The Skimmer

John G · Post by **John G** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 11:42 am

No basketball games on TV yesterday that interested me, so I was thumbing through the latest issue of The Aquatic Gardener. Near the end was Ghazanfar’s article on a DIY surface skimmer. Inspired, I went to the basement and fifteen minutes later I had my new surface skimmer in my 75. It took me a few minutes to adjust the height, but after that it worked like a charm. This morning I cleaned out all of the crap it had caught, and put it back in. I highly recommend it to those of you who have surface stuff that is hard to get out with a net.

Thanks, Gahazanfar, for a great, easy project.

Ghazanfar Ghori · Post by **Ghazanfar Ghori** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 1:02 pm

Hey! Someone noticed the article!

Glad you liked it - its a quick easy DIY project. Appreciate the feedback!

g01ngog · Post by **g01ngog** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 1:05 pm

I've been looking for a way to make a skimmer instead of buying an add on for my ehiem filter.

Where can you get this article if you don't have (or don't know) how to get the Aquatic Gardener?

Ghazanfar Ghori · Post by **Ghazanfar Ghori** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 1:12 pm

This isnt something you'd want running constantly in your tank like an Ehiem surface skimmer. However, here's the thread on the forum:

http://www.gwapa.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2098

I can dig up the text from the article / pictures but you get the idea...

Judi · Post by **Judi** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 1:13 pm

Check the DIY section of the forum. Ghazanfar wrote about it 2-3 years ago when he made it. The thread was called DIY surface skimmer, or something like that.

edit: Whoops, never mind! Ghazanfar beat me to it!

g01ngog · Post by **g01ngog** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 1:32 pm

This is definitely helpful when I'm pruning my dwarf hair grass... Now need to think if having floaters(that I've already added to the tank) is a good idea. I ran into this problem yesterday where my cuttings were getting mixed with the floaters o.o The clean up wasn't fun.

mhossom · Post by **mhossom** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 7:35 pm

I love DIY stuff like that. Things that are so ugly they are beautiful.

I have an old powerhead out in the garage that just got a new lease on life.

Jim Miller · Post by **Jim Miller** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 7:50 pm

Any ideas for an unobtrusive skimmer? Right now I get an occasional biofilm on the surface and I just stick an airstone in for a couple of hours to break it up. I'd really like not to get the film in the first place and when I eventually get some more flow in the tank the surface may ripple enough to prevent it.

But for now if there are some better ideas I'd love to hear them.

FYI, my tank is bottom drilled so I have nothing over the edge, except for this occasional airline.

Thanks

Jim (rookie...)

Ghazanfar Ghori · Post by **Ghazanfar Ghori** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 7:57 pm

Jim Miller wrote:Any ideas for an unobtrusive skimmer? Right now I get an occasional biofilm on the surface and I just stick an airstone in for a couple of hours to break it up. I'd really like not to get the film in the first place and when I eventually get some more flow in the tank the surface may ripple enough to prevent it.

Its not unusual to get a little film when first setting up a tank. Who knows what is breaking down and causing that. Eventually it'll stop and you shouldnt get any film. I usually pour a little H2O2 into my tank (100ml or so in a ~50G) and the film and any other organics get oxidized without any hard to fish/plants/inverts.

chris_todd · Post by **chris_todd** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 8:27 pm

Ghazanfar Ghori wrote:Hey! Someone noticed the article!

I noticed it, but the next day I left for 10 days of vacation before I had a chance to give you some kudos. So here you go: Kudos on the skimmer article in the latest TAG, Ghazanfar!

The Skimmer

The Skimmer

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