Hydor USA SlimSkim Nano Internal Skimmer for Mini Aquariums and Mini Reefs

Have you ever bought a product and felt overly driven to write a review on it? This is that product for me - for multiple reasons. I’ve kept several salt tanks but this 36g is the first one I’ve set up in the last few years. I didn’t want to spend a ton of money on equipment and was looking for the best possible value I could find, without sacrificing performance. Google directed me to this Hydor Slim Skim Nano which had lots of positive reviews spanning pet product sites as well as saltwater forums. The price was right, even at the MSRP, but the best price was right here on Amazon. Since I don’t have a sump/refugium, I needed something that would work either in my tank or as a HOB (hang on the back) option. While this model is fully contained within the tank, I feel more secure as it has zero chance of leaking or draining the tank from within. Since this tank is on th second floor (on carpet!) that is verrrrrry important. I find that the space it takes up is negligible, and most salt tanks have just as much space occupied by overflows anyway. The size of this skimmer is very reasonable without being overwhelming. Most importantly, this skimmer is QUIET. How quiet, you ask? I have the tank next to my desk in my home office. I work from home doing customer service and it’s so quiet that it doesn’t produce any noise that can be heard in the background of my calls. I love that I can keep a salt tank next to my desk because equipment like this exists. Not only that, but it WORKS. This skimmer produced skimmate almost right away. Years ago I tried several skimmers, including ones that others spoke of positively, but my experience failed to mirror theirs. I am soooooo, soooo happy to finally have a quality skimmer that does what it’s supposed to QUIETLY and at an affordable price. And lastly: Hydor customer service is top notch. The skimmer I received was missing the suction cup magnets. I sent them a quick email via their website and received a prompt response stating that they would mail me some replacements. I received them within just a few days. (They work great, btw. They hold the skimmer firmly without slipping) Overall I give the Hydor Slim Skim Nano 5 stars for value. It works awesome and doesn’t break the bank. I love this thing and will update down the line with how it performs longterm.

I bought this protein skimmer based on glowing reviews. When I received it I was pleased with the obvious quality of it, seemed like a decent piece of equipment....except that it didn't work. The motor assembly comes pre-assembled, but the motor sounded terrible and did nothing. I took it apart and re-assembled it according to instructions. I did this a number of times...the instructions are easy enough to follow and there was no confusion, except for when I couldn't get the darn thing to work....I finally gave up and sent it back to Amazon for a replacement. (great customer service, btw) Got my replacement, motor works like a dream, making plenty of foam etc etc....except I can't get the unit to stay secure to the side of the tank. There are two brackets that hold the magnetic suction cups, but the brackets DO NOT fit securely onto the back of the skimmer.They are supposed to pop in, but they pop right back out again. I get the thing all secure and in no time the thing is floating around my tank, the suction cups AND brackets attached to the side of my tank, useless. I'm sending it back, again. I've spent enough time fiddling around with this unit that I wanted to work out for me SO badly.....and for the money I spent on this, what a total waste of my time AND money. I'm going to shop around for a cheaper unit....that will stay anchored to my tank. I wouldn't recommend this skimmer. If I could rate it and not give it any stars, I would.

This is my very first skimmer, so I can't really compare it to any other products out there. However here is what I liked about this. Its almost noiseless, you can't really hear it unless you go really close to it, and this was a big deal to us since we live in a small apartment. As far as skimming, it does a pretty good job, it started producing bubbles right away, and after a couple of days it was making a good amount of foam. It does need some adjusting, but I think that's normal with every skimmer out there. Also it did produce micro bubbles in my tank and that really worried me, but they went away completely after 2 or 3 days. I recommend this for any small tank, just watch out for the height, it barely fit in my 20G.

Luckily, I bought a used unit off of amazon. If I had to do it again I wouldn't get this skimmer. I have been using it in my 20g tall. It produces and green tea colored skim mate when it is functioning properly. It requires a lot of frequent cleaning. I've even done the hot glue mod to seal up the leaks so it draws more water from the weir. You'd be better off just investing in more water changes for full price. After having it for over a year II decided to put in a mini sump just to get the real-estate back in my display tank. Hydor makes great powerheads and accessories, just not skimmers.

I'm using this with my Innovative Marine 30L. I wouldn't recommend it for that tank because there really isn't a good place to for it. It sits a little too high. Also, it is too loud, it's the loudest thing in my system. That could due to improper mounting as it just sits in my tank, not really attached to anything. Functionally I think it works pretty good. The holder fills up about a quarter of the way every few days or so. My nitrates were going out of control. I can't say how well it brought them down because I increased my water changes as well. Edit: I stopped getting skimate and it was really loud so it now sits in the garage. I ended up forgoing the skimmer, got the custom caddy. I made my own bags of charcoal and Purigen for media. It was way more effective than the skimmer ever was.

Purchased the nano sized skimmer for my IM Nuvo 38; it fits snug in the back right chamber. I purchased this to replace the IM Skimmate which I have been having so many problems with. This skimmer is great; good build quality, easy to setup and started to produce skim in less than an hour. Its very quiet, you can't really see it because it sits low in the tank and throws no micro bubbles back into the tank. I also like that if it over flows it wont drip down the back of your tank like the IM skimmer could.

I have had this skimmer for about 6 months so I am ready to write a review.... If you own a nano tank this review may help you out. I have tried three different skimmers for my biocube 29 and this One I the best quality and function of all the skimmers I tried. This skimmer was able to fit it in the first chamber of the sump, and probably the largest skimmer you can get to fit in this position. It is well made and does work but with that being said. I had great success with this skimmer for the first 3 months. Nitrates were always at zero and everything was functioning great. I have added a lot of creatures since I got the skimmer and now it is just not enough to control my bio load in the tank. So if you are looking for something that will help control your nitrates at low level of stocking this will probably do it for you. It requires regular cleaning as the pump will become clogged and if you do not clean it you will burn out the motor. Also it does not require a bubble stone to work like other nano skimmers witch is great. Furthermore, people say they can't get it to skimm, this is often do to salinity as all the nano skimmers are very picky with the salinity of the water. Too high of salinity and you will have to many bubbles and it will skimm clear and fill up very quick. Too low salinity will not create enough bubbles and will not skimm. About 1.024 is the best for most of these skimmers. finally I would like to say that after playing with all the variables of this skimmer, It will not be a thick skim. It will always be a yellow slightly brown color water and really wet. So if you think you are going to get dark thick skimm you won't. But most likely none of your nano skimmers will work for a thick skimm. So if you want a skimmer that will help control some nitrates this is the one but it is not the solution to all your problems. Like I said my bio load is to high for this skimmer so I am going to remove the skimmer and try something else. At this point I have realized that you can not get a good skimmer for a nano cube, this one is the best so far, but it does not happen in the small area that you have. The solution I have came to is a refugium and a canister external filter. The refugium it is very simple to make, very cheap and works a lot better without near the effort of a skimmer. I will not be wasting any more time with nano skimmers and I would recommend that you do the same for your nano cube. Save money have better results and less effort its a win solution. Thanks for reading I hope this helped you out with your adventure,

I have purchased and used the majority of the nano skimmers on the market including Tunze, Eshopps, Custom made, and afew of the off brand ones. This is the best hands down. Those that are having skimate issues probably have it improperly assembled or the wrong air mixture. Compared to the Tunze 9002 and Eshopps this is very quiet. I have had this up and running for about 4 days now and it is already pulling dark greenish/brown skimate. If you set this wrong it will pull light green and fill the collection cup too fast. *****I have mine set between "Start up level" and "Heavy Stocking", with the cup any lower it pulls light colored skimate too quickly. Refer to page 5 figures 19a and 19b to see the sweet spot. I screwed the air mixture down closed, then backed it out to the half open mark, working perfectly.******* Again this skimmer is only 5 days in and pulling skimate on a 2 week old tank with one fish and a very light clean up crew! With my experience it will probably pull a nasty brown within a couple weeks once the chamber builds up a nice film. If you remove a section of the trim (using a small hack saw it took about 2 mins) on a 24g Nano Cube it fits snugly in the center chamber. I did sand down the collection cup lid about 2-3mm, otherwise it is a bit tight in there.

Very poor

Excelente skimmer, cero ruido, espuma fina y abundante para una mejor reacción electrostática que elimina eficazmente los coloides orgánicos en suspensión. 4 W de consumo de energía. ¿Qué más se puede pedir? Feliz

Very quiet when set up correctly. Was a bit confusing to put together but figured it out. Started producing skim mate after about 3 days. Lots of micro bubbles for the first 48 hrs but then it was totally fine. Works well and we have to empty it about once a week. Takes a little bit of fiddling to get the bubbles and cup height right for your system but once you get it it works great in a smaller reef tank. All around great purchase and would recommend to friends.

Expensive high quality in appearance, but fails to deliver over time.

A la media hora ya se encontraba funcionando con una eficacia espectacular, me encantó.