Modification of inexpensive skimmer

[tigerman66]

So here is the deal.  I bought a inexpensive air driven ( ok, cheap )  protein skimmer off ebay from China.  I have it in my 20 gallon long salt water, reef tank.  Only 3 small fish and some hermits in the tank with my corals.  The skimmer does produce skimmate in the collection cup but I have no idea if there is protein in it or just salt water.  It is set to run mostly wet.  My observation is that not much tank water is being passed through the skimmer main tube. The only way in for the water is from the wide open bottom. Should I drill a few holes near the top of the main tube to let some tank water in?

And maybe even add some large bubbles at the bottom of the main tube to force water up into it ?

[Boggers]

No and No.

 

Drilling holes will not help as it will only raise the water level and make it run even more on the wet side. Similar to putting a skimmer in a deeper fuge. It will just over flow.

 

 

as for the larger bubbles that is counter productive. you want the smallest bubbles. This is because of how skimmers function. some of the dirt and organics is trapped in those bubbles and it gets pushed to the surface and pops in the collection cup. bigger bubbles do not translate to more organics being removed.

[tigerman66]

thanks for your input but I know how skimmers work.  Yes small bubbles are needed but larger bubbles at the bottom would force some more water from the tank into the chamber to be mixed with the smaller bubbles.  This I have seen demonstrated on some websites.

As it works right now there is a small amount of tank water being worked on.  Anyway you see to increase tank water in the chamber ?   And no I am not going to buy a expensive skimmer.   regards