Pipeless skimmer from CAD Lights makes for the tiniest footprint

By on Aug 23, 2012

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The Pipeless protein skimmer from CAD Lights is a new design which significantly reduces the needed footprint inside a sump. When CAD Lights first told us of their pipeless protein skimmer, we had trouble imagining a protein skimmer with no pipes, since it seems like it’s something of a must-have. Ball valves, gate valves, outflows and wedge pipes all seem synonymous with the proper function and design of a proper protein skimmer so how could CAD Lights build a pipeless protein skimmer?

As soon as we laid our eyes on the CAD Lights Pipeless protein skimmer it clicked – the skimmer body is the wedge pipe and adjustment all in one. With a simple twist of the protein skimmer body, you can adjust the height of the water level inside the pipeless skimmer, and voila – no pipes. The CAD Lights pipeless skimmers is aptly codenamed the PLS-100, slated for production in just one size for now, with pricing and availability probably still about a month away.

The PLS-100 pipeless skimmer uses a TIA 1150 pump, same as the one used in the CAD Lights cone skimmer where it pushes 375 gallons per hour and draws 315 liter of air per hour, and probably runs similarly in the pipeless skimmer. The overall footprint of the PLS-100 is about five by five inches and only 18 inches tall. CAD Lights expects their pipeless PLS-100 protein skimmer to be suitable for tanks between 40 to 80 gallons which seems appropriate for the stature of the device. It’s not everyday you see something completely novel but CAD Lights has certainly pulled out an original design with the PLS-100, a protein skimmer with no pipes.

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  • Jon Hahn

    I don’t think this is a good idea. After Months of use when things start to deposit themselves on the insides of the skimmer, adjusting it will become impossible.

    As an alternative to standpipes and valves, you can just forget all level control and simply control the level of the water in the skimmer by putting it in the right depth of water. When I converted my ATB medium to run with a beckett & eheim 1262 combo, I left the standpipe off and adjusted the water level by controlling the depth of the water that it is placed in (I think it was ideal at about 9″ deep water). The baffles in the sump act as the standpipe now. Next ATB I get, I think I will leave the bottom of the skimmer off all together… just have a bubble plate sitting underneath a cone and the water that comes out the bottom around the bubble plate will exit right there. No more adjustment needed…

  • http://www.facebook.com/cadlightsaquariums Cad Lights Aquariums

    Him Jon. Thank you for your feedback. Adjusting and future maintenance has definitely been one of our main focal points with this unique new design. Our pipeless skimmer has been specially designed where when running, the pressure forces a small space in between the turning dial of the skimmer body which makes a extremely low friction area. This makes the skimmer easily turn-able during use. As a result of this, all of the adjusting components had to be polished by hand to make sure a perfect smooth surface. Another key design feature is that the entire skimmer body containing 3 separate fixtures can easily be taken apart for cleaning and maintaining.