Current USA "Fission" Nanoskimmer

[NanoCube-boy]

It is the only skimmer for cube so if you want a slimmer, this is pretty much the only choose.

[Spiffyguy]

There a a few DIY options for skimmers that will work in the nano. I had an air driven one that did ok but I decided to get this one. I should have it up and mounted tonight or tomorrow so I can see how it starts work. But commercially I think this one is it until Aqua C comes out with one. Not sure if they are still even working on one.

[asiankidd2]

do you have any pics of your DIY Asiankidd? I was thinking of cutting the airline tube as well...but I don't wanna till I see what someone else has in place of it! Erin

 

 

at this time i dont, i have been playing around with it too much and i finally got it set in perfectly, once i have to take it out again i will be sure to take a picture, but its not that hard, if you look at the pump cover there are 4 holes that make up the intake, the 1 that is used is glued shut and has a small airline in place, which provides just the right amount of air needed to work, but if it should get clogges, which is bound to some time your skimmer will stop working, so to fix that i used a 5mm airline, its the standard airline uses for airpumps, and i squeezed it in on the intake grill 1 of the 4 holes, since its bigger i just dug out all the old glue and shoved this tubing in place, and at the other end of the air line i hooked up a small valve to adjust the flow, seems to be working great. If you seem to have the clogged air issue, and have tried to make it work with the stock line and it hasnt work i would just do what i did and save yourself the trouble, to be honest tho, this is my 4th day in operation and this skimmer still skims wet, but for 25 bucks who can complain...

[Spiffyguy]

I think I am going to have to do this since mine doesn't seem to be pulling in any air. I can blow into the line and bubbles appear but go away after I stop blowing. Since no air line on had that means another run to the fish store. Sigh. But I did get the to mount straight under the skimmer. I took the cracked elbow and hacked the cracked end off and dremeled it out to fit. Works nice. here is a pic.

[burtbollinger]

mine wouldnt make bubbles either. i took apart the pump, yakned out the airline hose, then....i shoved the now unattached airhose back in near the mouth of the pump, any place seems to do really, unless you jam it too far in.

 

everything then worked fine.

 

basically if u not getting bubbles, yank out the hose, shove it back in, and retry.

[asiankidd2]

i gotta admit, after thinking about it, the design of this skimmer really sucks, i hate the fact that it uses these filters to stop microbubbles, especially since they have to be replaced bi monthly. not only that but when i opened up my skimmer when it was new the person that glued the air pipe on the housing left his or her finger print there, i guess its pretty sloppy work if you ask me, and my new elbows are looking like their showing signs of cracking...oh wells imma give it a lil more time by then hopefully it starts pulling out better skimmate

[Spiffyguy]

Well mine is finally in. I mounted it to an arylic hanger I made so it won't slip. I also pulled off that small airline and put the larger on with an twist air valve. Looks good so far. Incidently one thing I do to maintain an even level of water in the back is put a piece of acrylic over the opening on the baffle between the 2nd and 3rd chamber. this keeps the water surface skimmed in the sump and also maintains the an even level in chamber 1 and 2. Hope that helps.

[AzFishFreak]

Mine came in today. I had to do the shave the elbow .25" mod to get it to fit into the 2nd chamber of my NC6. Mine came with a cracked elbow as well but someone at Marine Depot must have noticed because there was an extra elbow in the box. Along with a clip that can be used to hold it in place that was not listed anywhere in the parts listing. Looks like it mounts on the skimmer main body by the suction cups, I will try to get a pic up of it tonight. After 2.5 hours of fighting the placement its running and I only see an occasional air bubble or two, course I only have 6lbs of Live Sand in the tank and some diatoms. They only complained a little bit while I was adjusting.

[AzFishFreak]

I think I am going to just put in some Live rock and call this thing my Bubble Tank. Looks kind of like a snow storm.

[knosch09]

I gave up on mine along time ago. Bad product to say the least. Lets hope the Aqua C Nano Skimmer is better!

[reefernanoman]

hi i'm new to this forum thing, but bear with me.

I also bought a fission skimmer for my 12gallon NC. I placed it in chamber number 1 with little difficulty. I had placed it in chamber #3 but there were too many micro bubbles being sucked by my standard pump. I removed the sponges from chamber #1 and installed them in chamber #2 & 3 to reduce the amount of those damn little bubbles!. I still see a few. Maybe I need to get finer sponges huh?. Now do I need to get rid of the carbon, ceramic rings, and bio balls that came with this thing? well you guys tell me. I also installed my heater in chamber#3. One more question guys. I have a signal goby, but not enough copepods( my tank is only a month old) can I offer my goby anytihng else? I read something about seaweed. Please help. Ask me about cars, that is my specialty! thank you!! The little elbow U thing from the fission skimmer was also cracked, but I did not use it anyways.

[nd12nc]

what is the aqua C skimmer sapposed to be like? I can't find any information anywhere on a aqua C nano skimmer.

[AzFishFreak]

I don't know what else you have in your tank but if you are doing a Fish Only Tank then keep the rings and balls otherwise ditch them and put in some Live Rock Rubble if you have room. You can order PODs online if your Goby hasn't moved over to Frozen food yet. You can also try some frozen Cyclopese. Call around some of your LFS someone should have it. The link below should have some copepods for you.

 

http://www.aquaculturestore.com/index.html

[xsamx]

for all who are having troubles w\ micro bubbles. I recommend trying this.. Put some filter material right before the return pump. This will create a trickle filter effect forcing the water to fall through the entire portion of filter media. I did this after getting sick of changing out filter floss that was underneath the skimmer. Since removing the skimmer everytime i have to change the media was a PITA! After doing this i have absoutly no bubbles. Keeping the water level steady is very crucial because the return pump will suck in air if its not perfect. my tank is looking better and better every day after adding this skimmer so i would not say its a bad product, just needs some TLC.

 

[artarmon42]

Looks like the pump is almost running dry.

 

You might want to check the instructions for that powerhead. Many require full submersion for cooling (think early failure and/or fire).

[AzFishFreak]

Anyone know what the optimum pump speed is? I know it varys by tank but what settings have people had the best luck with? Min, Max, Half way?

[reefernanoman]

I don't know what else you have in your tank but if you are doing a Fish Only Tank then keep the rings and balls otherwise ditch them and put in some Live Rock Rubble if you have room. You can order PODs online if your Goby hasn't moved over to Frozen food yet. You can also try some frozen Cyclopese. Call around some of your LFS someone should have it. The link below should have some copepods for you.

 

http://www.aquaculturestore.com/index.html

thanks for the info azfishkreak. from en28= new member

[Reefwick]

good question azfishfreak, i'd like to know too.

[forrestp38829]

i recieved mine and am trying to fine tune it at work:) but the bubble production inside the chamber is hardly comparable to a snow storm. i have tried every combination of air inlet and elbow configuration, with little success. could it be because i am testing it in pure freshwater, difference in s.g.??? i dont know please help if you know.

 

thanks,

Forrest

[stoney waters]

You will need to test it in salt water. You will be surprised at the amount of bubbles it will produce. Fresh water will not produce the fine micro bubbles that salt water will.

[forrestp38829]

thank you very much. myself, a few co-workers, and even a few doctors had been conferring with ionly increment success. thanks again

[Spiffyguy]

So far I am not having much luck with mine. It is producing a lot of micro bubbles in the skimmer and through out the tank. I have placed a piece of poly filter across the top of the 3rd chamber and that has reduced some but not all of them. Part of my problem is the piece of acrylic I put over the hole in the baffle between chamber 2 and 3. I didn't seal it in since there is water in that section. It is a tight fit but some air bubbles are coming through that I think. Any suggestions on how to seal that piece in while it is under water? I thought about that aqua stick stuff from home depot. It is more of a putty though.

 

As far a skimmate I am still getting water. In the light there is some tinting but nothing like my air driven skimmer gave me. I will keep tinkering for a week or so but I may just pull it and go back to the air driven one if it will fit in chamber 1.

[stoney waters]

The way I see it most people are being to impatient when it comes to adjusting these skimmers. Like with most skimmers you want a dry foam. In order to achieve this patience is needed. The skimmer should be adjusted so that no bubbles enter the cup initially. As the the top layer of bubbles begin to dry they will be pushed higher into the riser and eventually spill over into the cup. This may take a day or two. Skimmers should be adjusted slightly over a period of several days, or even weeks. Not in just a day.

[spark]

I finally got mine to work w/o all the micro bubbles. I used xsamx's method usign filter material. Only I have my skimmer in the last chamber of on my Aquapod 12g(the last filteration chamber). I put the filter material at tje bottom opening where the water dumps out of the filteration chambers. Works great no bubbles and the skimmer is starting to break in. A liitle watery at first but is improving. Now I can deal with the heat issues having three pumps running with 64W of lamps.

[debbeach13]

I finally decided to try this little skimmer I have one cracked elbow but for now just to get it working I stuck the pump into the skimmer not using elbows and put it in the corner of a regular tank not my nano. I have bubbles so the darn thing is working The tank just has LR in it so I am not expecting must color in the skimmate. I can see were it will be a project to get this the nano.