DIY skimmer for 10g w/out sump

[ghurlag]

I am looking for a temporary DIY skimmer plan to implement for the 10 gallon my yellow damsel is going to call home.  I plan on eventually building my first DIY sump with one of my other 10 gallons, but in the meantime, I would like to do as much as possible to maintain good water quality.  Anyone come across any good DIY nano skimmer info?

[cyberwollf]

Good luck. I tried several diys. But never got anything good.  My advice would be to get an old crappy body from someone (it will still be better than you can make probably) and mod it with better pump/venturi ect.

For only 10 gals daily water changes with topoff isn't too bad. If it's fish only your parameter don't have to be quite that of a reef

[ghurlag]

Yeah, that's kind of what I am finding in my research...  And with the knowledge that the present situation is temporary, it shouldn't be too bad.  I always have plenty of mixed water, and I need to use up what I have so my RO/DI water can take over and make things better

[xXTheWendigoXx]

Gerbers (YES Gerbers!) has a bunch of old used skimmer bodies lying in the back for sale that could probably be modded into pretty good skimmers with some effort. Don't know how much they're asking since most of their used stuff is piled up on a couple of racks without pricing but it's probably worth a look.

[ghurlag]

  Hamiltro and I visit there on lunch every couple of weeks to raid the used equipment.  He's picked up a few nice things, while I have yet to lay any money down...

I did consider that, though.  Definitely a thought.  Thanks!

[Kenn]

You could always try this:

http://www.marinedepot.com/AquaticLife_Internal_Mini_Protein_Skimmer_115_In_Sump_Venturi_Protein_Skimmers-AquaticLife-AK01114-FIPSISVS-vi.html



I had this in a 26 gallon and it is a little workhorse. Adjustment is a pain if fingers are wet so I modded mine and fixed it with a thumb wheel screw drilled into the top of the adjustment knob.

I knew it was a little small for the 26 (got it for my first 10g) but it still preformed great. It is now in a pico doing its thing