jdsabin1 Posted July 5, 2003 Share Posted July 5, 2003 I am planning my 20 long and would like to put a skimmer in the back of the CPR Aquafuge that I plan on putting the tank on. I have searched here and at RC and see the Piccolo (Sanders), Lee's and Coralife skimmers all mentioned as possibilities. Does anyone have any one of these in an aquafuge at all? As a sidenote, anyone know somewhere I could get a Piccolo is that was what I decided to go with? I saw a post earlier that has a phone number but for some reason I could not even get through trying it. Any help greatly appreciated! Link to comment
tinyreef Posted July 5, 2003 Share Posted July 5, 2003 i'm using the coralife in my aquafuge-small (which is more like a sump in my setup tho). any of them are very good imo and they all fit. (assuming 'fit' was the question) Link to comment
jdsabin1 Posted July 5, 2003 Author Share Posted July 5, 2003 Thanks! That's great to know. I read where the piccolo could work in less water than the other two and I know the aquafuges are only 12" tall so I wanted to make sure that the Lee's AND the Coralife would work since I read where they were actually larger. Any pics of your setup with the fuge/skimmer you could share by any chance tiny? Thanks! Link to comment
tinyreef Posted July 5, 2003 Share Posted July 5, 2003 this pic's a little dated tho. the coralife that i had in this pic i had shaved down a couple of inches because i had a sandbed in the fuge at that time. i've since removed that sandbed and got a new coralife (full-size) to fit in there. same position/height, only now the skimmer rests on the bottom so i have the full length/height of the reaction chamber. fyi, my aquafuge is in reverse position (i.e. the normal intake side is just flipped around to be the outflow). i did it this way so that where it's fed there's the taller baffle to reduce turbulence. just in case the positioning was throwing you off. hth Link to comment
Yup Posted July 7, 2003 Share Posted July 7, 2003 Just so you know..... The small coralife has been discontinued. I tried to buy one 3 months ago, and web-stores will show them on line, but can't get them anymore. I tried 3 places, and waited weeks, just to have each one tell me 3 weeks later they couldn't get it. So I went for the piccolo. The Lee's is pretty tall compared to the pic. So make sure you get dimentions before you buy any. Link to comment
jdsabin1 Posted July 7, 2003 Author Share Posted July 7, 2003 Thanks yup. Looks like the piccolo for me if I can only find one of the damn things now. Grrrr.... Link to comment
tinyreef Posted July 7, 2003 Share Posted July 7, 2003 y'know this is the 2nd time i've kept calling my Lee's a Coralife for some bizzaro old-age reason. i am so sorry. it wasn't until yup posted that it clicked in my brain, "hey doofus, you have a lee's not a coralife!" X) the last post where i did the exact same thing was a couple of months ago. i can remember the mistakes but not the reasons. i wanted to get the coralife and searched all around just like yup mentioned but had to settle for the lee's (which ain't bad tho imo). ffexpress carried the coralife but they got eaten up by the doctors. btw for those in the nj area, absolutely fish on rt. 46 carried coralife's the last time i saw. just too $$ for me since i knew the online price. Link to comment
Yup Posted July 7, 2003 Share Posted July 7, 2003 There is another post about piccolo's right now, go to it and the number where you can order one will appear multiple times. From what everyone has said, after my initial purchase from the store, the guy started to stock them. Link to comment
Wasabi Posted July 7, 2003 Share Posted July 7, 2003 I called Chuck at that number Saturday and he said he was all out. I mentioned that I had got his number here and if he stocked up on them he would sell a boat load. Very nice guy Chuck is and I think he'll be getting some more in. Also, I saw on the Sander site that there is a new improved 8" skimmer(Maxi-Skim?). Has anyone had a chance to use one yet? If so, how does it compare to the Piccolo? I may have Chuck order me one of those if he can get them. Here's the link to All Things Fishy(where you can find Chuck and Piccolos): http://www.allthingsfishy.com/ Scott Link to comment
jdsabin1 Posted July 9, 2003 Author Share Posted July 9, 2003 Originally posted by tinyreef the coralife that i had in this pic i had shaved down a couple of inches because i had a sandbed in the fuge at that time. Hey Tiny, How hard was it to trim that skimmer? I bought the same one and it is also going in a HOB AquaFuge and I am having sand in the bottom of it so I do believe I will have to trim it. What did you use and was it straightforward to do? Thanks! -Jeff Link to comment
tinyreef Posted July 10, 2003 Share Posted July 10, 2003 got the PM i actually had an upright band saw to work with. that made it very easy. without it i would think it would be very messy. i would've lost some of my butterfingers. X) i'd suggest leaving the skimmer the full height to retain the reaction/dwell time and just section off a portion in the fuge for it due to the sandbed you're planning. Link to comment
jdsabin1 Posted July 10, 2003 Author Share Posted July 10, 2003 Originally posted by tinyreef i'd suggest leaving the skimmer the full height to retain the reaction/dwell time and just section off a portion in the fuge for it due to the sandbed you're planning. I'll use your suggestion if you could kindly recommend the easiest and most straightforward way to 'section off a portion in the fuge for it' since I am a complete newbie when it comes to any of this. Thanks for all your help by the way. -Jeff Link to comment
tinyreef Posted July 10, 2003 Share Posted July 10, 2003 one really good way to section off is to use a tank divider. you'd have to trim down the screen to fit between the fuge walls but that can easily be done with scissors. an interesting format i'm using on a sump is two dividers holding substrate/media in-between them. it's sorta like a vertical sandbed. it gives you a baffling effect, good aragonite dissolution, immense surface area in a teeny weeny space, and incredible cosmic power. (ok not the last one) i have a pic in the adv. forum under the 'cryptic filtration thread' (i think, it's been a while). if you don't want to spend the $$$ for a divider (you cheap bastage! ), then try using a bag of marble for a sandbag effect. the immediate substrate next to it should be coarse, of course (e.g. bag then crushed coral then sand). btw the skimmer can be buried in a little sand as long as its intake or outflows aren't buried. just makes maintenance a little hairier later on. hth Link to comment
jdsabin1 Posted July 10, 2003 Author Share Posted July 10, 2003 A few last questions and I swear I will leave you alone . Where can you buy this tank divider/screen material? I checked Marine Depot and Fosters but must have not looked in the right place? Also, I have one of Cameron's Auto-topoff systems. Will I be able to put the topoff switch in the fuge rather than the main tank? Right now I am using an AQ 150 HOB with the AQ surface skimmer attachment. I was thinking about continuing to use the HOB and surface skimmer attachment, as well as use the Aquafuge on the new 20 long. Do you see any drawbacks to this approach? Thanks man! Link to comment
tinyreef Posted July 10, 2003 Share Posted July 10, 2003 here's the thread i mentioned before Environmental Gradient i dunno wtf dave was talking about with that term. here's the tank divider link, divider anything else? a cappucino or espresso from the lounge perhaps. or maybe a tall glass of whoopass. don't worry about bothering me jdsa, s'ok. i just put you on my ignore list. jk go ahead and ask new questions, it shows you're thinking. ask the same old questions, it shows you're not. Link to comment
jdsabin1 Posted July 10, 2003 Author Share Posted July 10, 2003 Thanks for the links. I found your post that you referenced earlier. Is the divider material fairly straightforward to cut? If it is I will go ahead and order the 'super' size so I have plenty to use. -Jeff Link to comment
tinyreef Posted July 10, 2003 Share Posted July 10, 2003 yeah, it's very easy to cut. i figure it's like cutting cardboard-like. the critical dimension is the height as you want to want the most stability the brackets can offer. as you note, taller/bigger is better, you can always cut it back down. hth Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.