Skimmer For Eclipse 12

[Danno]

Well I decided to buy myself a present and got a new Dremel Moto Tool, and I should be getting my new Prizm Deluxe tomorrow for my Eclipse 12. Tank has been doing great, all levels are right where they should be..

 

After getting the Skimmer in will it help cut down on the water changes? Should I just leave it run all the time? Just wondering because I will be doing a lot of traveling this year and the wife doesn't like to touch the Reef Tank..

 

Also, does anyone have any advice on cutting the hood or using the Prizim Skimmer for the Eclipse 12?

 

Just got a bunch of Zoos, Mushrooms, GSP's, Flower Anenemoe, Small Xenia Frag, Plate Coral, Some sponge that came with a Gorgonian(Getting Huge Though)

 

 

36w 10000k 50/50 from ahsupply

 

2 Ocellaris Clowns

1 Algae Blenny

3 Scarlet Hermits

1 Porcelin Crab

1 Emerald Crab

1 Sand Sifting Cucumber

1 Brittle Star(Little Pig)

Bunch of Snails, 2 Turbos, about 4 Margueritas, 4 Bumble Bees, 3 Cerith...

 

Nitrate 0

Nitrite 0

Ammonia 0

Ph 8.1 - 8.3

SG 1.025

[Aiptasia]

Wow, that's a lot of biomass. If your tank is doing that well, and your nitrogen cycle is reading nil across the board, you can probably skip the skimmer.

 

Skimmers remove organic crud from your water before it has a chance to break down into ammonia. It also will deplete your tank water of iodine/iodide, so if you begin using the skimmer, you'll need to replace it with either supplimentation or with more frequent water changes.

 

Personally, I think your tank is totally balanced out, and I wouldn't add anything at this point, just follow your usual maint. routine doing water changes, and teach your spouse your methods so that she can perform those tasks while you're away.

The more you add to the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain.

 

I own a prizm deluxe, but I have no idea how to adapt it to the eclipse tank hood. You may have to get creative with a hacksaw. If I remember right, the eclipse hoods also have a biofilter built in, so be careful if you're using the bio filter not to carve up anything crucial.

 

If you just bought the standard prizm (not the deluxe), i'd recommend picking up the parts to make it a deluxe, namely the overflow skim cup and the media basket. Since what you want to skim off is going to be concentrated in the upper 1" of water in the tank, the overflow cup is invaluable. The media basket is also a nice feature. If you have an emergency, you can fill it with reef carbon or a product like purigen (ex: dead coral, algae gone sexual) and use it to filter the water. Even if you leave it empty, it will greatly reduce the amount of microbubbles the unit spits back into the tank.

 

One other tip, the venturi tube doesn't have a noise filter. If you have the parts lying around for a powerhead that has a noise filter, stick it on the end of the tube on the prizm and you can greatly reduce the noise (won't gurgle all the time).

[Danno]

Thanks for your advice.. Ill try to train the wife, but I dont think Ill have much luck with that.. She sees all those crawlies in there and gets grossed out.

 

Yea the BioMass is kind of high.. But a month back I had A HUGE algae breakout in the tank and no matter what I did i couldnt get rid of all that hair alge.. But the emerald crab made short work of that and Scooter the Algae blenny Loves to eat any other algae and Loves eating those nasty Diatoms.. Scooter's just to damn cute to get rid of so he's gotta stay.. But, I would like to get that anenemoe out of the tank I got him when I first got the tank and hes just gotten to huge. I got a lfs that said they would take him, but I cant get him out of the tank.. Jush shrinks down when I grab him. Hes got his base under a large rock.. So i dont want to hurt him..