Regular Member denniss Posted December 17, 2006 Regular Member Share Posted December 17, 2006 I was browsing through my lfs yesterday when a new Fluval accessory flew off of the wall display and into my hands. This thing is an inlet accessory for a cannister filter which converts the standard subsurface intake to a surface skimmer. And for only $14!! Well, I'm not one to tempt fate, so I bought the darn thing. As luck would have it, yesterday was the day that I was going to retire my old Fluval cannister. I put a new Eheim 2028 into service two weeks ago and had decided run the new Eheim and old Fluval for two weeks together to get the biological filter in the Eheim up to speed. So, instead of retiring my Fluval, it now runs my surface skimmer. The new device has a tubular sump with a bottom intake and a floating surface overflow. There is an adjustment rod (extends up to the surface through the floating surface overflow that allows you to (variably)close off the bottom inlet. By doing this you "balance" the inflow between the two so the surface skimmer doesn't suck air. In this way, the device compensates for differing flow rates, cannister to cannister. Kind of hard to explain but elegant and ingenious in operation. All this for $14!! Why do I want a skimmer? It removes any surface films (which are notorious for blocking gas exchange). It sucks up little leafy bits that my fish chomp off of my water sprite plants. It adds a nice gurgling sound to the existing gurgling sound of my Emporer 280 (yes I'm running three filters on this darn tank). Penultimately, I'm a gadgetty kind of guy and I just wanted one. And Lastly, who am I to tempt fate?? Again, much pleasure from small objects. Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member small_ranchu Posted December 17, 2006 Regular Member Share Posted December 17, 2006 Hi Dennis, Congrat for your new skimmer. Your gf are very lucky since you give them all the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Katalyst Posted December 17, 2006 Regular Member Share Posted December 17, 2006 Fluval's just seem to have a way of doing that! A fluval canister literally attached itself to my hands the other day and I was very sad to put it back. Oh but in the future that baby is mine! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Trinket Posted December 18, 2006 Regular Member Share Posted December 18, 2006 I love the gentle sound they make. Funny it jumping into your hands like that too Would love to see pics of your tank sometime -it sounds like a dreamy set-up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member daryl Posted December 19, 2006 Regular Member Share Posted December 19, 2006 It can be very dangerous to the wallet to drive a cart down the fish aisle in the store. There are soooo many neat gadgets with a mind of their own that seem to jump into the cart unbidden!!!! That sounds interesting! I tried the pvc pipe intake - with the intake surrounded by a drilled pvc pipe in increments all the way up to the surface. That, too, takes water filtration to a new level! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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