When I was first piecing together my aquarium a few months ago I stumbled across a guy on craigslist selling a protein skimmer and a bag of live sand for only $40. I immediately jumped on the deal. The live sand was great, the protein skimmer however, not so great. I don't know if its the way I have it set up but this thing does not seem to work right. Its the Aquarium systems Protein Skimmer & Visi-Jet Power Head. The whole thing seems cheap and the instructions included are horible. I've had it running for a month and have yet to empty the collection chamber. There is a little foam in it but not enough for it to collect. I've got 35lbs of live rock, one clownfish and five hermit crabs btw. Here are some pictures of the box and the third picture down is how I have it set up in my tank.
My question is, in the instructions it says not to submerge the skimmer in water past the red zip tie. It's very vague on this so I'm assuming it's talking about the top zip tie. Even when I have the skimmer set in the water just at the top red zip tie the "power head" that creates the bubbles for skimming is not fully submerged in the water. You can see the power cable in the back corner and I've very nervous to submerge that in my tank on what seems to be a very cheaply made protein skimmer. Also if you notice the black tube coming out of the red knob, that is the "intake" for the skimmer. Seems a bit odd and it makes a lot of noise, which is why I have the tube tucked behind the tank.
Any input, comments or advice would be great. Also, if anyone has a good, relatively inexpensive (~$100), protein skimmer that I should maybe replace this one with that would be great as well. I have a 44 gallon corner tank. TIA!
My question is, in the instructions it says not to submerge the skimmer in water past the red zip tie. It's very vague on this so I'm assuming it's talking about the top zip tie. Even when I have the skimmer set in the water just at the top red zip tie the "power head" that creates the bubbles for skimming is not fully submerged in the water. You can see the power cable in the back corner and I've very nervous to submerge that in my tank on what seems to be a very cheaply made protein skimmer. Also if you notice the black tube coming out of the red knob, that is the "intake" for the skimmer. Seems a bit odd and it makes a lot of noise, which is why I have the tube tucked behind the tank.
Any input, comments or advice would be great. Also, if anyone has a good, relatively inexpensive (~$100), protein skimmer that I should maybe replace this one with that would be great as well. I have a 44 gallon corner tank. TIA!