I would never...

[Cathic]

Recommend a Seaclone skimmer, much as everyone else has a story about their overall defectiveness. However, I briefly wanted to give a short experience with one. They are frustrating in every sense. Hard to tune, filled tank with micro bubbles etc etc, everyone knows the list. I had to set one up and put it on a tank, and I spent 4 hours trying to get it working properly for someone. Told them there were some DIY mods if they wanted to try that or we could keep adjusting some other time. I finished playing with crappy air intake regulator, and left my buddies. Now that part of the story all sounds right, this next part is the surprising part. I get a phone call this morning, saying that the skimmer is working perfectly. I am completely WTF. Apparently sometime overnight the pump adjusted and started pulling in more water (which i had clearly set it to be pulling in to much air purposely, as without doing that DT would fill with micro bubbles.) and actually started skimming. He said that the collection cup was foaming and at the bottom it was starting to fill nicely with some really nasty skimmate.

I don't know exactly what it looks like or if its working properly but if it's true, I will be completely dumbfounded.

 

[motorcyclereefer]

Funny, yes I put a different pump on my old one and it worked. It is almost a hit and miss with them. But I have heard of them being modified with a air rock at the bottom of the cylinder to aid in bubbles. That modification seems to work from what I have read.

 

[bjohanson1234]

I, like many people, bought one as my first skimmer. I would think I had it set up right, and it would skim just enough to get a little bit in the collection cup. I think that the problem is that it is so touchy, that it isnt consistent in its skimming ability.

 

[daugherty]

i had one and used it for a month before it went into the trash

 

[Bifferwine]

I too have used one before and quickly upgraded.

You may think it's working -- you see it collecting crap. You think it's working until you replace it with a good quality skimmer. The difference in the amount of crap that gets pulled out of the same tank is HUGE.