Coralife SuperSkimmer 125 220 Mod

Well, I can't complain much about the Coralife Superskimmer, but it was working towards slowing killing my light with salt creep splashing up through the lid. And the light I have (Current Orbit) doesn't clear the stock outlet hose, so the front lids could only open at a small angle. I had to do something about this, and I hope this post can help someone else with a similar problem.

1. Pump Mod
The stock pump always leaked a jet stream of micro bubbles past the o-ring between the pump and the pump inlet/outlet piece. This can be easily fixed by going to your local hardware store and buying a $0.60 o-ring that is the next size "fatter" than the one the pump comes with. Get the old one off to compare size using a very small flat head screwdriver. Make sure the new o-ring is the same or similar diameter, just thicker/fatter, and will slip into place without snapping. Take care not to break the delicate ceramic shaft in the pump. So now your micro-bubble jet stream should be gone.

2. Outlet Mod
Here's what the stock setup was like with some wet skimming going on.
This pictue was taken before the salt creep got out of control, so it still looks clean. In order to even have the CR SS 125 hang on the back, I needed to pull the rear half of the glass off the folding lid and replace it with a custom cut piece of 1/8" plexi-glass. The skimmed water running out over the top of the bubble production diffuser (gray box) was causing the salt creep problem.



So after letting the skimmer break in for a couple months, I figured the micro bubbles should be a lot less now.
I took out the micro bubble diffuser box (your skimmer needs to be broken-in to do this) and I replaced the outlet tube with some 1" PVC - 2 short pieces and an elbow. When I tried this the first time 6 weeks ago it didn't work, I guess because the skimmer was too new. But now, it's working great. I have enough clearance to fit the light over the PVC elbow, so now I can open the front lids more. My tank looks much less cluttered, and there is very little to no salt creep so far. I hope this helps anyone else running their HOB skimmer without a sump.







And this is what gets pulled out of the water in about 3-4 days, dry skimming, so it's working fine.

 

Nice work! 8)

 

Very nice!

 

Do you think it would be worth adding O3 (ozone) to this Protein Skimmer?

 

Did anyone have a problem with microbubbles pouring into your tank via bottom of the "bubble diffuser"? It's a 5 day old skimmer so I'm hoping it's just breaking in.

 

You may have to shorten the length of the outlet hose. It shouldn't go down all the way to the bottom of the diffuser box. I'd say the hell with it and just replace the hose with a pvc elbow and put a small nylon filter at the end of the hose to catch the bubbles. It may take a couple weeks to break in.

 

the plastic is probably not ozone safe.

 

I did the same mod on the return and then I also wrapped the needlewheel with some fishing line to break up the incoming air and bubbles. I can post a pic of this if anyone wants to see it.

 

I hated that stupid box!!!! I just hung a small filter sock on the end, has worked flawlessly.

 

I will go ahead and post a picture of the impeller. It makes a little bit more noise but seems to make finer bubbles now. As far as the micro bubbles I placed a large piece of open cell foam between my baffles, this completely stops all the micro bubbles without hindering water flow to my return pump. I bought an extra impeller just in case this didnt work. And if it burns up the pump for the skimmer thats just another reason to buy a new better skimmer. Its either buy a new skimmer or everything will die. At least thats what I will tell the wife.