Kaos
"Lurker"
I've been seeing allot of questions (and bashing) about Remora skimmers lately. So I've decided to start a thread to help people figure out what they can do to improve their Remora or to diagnose what's causing a specific issue w/ the skimmer. I have owned one for a few months now and must say I am very happy w/ it. At first I thought I was going to be very disappointed (and that I had been scammed by the guy I bought it from). But, I did a little research (RC helped allot when the server load was low enough to search the board) and came up w/ info. that turned my mediocar (sp?) skimmer into a skimming machine. Don't get me wrong, these mods and info. won't turn it into a Deltec or ER or etc., but you also didn't spend $400 plus either.
Skimmer noise:
When I first got mine it was noisy. I searched RC and found a thread (sorry I can't remeber who posted this or I would give them credit) that remedied the noise by taking a whole paper towel and folding it to fit between the collection cup and the pipe in the reaction chamber. This simple mod made my Remora whisper quiet. My computer fans and MJ pumps hum louder than the Remora now.
Surface Skimmer Box:
This thing is an aggrevating design. I don't like sticking my hands in the tank no more then I have to so constantly tightening and loosening the adjustment screws made me ill. There are a few ways to make this less of an aggrevation (although I haven't seen nor found a complete solution.....yet). I have heard of people glueing suction cups to the back of the box. I have thought of two possible ways of fixing it. One, would be to use the trim clips that come w/ MJ ph's. I thought of taking the the little block w/ a hole in it (the one that slides into the slots of a MJ ph) and glueing it to the back of the surface skimmer box and then threading the trim clip through the block glued to the box. This would allow for a simpler up and down adjustment to the box (I would suggest using two to help keep the box level). I haven't tried it so I'm not sure how well it would work. Another way could be to make some pontoons for each side of the box and attach them to the top on each end. This would assure the box stayed near the water's surface. But again this hasn't been tried (that I know of) so I'm not sure how well it will work. What I have done w/ my box is kept my adjustment screws just loose enough I can move the box up and down w/out messing w/ them, but tight enough that box doesn't shift.
If your skimmer doesn't dump micro bubbles in the tank (or if you just don't care) you could skip the surface skimmer box and get one of those surface skimmer units I see for the AC and Fluval filters. These would assure your pumps intake is drawing water for the surface only and never needs adjusting.
Remora's not skimming:
If the skimmer is new then it will take some time to start skimming. If you want to shorten this time then a few hour run in a tub of hot water should clean the production film off the inside. My Remora (neither do most skimmers) does not like Zoecon. I think the fatty acids in it cause a disturbance in the surface tension between the air and water. Whenever I feed Zoecon my skimmer starts blowing really big bubbles into the reaction chamber. This usually lasts a few hours and remedies itself. In one post someone stated that the little acrylic block mounted at the bottom of the tube going into the cup was fitting loose in the chamber it slides into on the skimmer (hopefully that didn't confuse you too much). This may cause the skimmer to have trouble. To remedy this you could contact Aqua C and maybe get a new cup, or glue another piece of acrylic to the bottom that fits the chamber better.
Little to no water coming out of skimmer:
Once, while doing mantainance, I noticed very little water coming out the overflow port of the skimmer. I started checking everything and found that my surface skimmer box was too close to the intake of the MJ1200 keeping it from drawing any (or little) water in. A simple shift of the box (and tightening of the adjustment screws) made this problem go away.
Well, that's about all I have. If anyone has any tricks, mods, experiences that aren't mentioned here, please post them. My hope is that everyone that has a Remora skimmer is as happy as I am w/ it. They really are good skimmers (w/ a little tweaking and understanding).
Skimmer noise:
When I first got mine it was noisy. I searched RC and found a thread (sorry I can't remeber who posted this or I would give them credit) that remedied the noise by taking a whole paper towel and folding it to fit between the collection cup and the pipe in the reaction chamber. This simple mod made my Remora whisper quiet. My computer fans and MJ pumps hum louder than the Remora now.
Surface Skimmer Box:
This thing is an aggrevating design. I don't like sticking my hands in the tank no more then I have to so constantly tightening and loosening the adjustment screws made me ill. There are a few ways to make this less of an aggrevation (although I haven't seen nor found a complete solution.....yet). I have heard of people glueing suction cups to the back of the box. I have thought of two possible ways of fixing it. One, would be to use the trim clips that come w/ MJ ph's. I thought of taking the the little block w/ a hole in it (the one that slides into the slots of a MJ ph) and glueing it to the back of the surface skimmer box and then threading the trim clip through the block glued to the box. This would allow for a simpler up and down adjustment to the box (I would suggest using two to help keep the box level). I haven't tried it so I'm not sure how well it would work. Another way could be to make some pontoons for each side of the box and attach them to the top on each end. This would assure the box stayed near the water's surface. But again this hasn't been tried (that I know of) so I'm not sure how well it will work. What I have done w/ my box is kept my adjustment screws just loose enough I can move the box up and down w/out messing w/ them, but tight enough that box doesn't shift.
If your skimmer doesn't dump micro bubbles in the tank (or if you just don't care) you could skip the surface skimmer box and get one of those surface skimmer units I see for the AC and Fluval filters. These would assure your pumps intake is drawing water for the surface only and never needs adjusting.
Remora's not skimming:
If the skimmer is new then it will take some time to start skimming. If you want to shorten this time then a few hour run in a tub of hot water should clean the production film off the inside. My Remora (neither do most skimmers) does not like Zoecon. I think the fatty acids in it cause a disturbance in the surface tension between the air and water. Whenever I feed Zoecon my skimmer starts blowing really big bubbles into the reaction chamber. This usually lasts a few hours and remedies itself. In one post someone stated that the little acrylic block mounted at the bottom of the tube going into the cup was fitting loose in the chamber it slides into on the skimmer (hopefully that didn't confuse you too much). This may cause the skimmer to have trouble. To remedy this you could contact Aqua C and maybe get a new cup, or glue another piece of acrylic to the bottom that fits the chamber better.
Little to no water coming out of skimmer:
Once, while doing mantainance, I noticed very little water coming out the overflow port of the skimmer. I started checking everything and found that my surface skimmer box was too close to the intake of the MJ1200 keeping it from drawing any (or little) water in. A simple shift of the box (and tightening of the adjustment screws) made this problem go away.
Well, that's about all I have. If anyone has any tricks, mods, experiences that aren't mentioned here, please post them. My hope is that everyone that has a Remora skimmer is as happy as I am w/ it. They really are good skimmers (w/ a little tweaking and understanding).
