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Neo Flow Premium - goodbye standalone surface skimmer?

erwin123

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4 Mar 2021
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I've not connected it yet, just testing out the 'fit'. But I'm excited if this can really replace my standalone surface skimmer, thats one less piece of bulky equipment in my tank! The only downside is that it doesn't come with a Lily Pipe extension but fortunately I have a plastic Lily Pipe extender for my green Eheim outlet which I could just plug in. It will be connected to my Fluval 307 so hopefully there is enough flowrate to make the skimmer work.
 
I'm interested to see what you think about it. I tried it a few weeks ago and I was really disappointed. I couldn't tune the skimmer part correctly. It was either doing nothing or sucking up a lot of air doing a lot of noise.
Besides there's a lot less room for water evaporation / water level change because the skimmer is smaller. So the one or two times I succeeded in tuning it up, it started doing noises again after a day or two.

Envoyé de mon KB2003 en utilisant Tapatalk
 
The only issue I see with running a surface skimmer is that if you run it all the time, it will affect your CO2 in the tank.
I have one in my tank but only run it when CO2 is off, when CO2 comes on the skimmer goes off, having one on the filter pipe makes it impossible to switch off.
 
@LondonDragon just inject more. more O2 for fish which makes it harder to gas them. which is particularly useful when trying to push co2 levels, e.g 60ppm.
@FishKeeper55 the scum it's self isn't the problem. the scum accumulating on the surface and preventing gas exchange is. even if it were on the inflow, the scum would still be circulating and blown back into the water.
 
Agree with @FishKeeper55, to me the whole point of the surface skimmer is to actually physically remove the surface protein scum, dust, bits of leaf and other crap from the surface film rather than just send it back around the tank.
 
Just been watching the video on these, and will be getting a set. As I have a glass poppy set, but it may break trying to get it under/thru the bracing for my tank. And as this is in section can alter to the tank. Have been wanting to go back to lilly pipes but was stuck with the bracing cutout being so small.
 
Agree with @FishKeeper55, to me the whole point of the surface skimmer is to actually physically remove the surface protein scum, dust, bits of leaf and other crap from the surface film rather than just send it back around the tank.
I think perhaps the idea is that if it’s taken from the surface and moved into the main water column it can be processed by the filter?
 

It seems to work. The air bubble that bobs up and down gives feedback that there is water flowing down the skimmer column.

Unlike my bulkier standalone skimmer, one disadvantage is that it doesn't have that much leeway in terms of water level changes because its so small. I'll let it run to see how many days of water evaporation before the skimmer stops working/ starts sucking in air.
 
I've set this up in my tank and it performs better than at skimmer on the water outflow (EA type). This is what it repaced. As others have said it doesn't remove large debris like leaves, but it does completely remove surface film by incorporating it into the body of water. The filter does the rest. I've added a filter guard to the water outflow.

A benefit of the 'plastic' is it is in sections so you can angle the flow. The surface ripple on the surface is now a new feature and looks great at night.

The water level is no more of an issue with this setup - even with the high level of evaporation in the hot weather.

I'm impressed. My biggest concern is keeping it all clean. This picture was taken just after a water change (I put the lights on to take the picture) EA Aquascaper 600 - 2 months after planting
 

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Thanks for the input Psfor. I’m wondering now if I could make one of those for my stainless steel output pipe?
 

It seems to work. The air bubble that bobs up and down gives feedback that there is water flowing down the skimmer column.

Unlike my bulkier standalone skimmer, one disadvantage is that it doesn't have that much leeway in terms of water level changes because its so small. I'll let it run to see how many days of water evaporation before the skimmer stops working/ starts sucking in air.

Hey @erwin123
did you have any issues tuning in the skimmer? I'm finding it really difficult to establish a bubble in the column
 
I think I'll be going back to lilys, I just received 3 sets for my tanks and I can't get the things to skim and not suck air, I'd like it to sit on the rim of the tank too, the included hanger puts the top some 3cm higher than the rim and it just looks wrong.

Anyone got any helpful hints before I ditch them?
 
The starting point is to set up the skimmer without the 'cap' on. I'll call the vertical pipe you are supposed to insert the 'column' (manual calls it the 'vertical part')

(1) Height: Adjust the skimmer such that the plastic column is a few mm below the water surface and NOT sucking air without the cap on. The more space between the column and the water surface, the more leeway you have when water evaporates. I used a pipe cutter to make the 'long' column a few mm shorter. (the set comes with a short and long piece)

(2) Rotate the column to get the desired amount of suction (instructions below). This is a critical step as the flowrate of your canister may be different. If you rotate it too much, you'll be sucking in loads of air. If you rotate it the opposite way, water will be coming out of the column like a fountain. You may need to do this a few times till you get a good result as the correct setting depends on your flowrate



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(3) If step (1) and (2) are ok, this is the step where you insert the 'cap' and the skimmer should work. For the record my Canister is a Fluval 307 attached to a chiller so the flowrate has been reduced.


 
I'll give it a whirl and see if I can crack it. I use eheim experience' so 500lph-700lph and 13mm tubing. The bend is identical to my lily pipes so if I can get it to stop sucking air I can trim the pipe and use suction cups rather than Neo's own hard ware presumably, these are after all just rather nicer versions of eheims tried and true crooks.
 
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