Hi folks,
Just thought I would give you a quick review on this little skimmer.
The Rio Nano Skimmer by Taam is probably one of the cheapest skimmer around. Selling for around US$19.95 it's a bargain!
It is a HOB skimmer only. It is designed for up to 20g tanks.
When I first got my skimmer it leaked where the pump was so I dismantled the pump area and found the O-Ring was not seated correctly and had mis-shapened the O-Ring. After fiddling around I managed to get it in place (though a little stretched).
After getting it going, I did noticed a lot of noise coming from where it sucks the air into the needle wheel. On the net it did say that it would be noisy for a little while then it will settle down.
The issue I did have and still on occasions, is the air intake tube. In the instructions they say to increase the amount of bubbles you lift the air intake tube. Well I found when I did this, the skimmer loses suction and does not suck the water into the chambers. It was a very frustrating time!
I could only lift it a fraction. Any more than a couple of millimetre it would lose suction. In despiration I contacted helpdesk and they said to try some petrollium jelly around the seal where the air intake slides. This did help, but then later went back to its original problem.
I decided that this is just not right, so I dismantled the skimmer and put everything back together again. Whatever I did actually fixed the problem 97% of the time, so now it is running quite efficiently.
Its been running for a few weeks now and it is pulling out gunk just as good as the bigger skimmers. And for the price, it's an amazing skimmer!
It does take about a week to two weeks before it will run efficiently.
Unfortunately it is still reasonably noisy, and it is coming from the air intake tube and the needle wheel where it churns up the air. I'm not sure whether you can totally get rid if the noise, but definately not a unit if you have your tank in your bedroom.
There is a chamber where the water exits. The skimmer comes with a filter/carbon cartridge to slot in there, but I took it out and put RowaPhos and filter wool (the filter wool is used to reduce the micro bubbles created).
I'll continue to tweek the unit and give any updates on what I find. I have read someone putting an airline tube on the air intake tube, then putting an air adjuster at the end so it is easier to control the air flow. I will give this a go and see what happens.
So overall I would give this 4 out of 5. At US$19.95 its a bargain.
Just thought I would give you a quick review on this little skimmer.
The Rio Nano Skimmer by Taam is probably one of the cheapest skimmer around. Selling for around US$19.95 it's a bargain!
It is a HOB skimmer only. It is designed for up to 20g tanks.
When I first got my skimmer it leaked where the pump was so I dismantled the pump area and found the O-Ring was not seated correctly and had mis-shapened the O-Ring. After fiddling around I managed to get it in place (though a little stretched).
After getting it going, I did noticed a lot of noise coming from where it sucks the air into the needle wheel. On the net it did say that it would be noisy for a little while then it will settle down.
The issue I did have and still on occasions, is the air intake tube. In the instructions they say to increase the amount of bubbles you lift the air intake tube. Well I found when I did this, the skimmer loses suction and does not suck the water into the chambers. It was a very frustrating time!
I could only lift it a fraction. Any more than a couple of millimetre it would lose suction. In despiration I contacted helpdesk and they said to try some petrollium jelly around the seal where the air intake slides. This did help, but then later went back to its original problem.
I decided that this is just not right, so I dismantled the skimmer and put everything back together again. Whatever I did actually fixed the problem 97% of the time, so now it is running quite efficiently.
Its been running for a few weeks now and it is pulling out gunk just as good as the bigger skimmers. And for the price, it's an amazing skimmer!
It does take about a week to two weeks before it will run efficiently.
Unfortunately it is still reasonably noisy, and it is coming from the air intake tube and the needle wheel where it churns up the air. I'm not sure whether you can totally get rid if the noise, but definately not a unit if you have your tank in your bedroom.
There is a chamber where the water exits. The skimmer comes with a filter/carbon cartridge to slot in there, but I took it out and put RowaPhos and filter wool (the filter wool is used to reduce the micro bubbles created).
I'll continue to tweek the unit and give any updates on what I find. I have read someone putting an airline tube on the air intake tube, then putting an air adjuster at the end so it is easier to control the air flow. I will give this a go and see what happens.
So overall I would give this 4 out of 5. At US$19.95 its a bargain.
