RedSea Prizm skimmers?

[Jaroby]

Im looking at purchasing a RedSea Prizm Deluxe skimmer and curious if any comments on its effectiveness and durability. Main purpose of choosing this skimmer is it is Hang-on model as i will not have a sump for this 30 gallon reef tank w/ planned 10 various shrimps, 20 various snails, 5 various gobies, a pygmy angel and a handful of other cleaner invertabrates. It will be my main filtration (not counting 40 lbs live rock and 40 lbs live sand). Any thoughts or other suggestions on a different skimmer that does not occupy the internal tank space or go in a sump?

Thank you

 

[sneeyatch]

my opinion is this:

i have a prism and it worked ok. you can do some mods to the impeller and venturi that really help. i modded the impellar only and it works better than it did. there are a couple other real drawbacks to it though. there are some plastic hooks near the impellar where the intake tube swists in. if you rush putting that in you can easily break those things off (like me). as far as i know - you can't remove this piece or get a replacement for it either, so i had to rig up something to keep the tension on the tube to keep it from leaking. i've also had the rubber o-ring around the motor housing fail and leak all over my floor. i've also had the skimmer just stop running on me. all in all, i've brought it back from the dead like 5 times already.

now i run a hang-on octopus skimmer. built like a tank and pulls more skimmate in one day than the prizm has pulled in 2 weeks. best part of that is - they're just about the same price.

 

[Hop]

Put your money toward a better skimmer. You carpet will thank you, but the carpet cleaning company may not

 

[Jaroby]

Noted, and greatly appreciated. I am now leaning towards a Coralife Super Skimmer as it hang-on capable and is offered locally at my fish store. Rated for a 65 gallon, i will only be running half the capacity and still usable whenever i decide to upgrade tank size.