Its unbelievable when you really need something the most if its not meant to be ... obtaining it can be nearly impossible.
This story began about a month ago I purchased 3 new fish and admittedly over fed a few days just to get them off on the right track but hey I had my trusty old school SCA skimmer that was probably undersized for my system but for the past 2 years it had never let me down and always pulled out dark almost black skimate. It was my little workhorse and I new I could always count on it.
Unfortunately my trust was misplaced when I awoke one morning to find the pump was making a terrible noise and no longer working properly. I tried cleaning it , taking it apart and soaking in vinegar all to no avail. In hind site I should have looked at just ordering a replacement pump. Instead I just trashed it.
So I figured I would make the best out of a bad situation and use this opportunity to upgrade to some thing newer and more suitable to my aquarium . So I started researching online reviews and forums and being the cheap reefer that I am I wanted the best reviewed and least expensive skimmer I could find that offered the biggest bang for the buck. Being that I had success with the old school SCA I started in that direction first and ordered a new SCA 302 . Mind you all this time still overfeeding a bit and confident that my skimmer from Amazon would arrive in 2 days and all would be well.
Finally the SCA 302 arrived and bummer right out of the box the pump was a dud and not working properly - I was somewhat disappointed knowing this would add time on to everything. I had to box it up and return and it left a bad taste in my mouth so I decided to look in a different direction and went with the Simplicity 120 DC Skimmer . This time it took about 5 days to arrive . I was impressed with the new technology and man it was skimming black within a few hours right out of the box. unfortunately by day 2 it was rattling and the pump was no longer working properly talk about bummed I had to do the whole return thing again and tank was starting to grow some algae things were getting a little desperate but still manageable after all I would send this one back and order a new skimmer and hopefully in another few days all would be well.
Not so fast this time I ordered a bubble magus - it had great reviews and the price was right . After 5 days of waiting the box arrived and I excitedly opened it like a kid on Christmas morn only to have all my hopes dashed with a nice set of LED lights ??? What the heck I didn't order LED Lights? It was at this point I first started wondering if maybe God wants me to run a skim-less tank ?
OK so I called the company they apologized and said they would send me another skimmer one day air and they would email me a return label for the light and a tracking # for the new skimmer . I immediately received the return label but after another hour still hadn't received the tracking # for the new skimmer . I started getting the hebejebees so I called them back and was told we apologize sir but after reviewing your order the skimmer is on back order for 2 months. I explained this is unacceptable and I needed it asap. So they offered to upgrade me to a different model or brand for the same price. This time I chose the Reef OCTO Classic 150 and again they said they would 1 day air it to me. By the way this was last Thursday. I figured Columbus day might throw a wrench into things so I tried to be patient . By Monday afternoon I still haven't received the skimmer so again I called the company and after doing some research they found that the wrong address had been inputted and that the item had been returned to the UPS sorting facility. As I sat on the couch watching the algae grow before my eyes I thought wow this is a weird dream hopefully soon I will wake up to find my old school SCA undersized skimmer working fine as always and I would breathe a sigh of relief and have a laugh about it. Unfortunately not so much..... Anyways they corrected the address and at 7PM on Tuesday night the skimmer finally arrived . I immediately put it together and installed in sump . First impressions lots of bubble and doing what its supposed to do I am sure as it breaks in it will only get better . As for the tank I have started underfeeding and cutting back on lighting intensity and schedule until everything settles back down . Hind site is 20 - 20 and I don't think many reefers could afford to have a back up on everything - maybe a power head or pump but usually not a skimmer . However after everything that happened over the past month I am definitely considering it. Feel free to laugh but remember what comes around goes around.
I would love to hear some of your elusive reef items stories.
This story began about a month ago I purchased 3 new fish and admittedly over fed a few days just to get them off on the right track but hey I had my trusty old school SCA skimmer that was probably undersized for my system but for the past 2 years it had never let me down and always pulled out dark almost black skimate. It was my little workhorse and I new I could always count on it.
Unfortunately my trust was misplaced when I awoke one morning to find the pump was making a terrible noise and no longer working properly. I tried cleaning it , taking it apart and soaking in vinegar all to no avail. In hind site I should have looked at just ordering a replacement pump. Instead I just trashed it.
So I figured I would make the best out of a bad situation and use this opportunity to upgrade to some thing newer and more suitable to my aquarium . So I started researching online reviews and forums and being the cheap reefer that I am I wanted the best reviewed and least expensive skimmer I could find that offered the biggest bang for the buck. Being that I had success with the old school SCA I started in that direction first and ordered a new SCA 302 . Mind you all this time still overfeeding a bit and confident that my skimmer from Amazon would arrive in 2 days and all would be well.
Finally the SCA 302 arrived and bummer right out of the box the pump was a dud and not working properly - I was somewhat disappointed knowing this would add time on to everything. I had to box it up and return and it left a bad taste in my mouth so I decided to look in a different direction and went with the Simplicity 120 DC Skimmer . This time it took about 5 days to arrive . I was impressed with the new technology and man it was skimming black within a few hours right out of the box. unfortunately by day 2 it was rattling and the pump was no longer working properly talk about bummed I had to do the whole return thing again and tank was starting to grow some algae things were getting a little desperate but still manageable after all I would send this one back and order a new skimmer and hopefully in another few days all would be well.
Not so fast this time I ordered a bubble magus - it had great reviews and the price was right . After 5 days of waiting the box arrived and I excitedly opened it like a kid on Christmas morn only to have all my hopes dashed with a nice set of LED lights ??? What the heck I didn't order LED Lights? It was at this point I first started wondering if maybe God wants me to run a skim-less tank ?
OK so I called the company they apologized and said they would send me another skimmer one day air and they would email me a return label for the light and a tracking # for the new skimmer . I immediately received the return label but after another hour still hadn't received the tracking # for the new skimmer . I started getting the hebejebees so I called them back and was told we apologize sir but after reviewing your order the skimmer is on back order for 2 months. I explained this is unacceptable and I needed it asap. So they offered to upgrade me to a different model or brand for the same price. This time I chose the Reef OCTO Classic 150 and again they said they would 1 day air it to me. By the way this was last Thursday. I figured Columbus day might throw a wrench into things so I tried to be patient . By Monday afternoon I still haven't received the skimmer so again I called the company and after doing some research they found that the wrong address had been inputted and that the item had been returned to the UPS sorting facility. As I sat on the couch watching the algae grow before my eyes I thought wow this is a weird dream hopefully soon I will wake up to find my old school SCA undersized skimmer working fine as always and I would breathe a sigh of relief and have a laugh about it. Unfortunately not so much..... Anyways they corrected the address and at 7PM on Tuesday night the skimmer finally arrived . I immediately put it together and installed in sump . First impressions lots of bubble and doing what its supposed to do I am sure as it breaks in it will only get better . As for the tank I have started underfeeding and cutting back on lighting intensity and schedule until everything settles back down . Hind site is 20 - 20 and I don't think many reefers could afford to have a back up on everything - maybe a power head or pump but usually not a skimmer . However after everything that happened over the past month I am definitely considering it. Feel free to laugh but remember what comes around goes around.
I would love to hear some of your elusive reef items stories.