Yes, that was the original plan. It doesn't work. The skimmer is so small that it eventually becomes a big air bubble as air slowly builds up and the pump chokes and it stops working, it works awesome for a day or two. Also, the Tunze pump doesn't really have a suitable design for a needle wheel as it is shaftless and water is what suspends and acts as a bearing for the magnet, air bubbles make a big problem for that design. We worked on the DOC skimmer for over 2 years, we tried just about everything.