Ordered the new skimmer for the marine tank a few weeks ago, and finally got around to putting up some pictures. It is a MS-A-150-6530 Marine Sources protein skimmer.

It arrived neatly in its box, packaged well with no broken bits. Probably the worst part was getting it out of the box. You’d be suprised how much static electricity builds up on acrylic and the little pieces of foam sticking to everything.

Finally got all the bits and pieces out, and getting ready to assemble.

Fast Forward a bit here.. this is the completed skimmer. Wasn’t really that hard to put together actually.

Did a water test outside in the yard. A few leaks, but nothing a bit of teflon tape and tightening the connections couldn’t fix.

Finally the skimmer is positioned under the tank next to the sump. I want to make sure I can remove this without moving the sump (as it will have water in it and be awkward to move when full).

Opps.. it isn’t quite high enough.. looks like I will have to raise the skimmer by about 5cm so that the return pipe is downhill.

To get around this, I’m using my extensive woodworking skills and am building a simple stand. Nothing fancy mind you.

Glue them all together. You can see the hours of thought and planning have gone into making this stand. Never get between me and my metal glue-stick-thingy of Liquid nails.

Finally painting it to seal it. Why is it black? Because I’m artistic. Ok, its the left over paint from the back of the tank. It is currently sitting on a broken office chair base – handy tip: these things make great stands when you are painting something because you can swivel them around while you paint. (patent pending).

Ok, that was a big update.

Still to do: Finish painting the skimmer stand (needs another coat), and work out the plumbing the skimmer from the overflow and into the sump.

Now that I have the skimmer sorted, I have a much better idea what I want to have in the sump. I’ll need to get some glass for the sump now.

Until next time…