Attempting to mod a Biocube nano skimmer

[hochunk]

So I have one of those craptastic Biocube skimmers, and I was thinking about modding it to see if I could get it to perform better. I was planning on getting one of those inexpensive powerheads from Walmart that have the venturi attachment, and using that to drive the skimmer instead of an airstone. On top of that, I was going to cut down a gravel siphon tube of similar diameter and use that for the skimmer column instead of the short column they give you, hopefully doubling the lenght and increasing the contact time. Any thoughts on how this is going to work? I would rather purchase a retail skimmer than futzing with this, but so far I haven't found anything that will fit in the back compartment of my 12 gallon jbj nano.