DIY Suface skimmer / conversion

[J-P]

Woo hoo I got this ugly beast to work!
History:
I had purchased a Tom's surface skimmer a while back and was totally unhappy with it. It requires a wet/dry filter or sump. That was going to run me and additional $300~500 on top of the $200 I already paid for the skimmer. NO WAY!

I tried rigging the pump (Suprime Classic General Purpose Pump ; Magnetic Drive Model 5 - 500 GPH) to the surface skimmer and found that the pump would drain the water faster than the skimmer's resivior box could be re-filled. This skimmer was rated for 700 GPH ... Yea ... ok .. whatever!

I toyed with the idea of hooking a standard carpet vacuume head with filter media to the intake of the pump when the idea came across.

What I did:
I drilled several holes into the intake / resivior section of the box and filled it with sponge media.
I used painters tape over the acrylic and drilled through the tape so the sharp edges are only on the indside of the box.
I hooked up the piping to the intake portion of the resivior and let the outlet float.
Turned it on .. and eureka! It worked!!
I am getting a lot of air bublles for 2 reasons . the strength of the pump and the fittings aren't 100% but that is an easy fix.
Because this was origionally an HOB type filter, I used a 2x2 stick to support the filter.
This will also auto start after a power failure and no deed to worry about flooding!!

Next step:
Hard plum the work so that the outlet is at the opposite side of the tank forcing water towards the skimmer. Also, to paint the stick and urathane it so that it doesn't mould.

Note:
Depending on the size of your pump, and your HOB filter .. this can be done with nearly any set up.
Additionally, the sponge floats and has a tendancy to lift the filter out of the water ... I'm sure you can deal with your set-up in your way.

Enjoy,
J-P