MY Prizm Pro kicks butt

Joshua1023

Joshua1023

New member
Yeah Right! You gotta be kidding, right? WRONG! My Prizm Pro kicks butt. I'm serious. Let me start out by saying that I was so aggravated w/ this skimmer, that I bought a CSS220 to replace it and put the Prizm in a corner in the basement. My main problem was that it is so stinking hard to dial in and when you finally get it skimming good, you have to dial it in again a few days if not hours later. I eventually realized that the threads in the air adjustment knob are just too sloppy. I promised this skimmer to my father, but I did not want to hand him a problem if you know what I mean. So I set out to make this easier to control. First I removed the problamatic air control knob completly. I figured I could use a standard air valve off of 1/4" tubing. I had to drill out the existing hole w/ a tapered bit for a good fit. I had the glass and tile bits lying around and that worked out well. I then superglued the valve into place. It was still a bit wobbly so I packed some of the two part clay epoxy into the void from the control knob to hold the new valve steady.
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While I had the skimmer apart I decided to do a mesh mod on the impeller.

The blades are pretty thick on this one. I cut them to about 1/8" high.
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I added the mesh tying it securely w/ fishing line.
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I installed the newly modded skimmer on my qt tank downstairs, to see how I did. The sucking air through the new valve was pretty noisy so I added a section of hose and the valve from the venturi of my MJ1200 to quite it down. It is now silent. This picture was taken 10 minutes after plugging it in.
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It has now been running for a week. I have not had to adjust it at all. Oh, and one more tidbit. Today I took the collection cup from my CSS220 downstairs to clean it out. Just out of curiosity I threw the waste into my qt tank. I continued w/ my chores and when I came back an hour later the skimmer had sucked all the skum out of the tank so forcefully that it blew the top right off of the skimmer.:eek1: I'm not kidding either. I know that there are alot of people out there that spent good money on this skimmer. Maybe these inexpensive and easy to do mods will allow them to keep their skimmer and get good results. I know I am impressed. So much so that I am planning on doing a skim-off next week. I'll take my Prizm and my CSS220 and hang them side by side on my qt tank. I'll save all my skimmate until then. I'll add this saved skimmate to the qt tank. I'll turn on both skimmers and measure wich one pulls more skimmate at 1hr 12hrs and 24 hrs. What do you think. Any wagers?:rolleyes:
 
Did you do it?????? Suspense is killing me!!!! I have a prism(not pro) and had allready added a std air adjustment to the 1/4 tube, w/o realizing that it was adjustible at the tube. I find about 3/8 skimmate every night as it was. Was thinkin' about the fishing line mod on my powerhead though. I'd be interested to know how this test went down.
 
I didn't do the head to head yet. Probrably some time this weekend. I figure that will be enough time to skim enough crap out of my 90 to run a descent test. I'll keep you posted. I will say that irregardless the mesh mod on this is completely worth it. I already replaced the mesh I used w/ one much coarser. It kicked the scotch brite pad I originally used right in the pants. Still has consistant bubble production. Skimmate on a 29 gl will understandably reduce over time because that tank is empty at the moment.
 
Brillo pads are steel wool. The one in the picture is a Scotch Brite pad like the one you use to wash dishes. The one I have on now is far coarser. I got it from Wal-Mart for a buck. It is approx 1 inch thick so I had to "fillet" it down to about 1/4" to make it work.
 
O.K. I did the head to head over the last week. First I have to say that getting a clear winner was kind of tough on this one. I found that dialing both in was key. I added about two cups total of somewhat thick skimmate to the 29 gl tank a day before the test. I cleaned both skimmers thoroughly w/ hot water. No vinegar for this one. I wanted them both to be well broken in and ready to go. I then set up both skimmers side by side on the tank. Here is the issue-To get accurate results you would almost have to have a gauge to measure there performance while they are running. I did the best I could to make sure that they were running as best as possible during the test. When I first turned them on I had to choke both of them way back, just because of the density of the water w/ all that sludge in it. I got them both dialed in and away they went. After an hour the results surprised me to say the least. The Prizm had 1/3 cup of wet skimmate and the CSS220 only had a little over 1/4 cup. After about 2 hrs I was able to turn the skimmers up a bit. After twelve hrs I had a full cup from the Prizm and just a little less from the CSS. I fiddled w/ them a bit more before bed and left them run at those settings for the rest of my test. After 24 hrs I had just under 1 1/8 cups of skimmate in the Prizm, and the CSS had just a hair more. I'd call it 1 3/16 cups. I honestly can't say there was a true winner between the two. Like I said if someone else ran the test or if I did it again the results could have been a little differant. The point I believe is that the Prizm was able to keep up toe to toe with the big ol 220. I've always felt that if I could have gotten a little more reliable performance out of the Prizm it would have been a very nice skimmer because of its size, versatility, and its low noise level. I think I can safely say I have acheived the reliability I was searching for. Oh, did I mention the price of these things has dropped down to about $150. Add the $2 for the mods and I think its a pretty good deal. I'd love to hear some feedback from anyone willing to dig theirs out of the basement and give this a try.

:cool:
 
I like my prizim on my 30 gal but can always use better. I have the deluxe I got on sale for 75. not a pro, so my ? is are these mods ok for mine. I dont use a maxijet it has the pump on the back that came with it, and I dont have a airflow knob I have a water flow knob and the air line hooks up to the collection cup. So can I do these mods on mine?
 
great info, i am willing to try it. i've run a pro delux for over a year,i don,t believe in overskimming jmo. I know of tanks that break all the rules and do well. My deluxe needs to have its neck cleaned every 3 days or so with a toothbrush. the only time i adjust it is when my fuge return needs toping off ,although a mod like this is hard to ignore i have an old impeller which broke at the magnet and i glued it until my new one arrived. i,m gonna practice trimming it down then go for the working one . great idea thanks!
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9014391#post9014391 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by salty3
I like my prizim on my 30 gal but can always use better. I have the deluxe I got on sale for 75. not a pro, so my ? is are these mods ok for mine. I dont use a maxijet it has the pump on the back that came with it, and I dont have a airflow knob I have a water flow knob and the air line hooks up to the collection cup. So can I do these mods on mine?
Click to expand...

I don't know about the smaller Prizm. I used the pump that came w/ it and that worked just fine. I think that any mod done to the air intake is just to control the air going in. Not necessarily to add more air. The mesh mod sucks a bunch of air, almost too much. I had to choke back on the air intake a fair amount to keep the pump from getting airlocked. I would dial this skimmer in w/ the collection cup off to get an immediate idea of what your adjustments are doing to the foam column. Now my biggest gripe about this skimmer is the tinted body. I'm not sure what the point of that is, but it makes it hard to see what's going on in there under the cabinet. I've always had to use my handy dandy flashlight to mess w/ it. Other than that its a solid skimmer now. My dad came and picked it up today to install it on his 90 gl to replace his SeaClone. I'll let you know what his thought are on the "new" skimmer in a week or so.
 
great news!! however, i had another problem with my prizm pro and i was wondering if anyone else has this problem. After a day of running the prizm pro, the opening before the impeller and the intake air tube gets clogged by salt constantly. this causes no aire to flow in and hence the skimmer goes nuts and i get an spill.
does anyone know of a way to solve this issue before i junk this?

thanks
 
I think I'm going to give it a shot. I'm just a little scared to cut the impeller down. Instead of doing what you did with the air line I will just add a valve in the middle of the line that way I can still attach it to the collection cup, well kind the same a little different. At first I thought you were using a maxijet then realived you just used the venturi off of it. So you cut 1/8 in off the impellar right? and what kind and brand is the new pad you put on? That is cut down to a 1/4 in right?
 
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