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Can I ditch the filter and replace it with a skimmer?

S

saundersbp

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14 May 2022
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Location
Yorkshire
I have an established 60L tank with plants and shrimp, no fish. I don't use Co2. It has a tiny Oase filter. Can I ditch the filter and replace with a skimmer only. I want to do this because I'm sick of using a teacup to remove surface film every couple of days, and I don't want more electric gubbins in the tank.

Appreciate any thoughts or if anyone has tried this!

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It might be helpful to have something to move the water around a bit to ensure oxygenation at depth. An airstone will provide some water movement (maybe not a lot) and will prevent the biofilm accumulation on the surface. Be sure the airstone is in the middle of the tank to avoid the bubbles making a mess splashing over the sides (Airstones can be messy - Fireplace aquarium).
 


I also had an issue with surface film in my small low tech tank. I solved it by installing a micro-usb pump with the intake near the top of the tank. i.e. it sort of acts as a surface skimmer but has a considerably smaller footprint compared to a regular skimmer.
I found the constant aeration/air bubbles a bit noisy so I put a small filter pad on top to reduce the strength of the inflow.
 
Thanks for all the replies. I think the message I'm getting is for a shrimp aquarium you shouldn't swap a little filter for a little skimmer and the solution is to add a little airstone instead and keep the filter.

Could anyone recommend a very small silent pump please?
 
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Simon Cole said:
I would try an All Pond Solutions Skim-1. I haven't had any problems with baby shrimp and have replaced most of my filters with them
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Thanks Simon, this was what I was looking for: someone that has ditched their filter completely and replaced with a skimmer only setup with shrimp.
 
You are welcome. I use them on 50 litre cubes, but also in a lot of larger aquariums. They are £10.99 including delivery from Amazon. I think @Hanuman uses something slightly cheaper, but there are a lot of us that favour little skimmers. I don't think you have very much to lose.
 
Simon Cole said:
You are welcome. I use them on 50 litre cubes, but also in a lot of larger aquariums. They are £10.99 including delivery from Amazon. I think @Hanuman uses something slightly cheaper, but there are a lot of us that favour little skimmers. I don't think you have very much to lose.
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The one I use in my tanks are the SUNSUN JY-03. SunSun produces for multiple resellers. All Pond Solutions simply rebrands it. In fact All Pond Solutions have the exact same model as mine under the name Skim-2. What I like about this model is that it is transparent and enables you to see how things accumulate. Also allows you to monitor if any shrimp gets caught. Finally I also swapped the floss included in the skimmer for a larger mesh sponge which I cut to size. This allows better flow and avoid slowing it down too much too fast.

@saundersbp I think there is no perfect skimmer. You might have some shrimps get caught once in while, this said with this particular skimmer I have had much less than with the Eheim I have in my closet. Those were real traps for the shrimps. Nowadays I catch a shrimp every 2-3 weeks which is acceptable. When I see them inside I simply release them. Easy, 10 seconds job.
 
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It doesn’t help exactly, but I used a job with a skimmer from ista for a long time and was very happy with the result, it just looked a bit clumsy.
 
saundersbp said:
I don't know of any aquarium keepers that haven't had this issue.
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Hi @saundersbp I agree and I would take it a bit further and claim that we pretty much always have varying degrees of surface film in our tanks. It's only when we have too much of it it's an issue... the origin of surface film (usually made from protein/fat compounds) is food decay, waste from livestock among other things.

Cheers,
Michael
 
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saundersbp said:
I don't know of any aquarium keepers that haven't had this issue. Perhaps I don't know enough people!

Thank you very much everyone else for your very helpful replies
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Of course. We have all had it, and it usually suggests that something is not quite right.
 
The only tanks that have no surface film is when i use inert soil like sand, if i use aquasoil or inert + soil i get it

increasing CO2 help me get ride of it maybe because plant are not really happy + aquasoil trap decay leaves etc
 
I use inert substrate in 2 tanks, so maybe that's why they don't get surface scum (I'm sure there is something there, but nothing visible). One tank with no substrate is the one I get scum on. It shows up every few weeks and lasts a day or so.
 
Hi all,
eminor said:
The only tanks that have no surface film is when i use inert soil like sand
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kayjo said:
I use inert substrate in 2 tanks, so maybe that's why they don't get surface scum
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I don't tend to get much visible surface scum in any of the tanks (I'm sure @MichaelJ is right and there is always a surface film). They are all sand (or very old cat litter), I don't feed much dry food and the mainly have a venturi on them.

cheers Darrel
 
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