Aqua C Ramora Nano HOB Skimmer Product Review
Rating Overview:
Overall product rating of: 4 out of 5
Details of my ratings along with the manufacture’s specifications are contained below.
Manufacture Specifications
The below is taken directly from the manufacture’s website: http://www.proteinskimmer.com/
The Remora skimmers are designed to hang on the back of your aquarium, taking up as little space as possible. Driven by a powerful spray-injector, these skimmers are sleek, reliable, and nearly maintenance-free.
–13″ tall x 6″ wide x 2-3/4″ deep
– Minimum tank opening 5-1/4″ x 1-1/2″
– Minimum tank height 7-1/2″
– Minimum space behind tank 2-3/4″
– Maximum tank lip 1-3/8″ wide
– Vertical clearance above tank 10-1/2″
– Includes Maxi Jet 900 pump
– Rated for tanks up to 20 gallons
– Includes nylon cleaning brush
– EPDM o-ring for collection cup adjustment
The below is my own assessment of this skimmer after using it on a few different set-up over the past few years. While this is based on the nano skimmer, most of the information contained below can apply to the larger sized Aqua C Ramora skimmers.
Price Point:
This is a very reasonably priced hang on back (HOB) skimmer. You can typically find these skimmers brand new ranging around $200.00 to $250.00 (with the pump) throughout Canada and the USA. Price will vary based on exact model. Certainly worth the money you will pay for this skimmer. Repair parts also seem very common to find well priced, however, I have never needed to purchase any.
Ease of Use and Set-up
This is a very easy skimmer to take out of the box and set-up. It is pretty close to “plug-and-play” as compared to most other HOB skimmers. Attach the pump, put the cup in, and hang it off the tank. Adjusting the height of the skimmer cup to get the desired thickness of skimmate is pretty straight forward. After three to four days of operation, the skimmer started pulling gunk out of the water and was in really working well after 6 or 7 days.
Overall Size
This is a very great feature of the Aqua C nano skimmer. Most HOB skimmers are bulky and require extra room between the back of the tank and the aquarium. The Aqua C is among the thinnest HOB skimmers allowing you to place the aquarium closer to the wall as compared with most other HOB skimmers. This skimmer also has a low profile to help limit the amount of visible equipment outside of the tank.
Noise Level
This is the biggest drawback to the Aqua C Ramora Nano skimmer. It is just about the noisiest skimmer that I have used. The noise comes from the spray injector part of the skimmer. With a slight modification, you can greatly reduce this noise to what I would call an acceptable level; however, it still has a design that produces far too much noise in my opinion. I have found that placing a small piece of clean cloth soaked in tank water and placed directly on top of the spray injector inside the skimmer will muffle most of the noise. You will need to replace this with a new and clean piece of cloth every few days (or about twice each week). Some people have also reported great success by using paper towel or a piece of foam cut to fit inside the compartment and around the injector as well. In short, this may be a very loud skimmer to operate, but you can do something to reduce that noise level.
Ease of on-going Maintenance
The cup is very easy to remove and clean as well as the pump. I have had very good success with weekly cup cleanings and removing the pump for a good cleaning once every 3 or 4 months. I will also take the skimmer off the aquarium and set it in a pale of 25% vinegar and 75% fresh water and run it over night before manually cleaning the body. This will make cleaning the rest of the skimmer very easy and I will do that about once every 6 months.
Effectiveness of Operation
I have been very happy with how this skimmer has preformed. It does pull a very large amount of skimmate out of the water and typically has consistent performance. Out of the few different HOB skimmers that I have used, the Aquac C Ramora Nano is by far the best performing skimmer within this skimmer size category.
The Aqua C HOB skimmers are a little different than most HOB skimmers as they use a spray injection design as compared with a more commonly found needle wheel design. The pump on the Aqua C will produce enough pressure moving the water through the air induction spray nozzle to produce the bubble/foam which will rise up through the skimmer’s body and pushes the waste into the skimmer cup.
This skimmer comes with the Maxijet 900 pump, which in my opinion is a very good quality pump. Other hobbyists have reported improved performance when up-grading to a Mag 3 pump. I noticed a large improvement in performance when using the Maxijet 1200 on this skimmer. This would be one benefit to the design of the Aqua C remora skimmers as you can increase performance through up-grading to a pump with a higher rated flow capacity.
The only thing that I do not like about this skimmer’s performance is that it can take up to two or three days before the skimmer is working up to its full capacity after a very complete and detailed cleaning.
Likeliness of Recommending this Skimmer to Others
I always have, and will continue to recommend this HOB skimmer to other hobbyists. This is the only HOB skimmer that I have used which I completely agree with manufactures recommendations for tank size. Although the nano version of this skimmer is rated for aquarium sizes of up to 20 gallons, I have been using mine on a lightly stocked 40 gallon aquarium with the up-graded Maxijet 1200 pump. I would have absolutely no concerns using this skimmer on a heavily stocked 20 gallon aquarium as well as slightly larger aquariums if the pump is up-graded.
Below are a few pictures of mine after a routine cleaning. Please note, the skimmer cup lid is not in the picture as I have damaged mine and am waiting for a replacement.
