Protein skimmer took a dump...

I had a Jebo skimmer on my 25 gallon with almost no bioload (literally one fish and three corals). It took some time to get primed and working right but I always got some good skimmate out of it.

We went out of town this weekend for 36 hours (that's my rule...no more than 36 hours without getting the LFS to stop by once a day, and that costs). Anyway, when I got home there had been some major evaporation (about 2.5 gallons which is 10 percent of the tank) and the skimmer wasn't low enough in the water and quit working (luckily everything else is lower down).

Now I have two questions!

1) What is a good HOB or in-tank skimmer for a 25 gallon tank that won't cost me an arm and a leg?

2) Can I use the TAAM Rio Nano that I just bought for the Quarantine Tank even though its rated for a smaller tank? Not permanently, just until I can get a bigger one.

Meanwhile, I've increased the frequency of my water changes, did a 10 percent change Saturday, Sunday and Today just because the skimmer dumped some of it's skimmate back into the tank. My water looks good and my tank inhabitants are happy.

 

you can absolutely use the nano skimmer on that tank. If the load is small. You may have to do a few more frequent wc untill you get another. As far as a good hob skimmer I'm very partial to the cpr bakpak. You can also get the cpr refugium skimmer combo which is pretty nice.

 

Sure you can use it.. Especially with your low bio load.. like daniel said....

 

I already have the CPR refugium and looked into the combo but was like, "No, this crappy skimmer is working fine!"


LOVE my CPR Refugium, it's tiny (2.5 gallons), and very slow!

 

Like I said earlier. I LOVE the cpr products. The skimmer is completely plug and play other than adjusting the cup. The gentleman that owns the LFS that I work for had a cpr bakpak (single) running his 90 gallon reef and had that for several years. (this was before he opened the store and decided he needed a 210 and I got the 90 gallon wave from him=) The skimmer is atleast 3 or 4 years old that I know of and it is still running. We have it in the store running on a 36 i think is the tank size. It's a smaller tank with our small stuff like pistol shrimp and nano gobies and what not. I think you would dig that skimmer.

 

I'm keeping my eye on ebay. Hubby will kill me if I buy a $140 skimmer to replace a $25 skimmer and I'll just have to remind him that its HIS tank, LOL!!!

 

One more question.

What's the difference between a BakPak 2 and a BakPak 2R?

TIA

Gin

 

the bakpak 2r has no biobale in it. That's the only difference. Go with the cheaper one. Will be same thing.

 

WTHeck is a biobale? Explain it to the noob slowly in small words!

 

biobale is a ribbon sorta looking stuff. I looks kinda like the green easter grass you put in the basket. It's supposed to collect denitrifying bacteria but cpr understands that with reef aquarium we don't need it due to live rock. It does collect bacteria but it also collects CRAP.