Review on Comline DOC Protein Skimmer 9001 by Tony Chandler

Where do I even start with this product? First, it's expensive. especially if you are new to the hobby and don't fully understand the purpose of a protein skimmer or what you need it for. I ordered this on the recommendation of my local fish shop. (They're now famous for offering quality gear to people who have no idea what they're talking about.) The instructions are crazy and in small print. An extended text version is available online for those interested. My dad helped me install it on my 36 gallon salt water tank. It produced microbubbles and usually didn't work at first. but after 2-3 weeks everything worked perfectly! However, be patient. Unfortunately, at some point the piece of plastic that sticks to the inner tank's magnet lost its grip and now keeps falling off. So even though the magnets on both sides of the glass stick together perfectly, the real protein skimmer keeps falling off the inner magnet. I have since upgraded to a 54 gallon aquarium with a 10 gallon reef sump system. I tried installing it in my swamp with the same unsuccessful results. My new local fish shop recommended that I install a zip-tie support system. I have yet to try but I have to because I hate seeing such expensive gear useless. This is frustrating because none of the plastic parts seem to be broken. They just don't have a very good grip. 2 minutes after starting the skimmer everything falls apart. Now I also need to readjust the blue vacuum control tip that keeps the protein skimmer working at its best, which my dad and I perfected over an hour of tedious adjustment because it also fell off in one of these incidents. Overall I think this is a quality product that needs a better way of attaching to the tank wall. It is sad to see that poor structure causes such fine hardware to fail.