via Slide-Loc
Few things are more frustrating than spending your hard-earned money on a protein skimmer that only produces clear skimmate or seemingly nothing at all. Tuning the air, water height, & pump speed can only help if the amount of bioload is within the range needed to sustain a stable skimmate head. So what do you do if you’re outside those limits?
The problem that all protein skimmers can face is effectively being oversized for the amount of biological waste in the system. This often happens for one of several reasons:
- You plan to grow into your skimmer as your system matures
- You change your feeding & or mechanical filtration such as adding a roller mat
- You purchased used equipment and you’re making due.
Per Slide-Loc’s survey of 98 reefers, 86% have struggled with an ineffective protein skimmer at some point. Of those affected, a full 1/3rd said they had run that way for “far too long” which means the most fundamental life support equipment was putting their systems at risk of a crash.
Addressing Skimmer Performance
Slide-Loc owner Ryan Snodgrass said, “It’s simply a math problem, not necessarily the quality of your skimmer. I’ve personally faced this so I came up with a solution that works really well. All we are doing is reducing the surface area & volume rising up through the skimmer neck by changing the tube diameter in a simple, cost-effective kit.”
The Slide-Loc Skimmer Performance Adapter (SPA) kit utilizes several size ranges of custom gaskets and riser tubes to reduce the diameter of the skimmer neck. It’s made of premium high-density silicones and plastics specifically designed for the reefing community. They are also highly resistant to ozone and other caustic elements frequently dosed into our sumps. Easily trimmed to size using a home scissors or razor blade makes a personal fit fairly simple and there is an on-site calculator during ordering to verify the best size for you.
Details worth noting:
- The SPA kit comes with 3 rings & a clear riser tube. (1 extra ring in case of a mistake)
- There are 3 SPA kit sizes to handle a range of skimmer neck diameters from 2.5″ to 6″.
- Sizing calculator on site for suggested sizing and impact on surface area.
- Rings are sloped for skimmate draining & bubbles rising.
- Flexible, yet firm silicone gaskets.
- Tube is clear, rigid, lite, will not crack like acrylic, and can be cut with scissors.
- Gaskets include cutting guides embedded every 0.25″ to ensure a clean fit.
- Highly ozone and caustic material resistant.
- Reef safe & easy to clean.
A person could certainly DIY something, but for the price & time this is a much simpler all-in-one kit. It’s also possible to use this product long term but it’s cost-effective enough to install on a system that’s not mature yet (waiting on more fish/coral) or use it as a tool to provide confidence in what your next skimmer size should be.
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Watch the 4-part SPA Video Series from Slide-Loc
Will one of these fit the Reef octo regal 200 int skimmer