Will HOB Skimmers Overflow Often?

My LFS told me they were fiddly bits of kit and had to constantly be adjusted. I am gone for 8 hours everyday, so I am freake it will overflow and drain my tank. I was looking at the eshopps hob 75H or reef octo series since they both had good reviews. The eshopps has a drain for extra waste which i could hook up with a float valve and auto shutoff. I am moving up to a 120 soon so is it worth the hassle or should I save myself some money towards the 120?

 

do you mean HOB skimmers or HOB overflows?

HOB skimmers
I have had 2 x Deltec, 1 x SeaClone and a Reef Octopus BH1000

and thus far I have never had a leak in any of them
and both Deltecs had been in use for 3 years or more and no problem at all with leaking

there can sometimes be something on the inside of the skimmer oils etc
and occasionally substances in the water, that can make them skim very very wet and you end up with a collection cup of more or less saltwater

when this has happened to me- it normally clears itself up after a day or 3




Steve

 

I had my eshopps skimmer over flow once but that was deff my fault, i cleaned it and when cleaning it i turned the adjustment handle. Well i forgot ot turn it back and less then 20min later my collection cup was over flowing lol.

 

HOB’s skimmers can overflow, but generally that’s user error and not something that happens during an 8 hour day. So to answer your question regarding overflowing often – the answer is no they do not. Once upon a time I had a HOB bak-pak and I drilled the collection cup and glued a hose to it that drained into a bucket. That worked pretty well until I forgot to clean the bucket often enough the my wife complained about the smell … hehe, my bad.

I suggest you install on a weekend so that you are around to monitor the initial set up and you will be fine.

 

Ok, I will look into an eshopps

 

my skimmers never overflowed..but im sure it can be done

 

I agree it is user error when skimmers overflow. Lots of times people are dosing chemicals or certain additives that will cause the skimmer to overskim and onto the floor. As long as you heed the directions and get a good working unit you should be fine.

 

If it couldn't be done I wouldn't be asking

 

Any "good working units" you can recommend?

 

I was thinking I would save the money, and work towards getting a skimmer that could handle the bigger tank.

Just my thoughts.