$1 Mame Nano Skimmer clone is a ghetto-fabulous DIY deal

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If you missed out on Black Friday deals yesterday or feel that there wasn’t really much for you, here’s a nice deal on a DIY nano protein skimmer you can build at home. This clone of the svelte and diminutive hand made Japanese glass Mame Nano Skimmer is just as effective yet easy enough to put together with the parts you can buy with the spare change found in the average couch.

The construction of the $1 Mame Nano Skimmer clone should be easy to accomplish with parts found in the typical reefer’s fishroom and a water bottle. Like the Mame Nano Skmmer the bottom of the skimmer body is simply open to the aquarium water with a wooden airstone positioned as low down as possible. The tubing was found while rummaging in one of our own aquarium parts bins, the water bottle was pulled form the fridge, the elbow in the cap of the water bottle is from a Rio pump, the air pump is a trustworthy Luft pump and the whole assembly is held to the tank wall with a Two Little Fishies nano magnet.

All these parts alone obviously cost more than one dollar but the main equipment has been used for years and will continue to serve aquarium functions for a long time to come – the wooden airstone is the only part which is actually ‘used up’ in the construction and operation of this Mame Nano Protein skimmer clone. The DIY nano skimmer is not super great to look at inside the tank, but it will soon reside out of view in the first compartment of this EcoMini 28 gallon like the Mame Nano Skimmer did before it.

 


 



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  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3PQR2S2EAZUDJKVYUCKLCWJ37Q Micheal

    Come on..$1?  How much does a wood stone go for? how much for the air pump? How much for the nano magnet?  how much for the bottle of water you originally drank?  (No fair saying you had them laying around)

    That said it does remind me of a filter box I made from an old costco container of some sort ages ago with my first tank :D

  • Math Brisk

    Absolutely awesome, I’m trying this as soon as I have a minute. Can’t be worst than my crappy RedSea skimmer!

  • Math Brisk

    Absolutely awesome, I’m trying this as soon as I have a minute. Can’t be worst than my crappy RedSea skimmer!

  • http://profiles.google.com/aslam.ali Aslam Ali

    Brilliant way to improvise.  This DIY is very useful for smaller tanks. 

  • http://twitter.com/TeamHagisan Team Hagisan

    Brilliant!

  • http://twitter.com/TeamHagisan Team Hagisan

    Brilliant!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=555379745 Christopher Jung

    See what you can do with a “Coca Cola” bottle. The Coke bottle shape (the bottom is concave) would create some eddies and some counter current action. The neck is a more gradual slope to the top, so i would expect a little more reaction time there as well.

    The real innovation, lies in the magnet. With that badboy, you can fine tune this skimmer as wet or dry as you want.

    Regardless, kudos my friend. You always keep the hobby moving forward.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kyle-Hebert/1110420002 Kyle Hebert

    Had to make one of my own lol
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFPk67AQMZo

  • Anonymous

    The hooch bottle skimmate collector is the icing on the cake for me.  
    Question: is the airline inserted into the side of the bottle through a hole or does it run down the outside of the bottle?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Will-Ogden/100000315157907 Will Ogden

    u can see its piercing the bottle, and has a blue zip tie to hold it steady around the neck about the 11 o’clock position of the bottle in the video

  • Anonymous

    People have been making these for decades using glass coke bottles with the bottoms cut off. 

  • Anonymous

    Ha! It’s awesome to see a clone of the clone in someone else’s reef tank. This open body air-driven protein skimmer is so easy and simple to make it makes a great 15 minute DIY project, especially on nano reefs and QT tanks. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/stokegear Jeff Thomas

    What brand LED fixture and mount is that?

  • Anonymous
  • Justin McGuinness

    Awesome story, thanks for sharing!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ryan-Reeves/1555916536 Ryan Reeves

    That Skimmer is clearly oversized for that tank.

  • Anonymous

    Ummm….most of us DO have the stuff laying around.

  • http://www.facebook.com/ewgroth Eric Roth

    You could make a giant version of this with a two liter and like four air stones.  Can’t say how efficient it would be though.

  • http://www.facebook.com/ewgroth Eric Roth

    You could make a giant version of this with a two liter and like four air stones.  Can’t say how efficient it would be though.

  • Anonymous

    I made a wooden airstone coke bottle skimmer about ten years ago and it worked surprisingly well for my little 10 gallon quarantine tank.

  • http://twitter.com/danlapointe Daniel LaPointe

    What a great idea.  i made one and it has worked fantastic so far
    here is a pic of it 
    http://twitter.com/#!/danlapointe/status/141295754407985152/photo/1