# Submersible Protein Skimmer



## F.H (Feb 14, 2011)

I was at Pauls the other day out in Surrey, and I noticed they had a protein skimmer for a 30 gallon which was submersible. I've tried doing a google search but nothing has come up about submersible skimmers, so I'm wondering if I'm thinking about this the wrong way. 

The person at the store told me that it's completely submersible, and that apart from the top of the skimmer which needs to be out of the water a little bit, the rest can be submersible. 

I need a submersible skimmer because of the way my tank is set up, as it is enclosed within the wall of my house, so there is no room for a sump or a hang on the back skimmer. 

Just wondering do such skimmers actually exist? haha since I've done some searching and nothing has come up about submersible skimmers....

Any light on this topic would be of great help,

Thanks for your time =).


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## CisBackA (Sep 4, 2011)

i think they ment its ment to be a in sump skimmer, since its sitting in water. you could put it in your display but it would be ugly as hell lol.

like this


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

I used to build and sell protein skimmers and the question is raised. The answer is simple enough.

If it leaks, you will definitely have to submerse it. Otherwise, you can submerse anything you want as long as you don't mind the look of something hanging inside you tank. You can always make a black acrylic box to conceal it. Hide it with rock scape ?

Otherwise, I am not aware of any protein skimmer specifically designed for hanging inside a tank. May be the small ones for the biocubes.


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## F.H (Feb 14, 2011)

Well yeah, it was a really small one, one of those rectangular ones for a 30 gallon. I was thinking if I could get 2 of them, (one for each side of the tank) then those 2 skimmers + live rock filtration would be sufficient.

The skimmer wasn't like those huge ones in the picture above, but rather one of those compact ones which is rectangular in shape. It was actually quite small, was only about 5 inches thick so it wouldn't look displeasing in the side of the tank. Plus, since my live rock will be a major part of the filtration as well, I would have plenty of rock to work with in order to hide it.

The original intent of this post was, because I wanted to find out if there would be a similar skimmer, but a tiny bit larger, because this one was only for 30 gal, so if I get 2 of them, that only covers 60 gal. My tank is a 110 gal, so I was hoping that a skimmer for maybe a 50 gal, on both sides, would be sufficient.

Something along the lines of this: http://www.jlaquatics.com/product/hy-ps25065/Hydor+Slim+Skim+Protein+Skimmer.html


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Check out the Tunze line of skimmers. Maybe that is what you saw.


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## CisBackA (Sep 4, 2011)

well you can pretty much put any skimmer in the tank, hang on, sump, etc. nothing stopping you but the look of it and trying to secure and hide it.

and you dont realllllly need one. lots of people never run skimmers - ive gone without before.


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## F.H (Feb 14, 2011)

The tunze skimmers look quite thick, looks like they would stick out a lot.

Aquatic Life

This is what I saw, and from what I read it said it can be placed inside the aquarium?

In case this doesn't work out, a live-rock only set-up would work still?


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

I'm going skimmerless on my 60g 2' cube reef & my 8g Fluval Flora red frogfish reef tanks. (for now at least). Have lots of macroalgae in both for nutrient export and lots of cured Live Rock (probably 60-70 lbs in the cube and 10-12 lbs in the Flora). I will also hook up my Eheim canister filter with surface skimmer to "clean" the water every once in a while. Canister filter media becomes nitrate factories if left on too long, so going to do it only for a few days at a time using activated carbon or Chemipure (although I'm thinking of investing in some rechargeable Purigen). I will rinse out the filter pads between use, so no nitrate factory.


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## CisBackA (Sep 4, 2011)

F.H said:


> The tunze skimmers look quite thick, looks like they would stick out a lot.
> 
> Aquatic Life
> 
> ...


tunze are some of the best you can get, Those AL ones you just showed, i dunno, never heard of them before. for 100gal i dunno how well they would do - but wouldnt hurt.

Yeah LR only would work, as long as you did water changes to keep up with bioload etc.

Can i ask why no sump? i know its in a wall, but if your putting a tank in the wall, why not just make a hatch under neath or plumb the sump to another room/floor.


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## F.H (Feb 14, 2011)

It's a really tight fit, and underneath the tank are supportive wooden beams all around, leaving only about 6 inches (thickness) for a sump, which I highly doubt is even big enough to fit a skimmer in there, let alone a sump.

After reading up on some of the descriptions for the tunze it seems like those are built to be inside sumps/submerged so maybe I'll have to see one in person in order to judge the size of it.

I've read a lot of review on the aquatic life one, and people seem to be quite content with its performance, well as much as one would expect from a 60 dollar, mini skimmer for a 30 gal anyway.

A couple more questions arise. If I were to install two of the 30 gallon skimmers, is it fine to have such small skimmers in a tank of my size? or would it almost become a hassle as in having to clean it out every few days (since the skimmer is so small and its having to deal with such a huge amount of water).

Aquatic Life Internal Mini Protein Skimmer 115 - Page 3 - 3reef Forums

as you can see here from the pictures in page 3, this skimmer is almost completely submerged into the person's tank, which would be perfect for me. Would I be able to do this with any skimmer? or just the "in sump" skimmers? so the hang on back skimmers would not be able to do this, correct?

Thank a lot for all the help so far =).


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## CisBackA (Sep 4, 2011)

To answer your other questions. 
I think it will be fine and not overflow the skim collecting cup, it can only skim so much based on its design - its usually good practice to clean your skimmer every few days anyways. 
edit: plus if its inside your tank, any overflow will jsut go back in your tank to be later skimmed off anyways

Any hang on skimmer i have ever used can be completely submerged, minus the collection cup - since they all use water proof pumps.


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