Apulo Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 Hi everyone, Has anyone else had poor performance from the surface skimmer on the Tidal 35 HOB filter? Mine doesn't seem to do anything and I have an icky biofilm layer at the top of the tank. Has anyone had the same issue and found a way to solve it? TIA! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottieB Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 Same issues on both the Tidal 35, the 55 and the 75. I had such high hopes for that filter I ender up getting rid of a couple of them and just filled one with biomedia and leave it circulating water in a standard 20g. My solution was swap them out for Aquaclears. Welcome to the forum though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppysnail Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 Welcome to the forum. I can’t help with the tidal but a paper towel laid on the surface and pulled up takes the film off or a cup pushed gently below the surface sort of sucks the film into the cup for disposal before water change. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrencher_Scott Posted March 4, 2022 Share Posted March 4, 2022 (edited) On 3/3/2022 at 11:20 AM, Apulo said: Hi everyone, Has anyone else had poor performance from the surface skimmer on the Tidal 35 HOB filter? Mine doesn't seem to do anything and I have an icky biofilm layer at the top of the tank. Has anyone had the same issue and found a way to solve it? TIA! There is a known problem with the little dial for the pump flow on the 75. You could try that see if it helps. Maybe there is something similar with the control for the skimmer?? Also, I would question the filtering if I had biofilm in the first place. You know?? Also, use foam instead of that matrix it comes with. Do the paper towel trick for sure in the meantime. Edited March 4, 2022 by Wrencher_Scott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apulo Posted March 4, 2022 Author Share Posted March 4, 2022 Thanks for the welcomes everyone. I seem to have sorted it out. I let the water level drop below the top of the skimmer and that seems to have broken the surface tension and allowed the water to drain down into the filter. I did grab a surface skimmer just to be certain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawn T Posted March 24, 2022 Share Posted March 24, 2022 Yep. The surface skimmer on the Tidal 35 is so slow, my cherry shrimp go right past it without a bit of struggle. They and my smaller fish swim past it regularly. I've even seen the occasional shrimp grazing almost on top of it without any issue. Definitely not a threat to them. I keep the water level high enough that the agitation keeps the surface scum from forming though, so it wasn't been an issue in that regard. The constant maintenance it needs compared to my Aquaclear is driving me batty though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrencher_Scott Posted March 24, 2022 Share Posted March 24, 2022 On 3/24/2022 at 8:41 AM, Dawn T said: Yep. The surface skimmer on the Tidal 35 is so slow, my cherry shrimp go right past it without a bit of struggle. They and my smaller fish swim past it regularly. I've even seen the occasional shrimp grazing almost on top of it without any issue. Definitely not a threat to them. I keep the water level high enough that the agitation keeps the surface scum from forming though, so it wasn't been an issue in that regard. The constant maintenance it needs compared to my Aquaclear is driving me batty though. If you examine the tidal that bottom is all open in there around the pump. There is very little control of the whole inlet part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted March 24, 2022 Share Posted March 24, 2022 On 3/3/2022 at 11:20 AM, Apulo said: Has anyone else had poor performance from the surface skimmer on the Tidal 35 HOB filter? Mine doesn't seem to do anything and I have an icky biofilm layer at the top of the tank. 100% I would highly suggest Sharing now you have the HoB setup and then I would argue with the 35 specifically there is absolutely no way for the surface skimmer to work. I have had a 55, 75, all the aquaclears and other HoBs and the only one that doesn't work well is the 35 because of the way the input is designed. If you look at the pump area, the nossle itself is right up against the leftward input. The rest of the pump area is completely exposed. There is almost no way for the skimmer to input any water. Your best chance is to do two things... 1. Run the water level so the skimmer itself can suck air down towards the pump and have some filter floss in the container to absorb the fine particles. 2. Add an air stone and use the lid as the place where the surface scum will land. Here's mine, confirming your issue. Second picture is the Tidal 55 surface. On 3/4/2022 at 6:38 AM, Apulo said: I did grab a surface skimmer just to be certain. Which one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apulo Posted March 24, 2022 Author Share Posted March 24, 2022 On 3/24/2022 at 3:43 PM, nabokovfan87 said: 100% I would highly suggest Sharing now you have the HoB setup... Here's how it's currently set up... 🤣 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted March 24, 2022 Share Posted March 24, 2022 Lol. Problem solved. Nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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