OMG! Thinking of Getting Remora Skimmers, Need Advice Please

[danny zubot]

Geeez Bev, whats next? A sump?

Though I can't comment on the remora, and though everyone has already preached the skimmers to death already. I can relate one tidbit; My skimmer pump crapped out a while back for a few days, and altough algae growth on the glass is common in my tank, it grew much faster with now skimmer. I like the effects I see after cleaning my skimmer, then seeing the tank much cleaner a day later.

I hope the remora or whatever you choose will work for you, I hope they are less maintainence then mine.

[Funky_Fish14]

Originally Posted by Samw

The Bakpak has a return pipe but the Remora doesn't have a return pipe. The Remora just has a big opening for return so there's almost no chance of a snail clogging up the return on Remora.

DOH! Well, that'll teach me!

Thanks for pointing it out

[fkshiu]

I found the pre-filter box took up too much room and had trouble adjusting to changing water levels.

My setup is a Hagen surface skimmer intake hooked up to a Mag5 up to the Remora through a ball valve to control flow. The Mag is sitting behind live rock on top of my PVC rock rack so all you see is the tubing going up to the intake. The Hagen surface skimmer has a floating intake so changing water levels and water surface movement does not affect it.

As mentioned, I also muffled the sound with a wet paper towel stuffed on top of the injector.

I elminated micro-bubbles by cutting a slit down an AC filter sponge and slipping it over the Remora's return outlet lip. I change the sponge once a week to prevent nitrate build-up.

[Quagmire]

Ive been planning on replacing the skimmer on one of my tanks with a Remora,Pro and 99% of what Ive read was good.But I have to ask.Bev your doing well without skimmers,why fix it if it aint broke?

[Beverly]

My setup is a Hagen surface skimmer intake hooked up to a Mag5 up to the Remora through a ball valve to control flow.

fkshiu,

Interesting adaptation. Is this the surface skimmer you're talking about? How well does the skimmer work if there is quite a bit of surface scum? I wouldn't use Remora Pros on my 37g and 67g, only Remoras. Do you think the suface skimmer would fit the Maxi Jet 1200 that comes with these skimmers?

Bev your doing well without skimmers,why fix it if it aint broke?

Quagmire,

I'm not sure if my tanks are running up to snuff. I mean, they could very well be, but I'm wondering if skimmers might not improve them. Honestly, I've got a lot of thinking to do on this issue.

Do you run skimmers on your tanks?

[J Feez]

Hi Bev,

I don't know if this will help at all, but I've been having issues with too many micro bubbles that my skimmer likes to create. So I've decided to switch the actual skimming of my skimmer off (just turning off the air intake), but leave the pump on just for the added airflow. Anyways, the moral of the story is, I will let you know if I see a big difference in my tank without having a "skimmer" on it as I've been running one for the past 4 months.

[Quagmire]

Originally Posted by Beverly

Do you run skimmers on your tanks?

I have 2 tanks running,one with a small homemade jobby that I want to replace,and one without a skimmer.Both are doing well,but the skimmerless has more hair algea.

[marie]

Good question, Marie. Right off the top of my head, I would answer that so many people talk about how useful skimming is and they have the skimmate to prove it. However, I'd have to think about your question more to provide a more rounded answer.

I have a few questions about the tanks you skim and the one you don't....

- Why do you think you have more algae problems in your skimmed tanks than in the one you don't skim? Larger bioloads that the skimmers are unable to keep up with, maybe? Or other factors? I would have thought skimming would reduce algae problems, if all your tanks were similar in feeding and bioloads.

- Why do you think you have more sponges and feather dusters in the non-skimmed tank than in the skimmed ones? Could there be predators in the skimmed tanks that eat dusters that do not reside in your non-skimmed tank?

The tank that is skimmerless doesn't have less algae but it doesn't have more either. The only real problem I have is the film on the glass, I do have to clean it a lot more often on the skimmerless tank which I think is the reason the sponges and feathers are doing much better in this tank...more phytoplankton for them .

I did put a skimmer on this tank for about 3 weeks but took it off because there was no real change (I know 3 weeks probably wasn't long enough) and because the tank is viewed from 3 sides and there was no room on the 4th side the skimmer looked ugly.

[fkshiu]

[quote=Beverly]fkshiu,

Interesting adaptation. Is this the surface skimmer you're talking about? How well does the skimmer work if there is quite a bit of surface scum? I wouldn't use Remora Pros on my 37g and 67g, only Remoras. Do you think the suface skimmer would fit the Maxi Jet 1200 that comes with these skimmers?





Yup. That's the one. I got it to fit on the Mag intake the following way: surface skimmer --> a bit of 1/2" ID hose left over from my Filstar canister --> NPT barb fitting screwed into the Mag intake. It took some time at the hardware store finding the little plumbing bits and pieces, but eventually I got the setup to work.

It probably won't fit on a Maxijet very easily, but upgrading the Remora to a Mag3 and the Remora Pro to a Mag5 is the recommended pump upgrade from AquaC itself. Going from the Maxijet to the Mag in my case showed a marked improvement in performance.

The surface scum is what you're after when you're skimming! That's the organics that the skimmer will pull out before they can break down into nitrate and phosphate. Since that stuff floats to the top like any oily substance in water, your skimmer's intake position should be near the top of the water for maximum efficiency.

[golfbomber]

any other options besides the remora?