prizm skimmer leaked and started fire

so i have had the red sea prizm skimmer for about a month now and yesterday i went downstairs and smelled something strange. i looked at my 46 bow and there was about a gallon or so missing overnight and come to find out, the crappy design on the prizm skimmer was allowing a slow leak. who ever has this skimmer BE CAREFULL!! you know what i am talking about with the o-ring that seals on the bottom of the collection cup. anyways, it leaked about a gallon of water right onto a powerstrip and started a fire. thank God i caught it before it was too late, but because of this skimmers crappy design MY HOUSE COULD HAVE BURNT DOWN! later today i am going to get someone on the phone from red sea, would it be unreasonable to ask them to pay for the things damaged? because the skimmer is only about 4 weeks old, Big Als online is going to take it back and send me the coralife super skimmer 65, but i think Red Sea should take responsibility for a bad design, and in this case a dangerous problem. please give me some feedback on this. For anyone who doesnt know the skimmer, there is an O-ring that seals the collection cup to the bubble chamber, but the problem is the O-ring is WAY too big. if you pinch it you can fit a finger between it and the skimmer. huge problem.

 

Did you have to assemble it?
Might be a cheaper route to just get a good skimmer.
Glad you caught it! That was close.

 

Sorry for your problems..... Happy it wasn't worse.....

 

prizm not so good

When I was in the market for skimmers I noticed prizm had the worst reviews. I wanted one because I was limited by space. I did not by a prizm skimmer I bought a coralife super skimmer 65. It works..ok

bad things with the 65: The collection cup does not have a way to hook up an extra bucket from it. So if it overflows.. it spills over. This sucks for me because it leaks all over my carpet floor. I adjust the flow and height of the skimmer and it works fine... a day later...overflow(perhaps) I do not trust it.

1st thing you should do it remove the tray at the end. Where the bubbles come out. Just extend the pipe into the water. It is doing better now. If you change the filter pad in it you must change the levels of you skimmer or an overflow will happen.

I just purchased an extra collection cup. I am going to drill/tap it so I can have an extra spillage bucket else ware.


Zak

 

I also have a prizm and I envey all who dont!!!
I know all to well the problems with this skimmer.

 

i saw worse reviews on the coralife so i got the prism about 5 yrs ago and its still running strong.i had to replace the air tube last yr,cost me .50 to repair.i get a cup of skim every wk.this is the regular model.i hate when snails crawl inside it and disrupt the flow.i did'nt like it on my 29 gallon i guess its just the right skimmer for my tank.

 

coralife 65

I do not want to totally diss the super skimmer. I have a sump with the skimmer HOT over the side. It would be great if I could keep it in the sump. But ...space does not allow it. I like the design. I suppose I do not have the most experience. I only want a dry floor. Now that I got rid of the bubble collector... everything seems better?


Zak

 

Wow, Im glad you caught that in time. That is one of the reasons why I hate HOB devices. I dont think I could sleep at night knowing one day I may be burnt to the crisp. I have my skimmer in the sump and if for whatever reason it overflows, its staying in the sump. Karma for what could have happened.;D

 

if you don't want the skimmer anymore my girlfriend will buy it.we'll get a new o ring and run it on her new tank.