Customer Reviews

Aqueon Coralife 05272 Super Skimmer with Pump, 125-Gallon

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This skimmer is probably the cheapest skimmer I could find for my 55 gal reef tank. And it works well. I'm sure you get what you pay for in some things, so itsn't as robust as some of the other skimmers. But does the trick. I empty the skimmer about twice a week. It hooks up fine. Only beef I have with it is that you need to unplug the unit before unscrewing the top collection bin to empty it. I always clean it with some paper towels when emptying it cause it gets a little stinky. I'd recommend this product to anyone doing thier first reef tank. Cause it's affordable. And we all know how expensive salt water tanks can be.

I have been running this skimmer on a 30 gallon tank for over a week now, it really works great. The skimmer only took 24 hours to break-in and now is pulling some dark smelly skimmate from my tank. I can see how easy it is to overflow the unit, which would be a problem for a hang on tank setup. It is easy to add an overflow modification to the collection cup. It was a little tricky to get the water level set right, but it is running great now. I would definitely recommend this skimmer to anyone. I purchased from petsolutions for $91 with shipping.

This skimmer ROCKS!!! Most lower end skimmers need a week to begin producing skimmate-- this produced thick coffee-dark sludge within minutes of being plugged in. It's super easy to adjust, has a big enough collection cup to prevent you from having to fiddle with it every few hours, and it produces NO microbubbles. Since my 75g QT tank was filthy, the water was turning opaque, and the walls were covered in algae, I set it up and had it run very wet. I sent the built in overflow (vacation-safe!) tubing out to a gallon jug It was fill in two days with dark sludge, and the water was crystal clear.

It isn't perfect, but it's close enough and you save $500 on the price of the perfect one.

After using 5 other skimmers for various other tanks, I'm stuck on this one. I have the 220g version running on my 75QT tank, and will make room for it on my main tank when my fish are out of QT. This works so well, it precludes my need for an RO/DI unit, as it pulls out all brown silicate algae as well.

I purchased this skimmer to replace a Prizm skimmer. I am so much happier with it. It's been running for 2 years now and is going strong.
My main gripe with it is its adjustable flow-rate. It does have a dial for adjusting flow-rate, but I can't set it low enough. I run it on the lowest setting continuously. Many, many times after cleaning the skimmer and/or tank, the skimmer will fill the collection cup quickly with clean water. After the first filled cup or so, it settles back to the proper flow-rate and starts collecting scum again instead of tank water. Other than that, I'm happy. It fills the collection cup weekly, and the rate of skimmate (sp?) collection increases visibly every time I feed my fish, so it's very responsive.

Right out the box it took me a while to hook up this skimmer, guess it was easier looking at the photos on the box and assemble this unit. First putting it in the tank, it produced lots of bubbles both in the unit and most of all in the tank wow what a mess!! I have a 55g salt water with corals and fish I needed something to work well with my investments, anyway, I found out that the shorter house that's connected to the pump works best and produced right mixture of air and water, after running this thing for 3 days the fourth day it just magically start working as it should, it did say a break in period, just leave it turn off the light and go do something else. I did not have to cut anything to make it work, just a little patience that I didn't have at all, so leave the bubbles in the tank alone, I only had the inflow valve set on half, then when it start working well I opened it to full, and with the red water level was set to almost between 80-90%, hope this makes sense, but no bubbles in my tank at all, water is crystal clear and clean. I had the Prizm red sea skimmer and thought I had a good skimmer until I go this one, oh my gosh I emptied the cup 5 days after it started working properly, some serious gunk in there real dark green and smelly, it was pulling out stuff like a sewer, to really clean the cup you need to unplug and unscrew the cup then wash it, but there is also a leak valve at the bottom of the cup, there is a small tube for this, and that's what I use when I don't want to unplug and fully clean, this skimmer is so quiet and smoother, only sound you hear is the little bubbles going back into the tank from the bubble diffuser. I have been running it for 2 weeks now and no problem just save all your tubing and connections. Its a bit bulky expecially above my T5 light.

I bought the "new style" skimmer. Makes alot of bubbles for the proteins to stick to, the bigger and better collection cup is bigger and better, But the skimmer wouldn't turn down enough to stop a constant flow of micro bubbles into the collection cup. I let it run for 3 days, routing the flow through the optional drain tube back into my sump while I awaited Coralife Techs to return my email...I'm still waiting. I resolved the problem by placing a ball valve between the pump and skimmer intake, slowing the water flow slightly, and now it works great! The pump seems to be just a little too powerful for the return flow design.

A skimmer for this size, and price is a great deal. I had a Rio Skimmer, great skimmer, but as soon as i hooked up this monster it started skimming RIGHT AWAY, and picked up more sludge than the RIO.

The directions are a little tricky, they are for about 5 models, and you read the whole paragraph, and realize it doesnt apply, when putting it together.

Overall, a great skimmer.

Before purchasing this product, I read a lot of reviews online about it, and it sounded like a lot of people had problems setting it up, then had problems getting it to run right...but for me it was a breeze to setup, and it has worked like a charm ever since! It took it about 3 or 4 days to break in, but ever since then its worked great for me. For the price, you definately can't go wrong! At first I was worried that I wasted my money, but I haven't regretted it once! I would definately recommend this item to anyone!

The skimmer pulls out a lot of filth, however it supplies my tank with way too many bubbles. My reef tank is doing great and it does do its job but the microbubbles it floats through out the tank are a huge problem. Have not had a chance to modify it, to correct the issue. Out of the box I was hopeing it would do the job it was suppose to. There was break in time and whenever I turn it off it goes through the same issues.

This thing is great, for the money you really can't beat it. Very easy to put together, it run for an hour and was already working.