# aqua clear surface skimmer



## matti2uude (Jan 10, 2009)

Has anyone tried one of these skimmers? I'm thinking of trying one hooked up to a powerhead for the scum that collects on the surface of my planted tank. Any feedback would be helpful, thanks.


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## ozi (Aug 23, 2007)

I have one and it's pretty awesome!!!
I wouldn't hook it up to a powerhead though. You want it to go through some mechanical filtration media so that it cleans the gunk you have on the watersurface.


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## matti2uude (Jan 10, 2009)

Thanks I'll hook it up to the filter then.


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## conix67 (Jul 27, 2008)

I have one of these in my nano reef, connected to HOB filter. Works well and gets rid of all the floating stuff.


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## matti2uude (Jan 10, 2009)

I picked one up today and hooked it up to the filter. It seems to be working good but I had to turn the screw all the way to get it to skim. Should I just turn it to skim for a while each day then switch it back? Thanks


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## conix67 (Jul 27, 2008)

It's up to you. Surface skimming all day shouldn't do any harm, but you want to stop it while you're feeding, especially if you're feeding floating stuff. If the surface skimmer is on, the fish food will all get sucked into the filter and fishes will hate that thing


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## matti2uude (Jan 10, 2009)

Well I've been using it for a few days now and it does work awesome. My fish are no longer gasping at the surface, I had to turn the Co2 up but I seem to have it balanced out now. Hopefully the fish and plants will both do better now.


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## ozi (Aug 23, 2007)

matti2uude said:


> I picked one up today and hooked it up to the filter. It seems to be working good but I had to turn the screw all the way to get it to skim. Should I just turn it to skim for a while each day then switch it back? Thanks


If you have to turn that screw all the way, then either the skimming tube wasn`t broken-in (a few days) or that the filter isn`t powerful enough. When I had mine connected to an aquaclear 30 HOB, I wasn`t truly satisfied. But when I hooked it up to an Eheim 2213 canister, oh maaan, this really is a good piece of equipment  especially in open-top tanks or heavy-loaded tanks .
What I do is let it skim the surface all day long, but I try to find a balance of when the skimmeing cup is sucking just enough to keep the water surface clear, as well as having enough water suction from the bottom part too!!


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