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Lee Skimmer, are they worth it?


reefskunk

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Im starting a ten gallon that at most will have maybe half dozen mushroom types, lightly loaded, and at most two juvenile perculas.Still doing bi weekly water changes, can i get away with the cheap Lee skimmer, or would a visi jet PS be better?

 

-a

 

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15g tall, 12lbs fiji, 10 lbs. Florida, 32w smartlight retro,1 royal gramma, 1 maroon clown, 1 randall's goby, various corals, polyps,mushrooms, etc.

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i'd pass and go with the prizm but i don't have any personal exp. with lee's. ???

 

i'm using the berlin air luft for comparison in my mind. the prizm's outside the tank and adds about 1g of capacity too, besides being more aggressive in extraction imo.

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imo prizms are very good for nano~40g tanks. they're out of the tank and don't need a sump and relatively cheap. i clean my units every week as part of the little maintenance i can motivate myself to do :P .

 

cons: ime i have a heck of a time with their motors. they konk out every year on the dot for some reason (scale buildup?). i have three prizms and i've bought six motors for two of them. :o (they work when they work though) :*(

 

i used to use the cpr but it was too tempermental. i hear good things about the remora and the berlin's are good but $$$

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Definitely do not waste your money on the lees skimmer, its a joke and will do nothing but take up space. Wait and save your money until you are ready to buy either a cpr,remora, or prism. Or go without the skimmer on a ten.

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yep what Bryan said. Also a 10 is less than 12 inches tall, are u using a stand that has rear clearance? if not, try.. www.aqua-medic.com they have a Biostr HOB with a biowheel.. It JUST came out, so If U would like to be a GinneaPig, go for it !

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i guess the verdict is in....might as well skip the skimmer altogether and do the water change more often. The reason a skimmer is useful though is for that week you go on vacation or it slips your mind to do a water change EVERY week. I know you guys are looking at me with dissappointment, but i got other things to do, like a job and school. I'll try it though. Thanks a million.

 

-a

 

stay on the reefer, uh, i mean, reefing.

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I use a Prizm on my 10 and it does wonders. From what I can tell, it doesn't overskim the tank, which I tend to think is a possibility with high end skimmers on a small nano. My Prizm produces green and yellow muck every day in the collection cup and that is enough for me to say go with a skimmer. I don't want that stuff breaking down in the water. But there is definitely a solid arguement for no skimmer if you keep up the water changes. Call me lazy, but I shoot for 3-4 week water changes. Just comes down to your own preferance really. I wouldn't go with the Lee just because it takes up the internal space... I was able to pick up a Prizm for $74 total cost including shipping. Well worth it.

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printerdown01

I don't see a need for a skimmer unless you tank produces a massive amount of waste for some reason... A ten gallon should be just fine with bi-weekely water changes!! If you go on vacation, NO WORRIES! If your tank is stable it sould be just fine... I just got back from a two week vacation (the person feeding my fish, didn't do a water change -that would be way over the top). And my tank is fine... Not to mention that it probably should have had one when I left -so that makes it about 3 weeks overdue.... Everything is happy happy happy.... But it is getting a change today...

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Spoondigity, about the Prizm skimmer, where does it go in relation to the tank? It is HOB, or goes on the floor? Sorry, I have no clue. I have a 12 gallon eclipse, and I would consider one. I would like to imagine how would it be like.

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Sorry Chufa,

 

Didn't realize you had asked a question here. The Prizm hangs on the back. It is about 2.5 inches deep (how far the tank has to be from the wall behind it). I think it takes up about 9 inches along the back of the tank and it hangs down roughtly 3/4 the way of the back of my 10 gallon. The only negative I hear from some people is that they are too loud. Some of this was because they used to come with a 12 blade motor but they changed that to an 18 blade motor and it was supposed to have reduced the noise (I never heard the old one). I keep mine in my room and it doesn't bother me, but then I do have a fan going at night so I don't hear the water sound. I have been told that some skimmers can over skim a nano so be careful in your choice.

 

Also, with all skimmers, there is a break in time. They tend to over react when you first get them. Let it run for several days to settle in. Any changes you make to your water (with any skimmer) will effect its operation so watch it when you add things to the tank. If the Prizm cup (it is a large cup) overflows, it just drains into the outflow so no big deal, but you hate for dirty water to go back in.

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thank you! One problem I have is that the eclipse hood will probably have to be cut to equip a skimmer like this. But I don't plan to add one for a while, but nevertheless I like to be informed in case I decide to go for one.

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