intake you should not have any floods.

HEY THANKS! This is what I was looking for.

I think I'm going to punt this thing out the door and send the pieces back to the factory with a picture of my middle finger. I'm so unimpressed with their "customer service" right now that being a child would likely make me feel a little better.

I'm going to be looking at the Remora Pro hang on skimmer as another poster mentioned they were decent and don't fail. I like that idea right now.

[b-diddy]

Originally Posted by tang daddy

As a once quite knowledgeable fellow said to me,

"You Get What You Pay For"

I laughed at him and said my budget is X and this is all I can spend, the coralife 250 is a great skimmer and pulls skimate like all the others so why would I spend 200 bucks more.

When I had the first flood in my room I spent half a day sopping up wet stinky carpets for 6 hrs and thought to myself buddy knew what he was talkin about!!

The second time it happened was the same scenario as the first time only this time I had spent even longer cleaning. Out of sheer frustration and back breaking work I swore to myself that I was going to get a more reliable skimmer.

The way I see it is this Coralife makes cheap skimmers!
They work well if you keep up with the maintanence and the water level in your tank does not fluctuate. Because alot of us run lights, flow, open tops etc. there is a considerable amount of water evaporation this fluctuation causes a cheap skimmer^ to overflow, even if you went with a more reliable skimmer it would do the same infact any skimmer with dropping water level will cause it to react this way.

Understanding the basics on how skimmers will act you may help yourself from flooding again.

Is there any way you could incorporate a sump into your system?

If so then you could run your skimmer inside the sump and hopefully never deal with this situation again.

If you cant do that then there are more reliable hang on skimmers that upon the collector cup filling it dumps it back into your tank.
I don't see this option being a good one because a concetrated amount of skimmate being poured into your tank can be very stressfull to your corals depending on size of your system and how much time it has to mix back before entering the system.

I would definately spend the extra money and get a in sump skimmer with a sump.

Or the last option is to not use a skimmer at all and just do larger water changes!

I hope this helps you in your quest to resolving your problem, coming back to a flood is always hard to deal with to boot the clean up sucks.

BEST POST OF THE WEEK! I can't tell you how helpful this one has been. I'm going to print it off - take a look at my options.. and look at my in sump possibilities. Question is though - how does a person put a sump onto a tank that doesn't have the space for one inside? I'm really new to this but like the idea of not having a hang on at the back that could potentially blow up anytime.

I've always believes in the "you get what you pay for" but didn't think I'd end up worse off for buying a cheap product. I figured it would just "suck" a little less. Instead it SUCKED A LOT MORE!

[digital-audiophile]

Whats the space under your tank like, You can get a sump built to just about any dimension you need and look at your skimmer selection as to what would fit in there?

[b-diddy]

Originally Posted by digital-audiophile

Whats the space under your tank like, You can get a sump built to just about any dimension you need and look at your skimmer selection as to what would fit in there?

It's on a funky black metal stand - I've got about 3 feet underneath I could use.

Who builds sumps? Is it a "do it yerself" project?

What's involved?

I'm lazy enough that I'd be OK just buying one if they come pre-done somewhere.

[dsaundry]

So many manufactures...Pinto, Edsel, Vega, Slimfast, Spray on hair, The list goes on and on. And yet we still buy them AHHHHHHHHHH!

Lots of junk getting bought and sold in any industry....

[b-diddy]

Originally Posted by dsaundry

So many manufactures...Pinto, Edsel, Vega, Slimfast, Spray on hair, The list goes on and on. And yet we still buy them AHHHHHHHHHH!

Lots of junk getting bought and sold in any industry....

Sucks for newbies like me trying to make purchases with a budget.

Is a $9000 skimmer better than a $100 one? Is it $8900 dollars better?

There should be a consumer report site for EVERYTHING out there.

I can buy a magazine for lemon cars to buy but who talks about crapper skimmers? I guess that's why I'm here.

Now... gotta get back to my slimfast and spray on hair. I'm a 600 lb Gorilla right now and I'm trying to perfect my look.

[kwirky]

Originally Posted by b-diddy

Sucks for newbies like me trying to make purchases with a budget.

Is a $9000 skimmer better than a $100 one? Is it $8900 dollars better?

There should be a consumer report site for EVERYTHING out there.

I can buy a magazine for lemon cars to buy but who talks about crapper skimmers? I guess that's why I'm here.

Now... gotta get back to my slimfast and spray on hair. I'm a 600 lb Gorilla right now and I'm trying to perfect my look.

a "consumer report site" for marine aquarium gear ain't gonna happen. the car market's a bajillion times larger than our elitist saltwater market. More revenue's collected from toasters than protein skimmers in north america

small tank HOB skimmer that's the "safest" yet not $500+ would be the aqua-c remora. it's designed so that it "can't" overflow (goes back into the skimmer).

As for the difference in quality/performance between cheap and expensive skimmers it's all relative really for in sump skimmers but quite drastic for HOB models. A bubbleking is pretty kick *** but they really only skim more than 20% more than a euroreef in most cases (at the most). The price difference is in build quality. If you have the time to clean your pump every 3-6 months then go with the euroreef. if you have cash to blow like some advantaged people have then go with the bubbleking.

As for HOB skimmers there is a much more noticable difference in price/quality between most models. It seems the HOB skimmer market is full of junk because of the large market for them. Some company needs to get their rear in gear and release an up-to-date needlewheel/meshwheel model that's well priced for the HOB market (like a HOB euroreef or the likes). People needing HOB skimmers usually don't have as large a budget as those needing in sump (or even external) skimmers.

Very few people buy a deltec HOB skimmer compared to the people buying bubblekings. and some products like the rio nano-skimmer should be boycotted. but that's my opinion. not fact.

[Der_Iron_Chef]

I have a Deltec HOB skimmer and it kicks a$$. Only problem is...it's WAY too much skimmer for my tank! I had it offline for two weeks and cranked it back up yesterday. It skimmed like mad for 6 hours and now....I guess not too much left to skim. Heh.