A wonderful invention. A small protein skimmer/power filter combination that doesn't require messing around with airstones, is affordable, and is the perfect size for use with very small Nano and Micro Reef tanks.
A piece of junk. A powerless skimmer mated to an outdated power filter design that doesn't perform as well as an airstone skimmer, is overpriced at any price, and fails miserably to skim on even very small Micro and Nano Reef tanks.
Sadly, the "piece of junk" description fits it better then the "wonderful invention" description does. While the idea behind it is a good one, it's execution is so poor that it's superficial design flaws almost perfectly disguise it's fundamental design flaws.
Problems with the Skilter are many. It floods the tank
with bazillions of micro bubbles. It's loud, and sounds like a horny alleycat raping a
light socket when in operation. Adding insult to injury, it does a very bad job at
skimming.
On the other hand, the Skilter IS the perfect size to run
on a really small tank. While on tanks of even 10 gallon capacity there are a number of
alternative skimmers, the sad truth is that on a 5 gallon tank one has only two choices as
far as skimming. One can either use an airstone driven in-tank skimmer which eats up a
rather large amount of the very limited real estate of a truly small tank, or one can use
the Skilter. No other commercially available skimmers are designed for use in aquariums
with a height of less then 12".
Before discussing the modifications for the Skilter which
have been put forth by different individuals in an attempt to make it a worthwhile piece
of hardware, I will spend a moment on the above mentioned in-tank skimmers.
While small, airstone driven in-tank skimmers are much
more efficient then the Skilter, they take up far too much space inside a small tank to
justify their use. There is a way, however, to make their use more palatable. By buying a
fairly deep conventional power filter (such as an Aquaking) and removing all it's filter
media, one ends up with a chamber just large enough to mount the very smallest model
airstone protein skimmers.By placing such a skimmer in the filter, one can skim the tank
rather well without taking up any more space in the tank then would be used by the Skilter
itself. Micro bubbles may still exist, but in drastically reduced quantities, and the
noise problem will go away entirely.
As badly as the Skilter skims, it DOES skim. Many people
claim otherwise, but from experience I know this to be untrue. While I would never, never
recommend it's use for a large tank, on a tank 5 gallons or smaller, it does provide
sufficient skimming for your needs. Providing, of course, that your MAIN method of waste
export is through frequent partial water changes, and not through skimming.
In an attempt to improve upon the design of the Skilter, many modifications to it's basic design have been tried by various individuals. Below are ALL the various skilter modifications I've seen, heard of or read about. I can't vouch for the efficiency of any of them.
1)Airstone mod : drill a hole in the collection cup cover
lid wide enough to firmly insert some rigid airline
tubing. Position it right over the skimmer tube so you
can place an airstone at the bottom of the the
skimmer. Connect it to an airpump, and disconnect the skilters venturi tubing. Decreases noise.
2)Mod for the Airstone mod: Perform the above, but place a
cylindrical piece of PVC just wider then the airstone
around the airstone. Make sure the top of the PVC
rises a few inches above the water outlet slots at the
bottom of the skimmer. This mod is designed to reduce escaping bubbles.
3)Rio Pump mod: Rotate the skimmer chamber so the input
tube faces AWAY from the skilters pump. Place a Rio
400 pump into the skilter, facing the input tube.
Connect them with some 1/2" tubing, and attach a Rio venturi hose to the pump. This is a noise reducing mod, that
supposedly also cuts down on bubbles to some extent.
4)Return mod: Using cable ties attach filter floss pads to
the skilter's water return, BELOW the water line in
the skilter. This is a bubble reducing mod.
5)Collection Cup Overflow Mod: Drill a 1/4" hole into
the side of the collection cup that faces the skilters
water return. Position it about 1/4" from the top
of the side of the cup. If your skilter seems capable of
only producing tons of wet foam, this will prevent the cup from overflowing and spilling onto the floor by channeling the water
back into the tank. By positioning it as high on the
cup as possible, hopefully less of the 'heavy' gunk
will escape in the event of an overflow.
6)The "Hey, it still makes noise even when the
skimmer isn't turned on" mod: Take the venturi
hose (which still pulls in some air even when "closed",
thus creating random obnoxious noises) and insert it under water in the main filter.
And the ever popular:
7)The Final Mod: remove skilter 250 from position on tank.
Reorient into a trash receptacle. Replace with CPR
BakPak skimmer and enjoy.
(Sadly, the BakPak is too tall to be mounted on any
conventionally-sized All-Glass Aquarium smaller in size then 20 gallons. Older models --
at least 1.5 years old -- will fit on tanks as small as a standard 10 gallon, according to
the manufacturers.)