Re: Protein skimmer for 300 gallons FOT
Hi Bob,  
I 'm considering to upgrade my protein skimmer for my 350 gallon FOT. Do you have any suggestion while the protein skimmer should be used in the sump & not higher than 33"? Any reliable & cost effective protein skimmers you would advise? Thanks a lot.
Best regards.
<All sorts of input. Please start reading here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/skimselfaqs.htm and on and on re skimmer selection. Bob Fenner>
Siu-king

Sorting Through Skimmer Choices...
Hello,
<Hi there! Scott F. with you today!>
First of all, thanks for your web site. It's a wealth of great info. But leaving me very confused, (too much info for a novice maybe, or just that it's just late and my brain is fried.)
<I know how that is...fried, baked, steamed...the information can be a bit overwhelming...but the learning process is SO fun, huh?>
Anyway, my question is this. We have a 30 gal. High that is currently used as a seahorse only tank. We have several seahorses, and a cleanup crew of hermit crabs, camel shrimp, 2 sea slugs, and a goby. We use undergravel filter with 2 AquaClear powerheads. We recently decided to get a protein skimmer because it is highly recommended.
<Yep- great idea>
We picked up the Red Sea Prizm skimmer. The problem is that no matter how I adjust it, we either get no foam because it is turned down too low, or we get tons of microbubbles all over in the tank. Besides looking terrible, the bubbles could be deadly to seahorses. We have tried putting a valve on the air intake to slow the air input, but we still get the same results. We have also seen other complaints similar to ours regarding the Prizm skimmer.
<Unfortunately, this skimmer has a rather spotty reputation for performance. It works okay for some people, and for others...well...>
Is there any way to get effective results from the Prizm skimmer without adding bubbles to the tank?
<Well- you may want to have the return from the skimmer directed into some kind of "baffle", like a piece of sponge, or window screen wrapped around the return...you may have to try a bunch of different things to get something that works. Perhaps the people at Red Sea may have an idea or two?>
If not, we are willing to ditch the Prizm, but what would be a good alternative that will actually work the way it is supposed to? Price is not too much of an issue, but we are a little cost conscious. Also to be considered, We have a 75 gal. freshwater tank that may be converted to salt eventually and we may use the skimmer on that, so anything we purchase should be able to handle up to 75 gal. We would also be OK to the idea of building our own, but we really want something that will be easy to setup and maintain, and not require adjusting constantly. We are interested in a type that will either hang on the back or go under the stand, but not require a refugium or sump.  Any recommendations would be most helpful. Thank you for your help. Gary H.
<I really like the Aqua C "Remora" skimmer. It's a great, powerful, reliable, and efficient skimmer with an excellent track record. You'll really like the performance of this unit, and it's ease of cleaning, too! If you're going under the stand, Aqua C makes the "Urchin Pro", and excellent in-sump skimmer for this tank (and possibly for you new tank as well)>