Protein skimmer question

[drud0616]

This may be a silly question so here goes. Does a protein skimmer have to "skim" the water-line surface of the aquarium ? I have a reef octopus HOB BH-1000 which I truly love. The problem is I want to keep aquarium water level pretty close to the top of the tank, however the skimmer intake hangs too low. If I have to skim the surface of the water than I won't be able to keep my water level where I want it. Anyone have this issue?

 

[leptang]

You could superglue a strip of acrylic to the bottom part of the surface skimmer to raise the water level just make sure you leave some of the teeth so your livestock doesn't get filtered. Hope this helps.

 

[Reefing Madness]

No, it doesn't have to skim the surface of the water. I use 2 HOB skimmers and I just get them as close to the top as I can using the hose and thats it, they work just fine.

 

[Tphill]

You could cut the intake pipe so that the little cup with teeth could be raised to the water surface.

 

[drud0616]

Thanks for advice. I'd rather not make any modifications to the skimmer. It sounds like it's not necessary to keep it at the surface anyway.