Red Sea Prism De Luxe Skimmer

S

STANLEE

New member
Hi all
I have a chance to acquire a Red Sea prizm deluxe skimmer for a good price. Is this known to be a good skimmer and would it suit my system ? I will be hopefully adding an anenome if anyone answers my plea for advice in this subject in the clowns/anenomes forum(they must be busy!) Is there anything specifically required of a skimmer for these beauties and is it easy to set up as I think it has no manual with it? Many thanks. Dave.
p.s. probably a green bubble tip. 7 fish after 1 clown vanished without trace yesterday! 5 hermits about 7 snails 20 kg live rock, 2 x maxi jet P Heads 1200. Snails keep dying also! Don t know if lack of skimmer is cause or savage red hermits!
 
Prizm Skimmer

Prizm Skimmer

It looks like your setup has no skimmer at all from your description. Therefore any skimmer would be an improvement. I have a Red Sea Prizm HOB Skimmer on my 55 gal. It does a pretty good job but it is barely adequate for my 55. You would need at least three of these on your 180 especially with the light load of live rock in your tank. Dont get me wrong, I think this is a great skimmer for smaller tanks - particularly because it is HOB. But, you need a much larger skimming capacity than this skimmer will provide. Of course, if the price is right, go ahead and get it. You never know when this hobby will bite you and you will decide to set up a small aggressive tank on the side for fun.
 
Hi mate
180 litres which I think is about 45 of your US gallons! So I think it will manage! Any tips for the use of this skimmer? Thanks. Dave.
 
Save your money for a skimmer that will actually work. How much foam can a skimmer produce with a neck so small I can not get my pinky into? Save your money to get at least a coralife skimmer.
Prisms are awful and if you add calcium they dont work at all. The manufacturer will even tell you they wont work if you run high calcium, which means they dont work in a reef tank.
 
Hi Frank
Well it must work in some way! Others say it s a good skimmer I don t have a sump so is the one you recommend a hang on type and have you a price? link ? to view it please? Regards. Dave.
 
The "others" who say it is a good skimmer are either selling one or never had another skimmer. Look at their join date. It was my first skimmer. After getting the manufacturer to send me a new pump that worked and a whole new unit I gave up . I figured all the money I was spending on a asprins from this thing it would be worth it for me to get a real skimmer. My wife got sick of me complaining about it and spending night after night playing with it and cursing. Get it !my wife actually told me to go spend more money on my tank. How frustrated does your wife have to be to tell you spend more money on your tank? get a real skimmer Not some toy that I think is designed to work on a 10 gal nano with no fish or calcium. The coralife is a hang on and the reviews around here are actually pretty good. Do a search here on prisms and see what you come up with. or go to ebay and look for them you can find them for like 40 bucks. Think about it ...how good can a 40 dollar skimmer be? get what you pay for. The sea clown skimmer would even be better than that thing]http://www.marineandreef.com/shoppro/protein_skimmers_coralife.htm sorry try this one.. http://www.marineandreef.com/shoppro/protein_skimmers_coralife.htm
 
Prizms are NOT as bad as stated

Prizms are NOT as bad as stated

I just have to speak up in light of what has been written in this thread. I have a 75 gallon and with sumps I am running about 115 gallons total. I have SPS, LPS, softies and fish. All are growing and all are healthy. The only skimmer I have ever used for the tank since its inception (18 months ago) is the prizm. I know it is small and is not as powerful as a euroreef, but it flat out sucks crap out of the water. I have to empty my collection cup every 3-4 days. My CA is high...430 to be exact and it works just fine. The key to making this skimmer work right is to make sure the water level is right. If you set the level at the bottom of the neck (about 1/4 inch) below the o Ring and LEAVE it alone it will work. I had problems in the beginning, but after calling red sea and asking some question it works fine. It is very easy to use and to clean. I personally believe that alot of the huff and puff about specific name brands is simply egos talking. Remember, bigger is always better right. If that is the case I guess we can count copepods out. Sorry for being defensive, but I have read these types of comments over and over on this site, and I just want to let people know that if you take your time and move slowly almost any of these things work. Remember the only things that happen quickly in the reef hobby is death and despair. Later and happy reefing.
 
I have a Prizm and it does work well. The problem is getting it adjusted right so it works properly. It will take some time to get use to but for that size tank it should work fine.
 
I had a prizim, it works okay at times, but seems to need constant adjustment. I just got the corallife super skimmer and it blows my prizim away. Will never bother with the prizm again.
 
ecardwell is right. I somehow ended up with one for my 55 gal and i've always wondered who designed it. Atleast mine was leaking, did a lousy job, needed constant adjustment and the noisiest thing in my aquarium.
 
The only skimmer I have ever used for the tank since its inception
Click to expand...

which is one BIG reason why you dont know how bad it is.

That greenish water you do get is not exactly what people with experience in skimmers would call skimmate.
 
I agree, I have one on our nano tank since I couldnt fit much of anything else. On a 45 gallon tank Id have to say no way. I mean, ya it may be better than nothing, but they really do nothing IMO.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6539899#post6539899 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by frank2926
which is one BIG reason why you dont know how bad it is.

That greenish water you do get is not exactly what people with experience in skimmers would call skimmate.
Click to expand...


Okay, Now you must be a prophet to make an assumption like that. I did not say I did not have experience with other skimmers...I said that I only used a prizm on this particular tank. I also plainly said that it is not as powerful as most of the other skimmers on the market. However, to simply write it off because it is not the porshe of skimmers is crazy. Sometimes all you need is a pinto. :)
 
It worked for me

It worked for me

I have used a prism delux on a small sea horse tank and it did the job great, I have experience with ASM G3 on my larger tank, so I am well aware of performance. It becomes an issue of how much do you do in water changes, carbon, phosguard, etc.
 
Hobby Experience: mini-reef for the past 18 months
Click to expand...

Not a prophet. Just observant.

I did not say you need the porsche of skimmers what I am saying is that this is not even in that category. This thing is not a pinto its not even a car more like the skateboard of skimmers.

But seriously. One of the first things you learn about a skimmer is that as the neck of the skimmer gets dirty you lose skimmer production. This skimmers neck has about a 1 inch surface area.
if it did work at all you would have to clean the neck every couple of hours , which is a problem because it takes like 4 hours to start working after cleaning. If you want a decent hang on get a corlife or a cpr. and these are not exactly the porsches of skimmers . I think the coralife is about the same price as a priszm.
and the cpr a couple of bucks more.

ONe of the things that everyone does in this hobby is buy multiple skimmers why do you think that is? Because we all think we dont have to spend money to get one that works. Well guess again. The thing with skimmers is that you DO get what you pay for. You want to pay not much for a skimmer than be prepared to not get much skimmate. Want to do yourself a favor and save a ton of money ...listen to others in this hobby who have been there . In other words learn from our mistakes.

My skimmer history.....prism, aqua c , etss, euro-reef, deltec
Add them up its about all together about 1800 bucks in skimmers.
and dont forget the pumps to run them thats another 400.
 
The observation that I have noticed in this hobby is to always go out and buy the next "great" thing. Then after a few months you start reading statements about how bad they suck. IMO the vast majority of the issues that we face in this hobby is due to a lack of husbandry...not the equipment that we use. For example, Eric Borneman is running a system with no filtration. Would I recommend a prizm to someone with a 75 gallon comparable to mine that wanted to do a wc every 6 weeks? NO, but if you are willing to do a little extra work then you can go a little cheaper on the skimmer, even if it is a skateboard. I however, do not agree with that assessment. I personally clean the neck of the skimmer daily, do daily 1 gallon water changes, and test my parm's like a freak. So for me a prizm works great. If I had to recommend a HO to someone I personally would recommend the Aqua C Remora Pro. For the price, difference you would think it was a no brainer, but some people who want to be in this hobby simply can't afford the best gadgets money can buy. The reason that I got defensive is because alot of seasoned hobbiest, who have gradually worked up to their current systems often times imply that if you can't afford the top of the line then don't bother. Kind of like the teachers that have forgotten what it is like to be a student. I just think this hobby should be enjoyed by everyone that so desires. However, there are stipulations on which ever method you choose to do. I may have only been in this hobby for 18 months, but I know this: There is a thousand ways to do this thing, and most of them work if you no what you are doing. :) I am not trying to get in an argument with anyone, I just sometimes feel that there is a misrepresentation of facts. I also know that Red Sea redid the pump on their skimmer 2 years ago, and a lot of the problems that they were having with noice, adjustments, etc.. have improved greatly. later.
 
skimmer experience: Prizm, Remora pro, CPR backpack, Euroreef, bullet, basic venturi system

I have helped alot of people set up a lot of tanks. The length of time that I have been in the hobby is not representative of the actual time that I have spent in the hobby. For example, how many people have read every article ever written in reefkeeping magazine? I have...
 
i agree with most of what you say, except that a prizm works.
maybe a new pump helped but until they change that neck it wont. A prism is a waste of time money and electricity. you are better off going skimmerless. I do on my nanos. I tried a prism on it and I was just fooling myself and the tank.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Brian60077
Red Sea Salt
Replies
3
Views
166
Uncle99
Uncle99
RCERNA280
Red Sea reefer 350
Replies
8
Views
1K
RCERNA280
RCERNA280
Mr31415
Red Sea ReefMat 500 roll usage
Replies
8
Views
2K
Mr31415
Mr31415
Kremis
Red sea 425 part out
Replies
0
Views
559
Kremis
Kremis
NancyT3
microbubbles... why? How to get reduce? Impact on tank.
Replies
5
Views
949
shred5
shred5
Back
Top