Just curious if anyone is using the stock skimmer?

Want to see how it is working for you.

thanks.

I use it. I did the mesh impeller mod on it though, works pretty good.

Bruce

I use it. Works well!

Hey bruce, does it still makes loud sound after you mod it? let me know if its very quiet. i would like to hear more about this.

what is the mesh mod?

The mesh mod is a modification to the stock impeller where the vanes are either removed or trimmed down to make way for a mesh disc that produces far more fine bubbles than the stock impeller vanes. This link illustrates the technique. Looks like a pain in the rear though. Too bad Stevie isn't making them... And the OP's question remains unanswered. All I can add is that my stock Solana skimmer is the loudest thing in my family room (after the TV and 8 year old).

I've been using it for a few months. Initially when I set the tank up I chose not to use it. But after having some algae issues I decided to give it a try. I'm pretty sure it helped clear up my algae problem. And it seemed to produce some great skimmate... for a while. At this point though it doesn't seem to be producing much skimmate at all. I've adjusted the cup countless times both up and down and all I seem to get is tank water. I also have a slight micro-bubble issue with my tank and I think it is the stock skimmer. I need to take the whole thing out and examine it and maybe clean it up a bit. I just haven't felt like doing it lately. I'd really like to replace the whole thing with a Tunze 9002.

I am running the stock skimmer, and yeah....it is loud. But I find that it works well, and like every skimmer out there it needs some time to break in.

I run mine on a timer and have it run for about 12 hours during the evening. This way the noise doesn't bother me during the day. I do find that I need to be fairly religious on my weekly water changes with this schedule, otherwise I tend to get some nuisance algae outbreaks. Right now I get about 1/2" of dark skim mate out of the skimmer per day.

Hope this helps.

There's lot's of ways to do the mesh mod. I drilled two holes in each impeller blade and then sewed in scotchbrite triangles using dental floss. Others have cut off the impeller blades and then glued a donut of Enkamat to the impeller nub. I don't recommend scotchbrite as it shredded a bit but the idea should work well with Enkamat. For me the mod improved performance slightly but made the skimmer much quieter.

Hmmm, hadn't considered the skimmer-on-a-timer model. So running only 12 hours a day, do you find it has to "break in" for a while every time it comes on?

I don't think it needs to break-in every restart, but I am not positive. I get good skimmate from it, but the past couple of days I have been running it 24x7 to try and clear up an algae issue I have been having. Not sure if it is related to the skimmer or not, but at the moment I am trying to get all excess nutrients out of the tank.

It is important to note that I have a pretty low bio-load, only a single fish (maroon clown) and some basic inverts and coral. So while it might work for me, if you have a higher bio-load you might want to run it longer.

My Solana just turned a year old and I have always used the stock skimmer. Always produces plenty of skimmate. Not sure what all the complaints are about noise, mine is fine in the living room. If it was in the bedroom I might have a problem.