CAD Lights Pipeless Protein SKimmer PLS-100

[MRRBW]

I needed to replace my existing skimmer and this was one of the only ones that fit into the space I have available. I was wondering if anyone has any reviews or experience with it that they are willing to share. Txs!

 

[BottomCoastReefs]

im tagging along for this one, im real close to getting the pls-50 for my frag tank. i would love the 100 but i am literally 1/4inch too small in my skimmer chamber!!!!!! i know several poeple here in Houston who use CadLights skimmers but the more normal looking cone design and absolutely swear by it. in a conversation with one guy over his CadLights cone skimmer he said it was all about the pump and recommened to me that if indeed the same TIA pump is used in the pipless skimmer than i wouldnt be disapointed. Im Pretty much sold on the skimmer, just trying to raise a little bit more $$ to buy the pls-50 Elite.

 

[ebushrow]

I have the PLS-100...Great skimmer, small, easy to clean and pulls the nasties out! I have one also available from my smaller frag tank (big upgrade) that I am not using --LMK if you are interested...used 4 months, now I have the PLS-300...love that one too!

 

[MRRBW]

I have the PLS-100...Great skimmer, small, easy to clean and pulls the nasties out! I have one also available from my smaller frag tank (big upgrade) that I am not using --LMK if you are interested...used 4 months, now I have the PLS-300...love that one too!

Good to hear! I ended up getting one from a lfs that had it. They didn't have any feedback from their customers yet. The modifications to the gen-3, do they make it less finicky? Do you still need to adjust frequently etc? and is it as quiet as they say? Any pics?

 

[MRRBW]

Only complaint so far - it came with air tubing that was 3" too short and with a small tear in it as well. Aside from that, a very nice skimmer.

 

[MRRBW]

I was recently asked about my settings for the skimmer. Here are some photos of the skimmer in operation, and a FTS. The water level is placed halfway up the reducing cone to the neck. It collects really nasty stuff and I clean it out 2x a week, which I did yesterday. I'll post up a fuller collection cup so you can see it. I really do like the skimmer, but it needs some TLC, but considering space limitations, it has been a massive upgrade. The piece that made this guy really work for me was adding the ATO, has made my life so much easier. Almost a complete set it and leave it scenario. As for the FTS - well, it's an 11 yr old fowlr tank that I decided to turn into a reef tank. I kept all the original rock and sand and it has caused me nightmares with algae and corals. I've started carbon dosing and added GFO and things are getting better, but now there's cyano. lol, it's always one thing after another, but I'm in a better place now with the skimmer working and less discouraged. Once school is done I'll be able to dedicate more time to the tank. Despite the negatives, my Kenya tree has sent off buds a few times and now I have 2 baby trees thriving. So I guess I successfully propagated my first coral!

 

[BottomCoastReefs]

i guess i should chime in as well as i purchased the CadLights PLS-50 not long after this thread was started...

My PLS-50 works astronomically at pulling nasty stuff but that DOESN'T mean the skimmer is great!
i am getting very annoyed with mine so let me try to explain whats going on.
When i clean the cup and set it back on the skimmer body it collects some NASTY gunk in about 2-3days which i am very pleased with.
The cup usually gets about a 1/4 of the way full of some dark stuff early mid week and i look at it and think to myself that by the end of the week the
cup should be half way full and ready to clean. Well unfortunately i wake up the next day and the cup is over flown and what was once a dark zero visible
collection is now overflown dumping the skimmate into the tank and diluting whats in the cup to near transparency.
It never fails and i tell myself well next time ill just clean it every 2days but just when i think to give the collection cup one more day i find the cup has dumped
all that nasty skimmate back into my sump...

Maybe its just me and i really do have to clean the cup every 2days to avoid the skimmer going nuts, do you have any issues similar to my experience?

 

[MRRBW]

@ BottomCoastReefs unfortunately I have experienced this as well with my pls-100, and I don't have a sump, I have an in-tank overflow box filter, so kind of internal tank sump if you would.It essentially burped it back into my tank, and my fllter pads cleaned that gunk up. Not sure why it does it either. Mine has done it several times, but never following any set pattern, it was very random. One thing that I recently changed was that I added an ATO. Since then it hasn't burped on me. I keep a stable level and essentially locked my skimmer in its setting. I had read before I purchased my skimmer that a common problem was that the set screws would loosen with time because of vibrations from the pump. This would cause changes in water levels and cause a burp that you and I experienced. So this may be what you are experiencing, worth checking it out and hopefully that will settle the issue. If it is the issue and you can't get it to remain in place, there are some mods that people did with teflon rings I think that seemed to make it work and stay in place. I don't remember where the thread is, but it's here somewhere. Be careful too before you say it hasn't moved, even a barely perceptible opening can cause a large water level change in the chamber. Hope this helps!

 

[BottomCoastReefs]

Really no specific pattern on when it chooses to dump everything but im noticing that at day 2-3 i need to be on high alert or just stop hoping and wishing it wont malfunctions again and just clean out the daamn thing more often.
And Oh trust me ive ran all sorts of trouble shooting on the skimmer. as far as the screws loosening up i do agree with you as i had trouble with this at first but i got a pair of pliers and tightened everything up that i could and i hand tighten the **** out of the parts that require movement for adjustments. But my guess is that the skimmer is too sensitive and as you stated any loosening of screws allowing a minute change in water level will send the whole thing overboard.
Let me know how yours works out after that ATO upgrade,
One more thing, it is very important to clean the pump out as well, i found a couple of weeks ago that my skimmer was not making any more bubble and that was due to a build up of crap in the Airline intake on the pump not allowing the skimmer to suck in air and make bubbles.

 

[MRRBW]

With the ATO my life has gotten much easier - set it and forget it kinda. Every day I check to make sure the air tubing is free of water, I cap it with my finger. I wait until I get a little overflow into the cup and that's it. When I do this and I can't get it to overflow I know I need to actually blow into the air tubing to push the water out, then it's back to normal. I guess it's a little annoying to have to do that, but it takes a few seconds during my daily systems check - so not the end of the world for me, but definitely a flaw in the cad-lights design. Here's a picture of today's cup, been 3 days -

 

[MRRBW]

So this has happened to me 3 times in less than 3 weeks. No idea why it decided to go awol and overflow all of a sudden. The ATO has been helpful, but it seems its the skimmer that is temperamental. All the potential shortcomings of this skimmer are starting to convince me to put the 10 yr old skimmer back in there. It doesn't make a mess because it just overflows into the box filter, but it's not good on the corals. With the tight quarters of the filter box and the real estate it takes up, plus that this tank is over 10yrs old, I'm putting this baby on cruise control and going to be doing an upgrade to tank and equipment. I'm ready to move on and build a tank I'm proud of. I guess in synopsis, the cad lights is an ok skimmer. Pulls out nasty stuff when running well, but it requires daily monitoring and too much TLC. If you don't mind that, it's a good bang for the $. But it really doesn't work any better than my 10 year old skimmer that came from DAS systems.

 

[BottomCoastReefs]

I FIGURED OUT THE PROBLEM!!!!
its due to a blockage in the airline hose attachment on the pump!!!

all you have to do is take the pump off the skimmer, disconnect the airline tubing and clean the tube that the Arline was attached to.
i found it is easier done with a sewing needle. make sure you clean out all the way down because build up of creep and gunk filled up the entire tube on mine causing a total blockage of air
also make sure that it is clear on the side that water is intaked on because little crustations liked to form in that area on my skimmer...
Hope this helps, Let me know how it turns out please...

 

[mrcoffee2]

Both of my pls-50 skimmers just stopped producing micro bubbles. I'll check the air intake tonight!

 

[BottomCoastReefs]

Both of my pls-50 skimmers just stopped producing micro bubbles. I'll check the air intake tonight!

i can almost guarantee that the problem is air intake if you stopped producing bubbles. check the piece that the airline is connects to on the pump and make sure it is %100 clear all the way down.
you may need to do a vinegar dip to dissolve anything that you cant remove manually but i had little problem with a sewing needle and some elbow grease.

 

[MRRBW]

So I finally got around to checking my pls-100, took it out of the tank and broke it down. There a few snails and a star in the main cylinder, but the pump outlet into the cylinder is completely clear. I then took the pump apart. The pinwheel is clear, no blockage. I took a look at the air inlet nipple and sure enough a couple of things were notice. First off, the air tubing was not very tight on the nipple, so probably easy to have salt creep. Second thing was when I placed a tooth pick in there to see if there something blocking the nipple, I met resistance. With a little force and out popped a solid piece of salt. So definitely the air tubing was the cause of the problem. So a thorough cleaning and a change of the air tubbing and things are back to normal. The only question is that I placed smaller tubing than what the skimmer comes with, so I hope I'm not chocking it too much. But first look it appears that there is no visible reduction in micro bubbles. It also runs a little quieter, not sure why, but a nice bonus. Here are some pics to show where the cleaning and salt creep took place.

 

[MRRBW]

you can see where the salt creep piece was, right where the tip of the toothpick is inside the piece, right on top of the white ring. There is very little space there and can easily clog with just about anything. A bit of a design flaw, but now we know the culprit.

 

[Steelerfan747]

I have the PLS-100 and love it as it is quiet and oes what it needs to. My only concern with it is everytime I 1st start it, the pump shoots the water up with force then settles in. Does anyone know if there is something that cane be done to avoid this? Has anyone modded the skimmer with a different soft start pump?

 

[MRRBW]

Mine shoots up too, a little annoying. Would need to get a pump that ramps up versus just blasting water up the shoot.

 

[MRRBW]

Credit where Credit is due: Txs BottomCoastReefs for figuring this one out!

I FIGURED OUT THE PROBLEM!!!!
its due to a blockage in the airline hose attachment on the pump!!!

all you have to do is take the pump off the skimmer, disconnect the airline tubing and clean the tube that the Arline was attached to.
i found it is easier done with a sewing needle. make sure you clean out all the way down because build up of creep and gunk filled up the entire tube on mine causing a total blockage of air
also make sure that it is clear on the side that water is intaked on because little crustations liked to form in that area on my skimmer...
Hope this helps, Let me know how it turns out please...

 

[saltyphish]

Yup, happens to me at least once a month. Sucks.