AZOO AZ13123 Nano Surface Aquarium Skimmer

This little skimmer works surprisingly well. I feed my fish with frozen food often, which causes a funky protein film to form on the surface the next day. This annoying film doesn't really go away with water changes, and tends to be especially thick around my floating plants. Those floating plants makes the paper towel method of film removal quite inconvenient, as well. It's worst on my 30 gal tank, for some reason. The Azoo skimmer slurps it all down in a few minutes time. It's very small, but works great. I mounted it in a corner and plug it in for a few minutes a day. It's strong enough to get the surface film, but my plants are not sucked in. The outflow creates a little current that the fish play in while it's on. I actually have it next to my HOB filter, but the waterfall doesn't interfere with it's performance at all. The only gripes I have are that the powercord is annoyingly short, and you have to plug and unplug to turn it on and off. It's not enough negative, though, for me to take off a star. I'm glad to buy this, and will be getting more for my other tanks.

Not bad, pretty efficient when you replace the pad the it comes with, with filter floss. I have a 7.5 gallon planted cube and this thing is a lot bigger than I thought. Takes up a lot of space in the back corner of my tank. But I don't plan on leaving this in the tank all the time. I'm only going to use it when start to see a light film on the water surface. It's not asthetically pleasing, but that's just personal preference. Overall, it's a good affordable product that does what it's supposed to do. I wouldn't use it for anything bigger than a 15 gallon tank though. Pros: - works as intended - quiet - clear housing, so you can see what has accumulated inside without having to take it apart. - easy setup and maintenance - adjustable flow rate Cons: - filter pad needs to be replaced (not a deal breaker) - not asthetically pleasing in nano planted tank - the wire is a little short - the plastic material doesn't feel as durable as other brands, so I would handle with care during maintenance. But only time will tell if can hold up.

I had a problem with frogbite covering the top of the water in my 55 gal aquarium. I would scoop it out weekly but it would grow back until ther was no room to drop food in for the fish. This thing is tiny but has cleared out the problem. At first I had to rinse it out several times a day but now only have to rinse it out one or twice a week. Azoo has a larger one but the plastic is not clear so you would not be able to see what is inside it. If it was clear I would order it today. As a word of caution. always put the strainer back in after cleaning. One day I took the strainer out to rinse off, got distracted and forgot to put it back. The next day I found one of my cory catfish in it, dead. It had apparently swum in and couldn't back out of the tight fit and died. Other than that it has worked perfectly and has removed all the floating plants in my tank.

For this review I will be comparing this filter to the Aquatop SSK-65 (currently $30-40 but I bought for $25 in march 2020) that I have been using for 11 months. I bought this filter as a cheaper alternative for another tank and to see what other skimmers were on the market since the SSK-65 had gone up in price. Skimming ability / flow: When the SSK is running, it actually breaks the surface tension and you can watch the surface film disappear, it does this so well that sometimes you have to turn it down or it sucks too much and blows air out. With the Azoo on full blast there is little to no breaking of the surface tension and it can take hours for the tank surface to clear. The SSK moves a lot more water. Filter maintenance: The SSK needs cleaned every 3-4 days before it starts to clog up. I also use an additional piece of foam I cut that fit inside the filter housing and doesn't impede on its function. The Azoo seems to clog every other day, and I'm not able to get additional foam into the space. The pad supplied is tiny. The Azoo broke after 3 months of use during maintenance. The mechanism for controlling flow and keeping the filter pad out of the impeller snapped off. It was held on using only 2 tiny tabs. Every piece of the SSK clip together firmly. Id be hard pressed to snap anything on it. Skimmer/weir design: My only complaint with the SSK's skimmer is that I had an issue with my white cloud minnows and shrimp occasionally getting sucked in. The supplied skimmer guard HELPS with keeping fish/shrimp out but they still get in sometimes, and the surface tension breaking effect is reduced by the guard. The Azoo's skimmer hardly works and sits too close to the glass. Half the time it vibrates against the side of the glass. I unplug the Azoo most nights. Its also difficult to clean and quickly becomes unsightly. AND it sucks in shrimp. Both skimmers use air to adjust to the tanks fluctuating levels but I find the SSK to have a larger operating range. Both pumps also need to as vertical as possible or they don't skim well. The first 2 pictures included show both filters assembled and unassembled (the Azoo on the left and SSK on the right). From the pictures you can tell which product had more thought put into it. The mechanisms and clips on the SSK are much more substantial and have a lot more work put into the function and design. The Azoo just feels fragile. The last 2 pictures show the part that broke on the Azoo. There are 2 tiny tabs that broke off in their holes. If you have the couple extra bucks, the Aquatop is a much better buy.

I may have expected too much. I was looking for more of a fresh water skimmer similar to marine ones. This one sort of worked, but it didn't skim as much as it just adds bubbles or motion to break water tension; which I didn't need. It is also very noisy, and if you adjust it to reduce the noise, the efficiency also drops out. Yes, it sort of work and might be o.k. for tiny aquariums, but there are better options if that is the function.

This little guy is awesome. I've paired this with the clunky CO2 diffuser from Fluval (20 gram kit). The small jet of water this pushes out creates enough turbulence in the Fluval diffuser to help with dissolving the CO2 very nicely. Skims the top of my aquarium water nicely and I have it on a timer. Just get one. ;) Update: I’ve now purchased a second unit and I have to tell you these little workhorses are amazing. I’ve left them on for weeks on end and I’ve set them up on timers. Whatever I need done these are great little water skimmers. The only thing I would ask Azoo to improve on would be the inner faceplate inside the pump. This faceplate has very flimsy plastic “feet” that fit inside pockets or holes. The feet broke off several months into using the slimmer (on both units). It’s not a end all for the unit it just should be noted to help improve design and quality. Also it would be cool if there could be a design or insert one could use to make it so neocaradina shrimp don’t get sucked into the skimmer. The shrimp aren’t harmed but they are trapped in the unit until I can get them out. I simply unplug the unit, pull out the siphoning tool and let them crawl out. I then plug it back in and no problems. So a screen or filter for the inlet would help out. This is ten month update since I’ve purchased this unit.

I have only had my 45 gallon tank for 2 weeks but noticed this oily film on the top. I have an expensive filter cannister and the water is crystal clear except for this film. I bought this little filter skimmer for the top, installed in it minutes, 15 minutes later the film off the entire top was gone. The pro is it works amazing for the price! My only two mini cons are it hums a little louder than Id like and it doesnt come in black. But the function outweighs those things! Love it!

It's kinda loud and vibratey. It does a decent job at surface skimming especially for the cost but ultimately I don't use it because it's too loud and the vibration is a little too much for my tank. It's on a 20 long, heavily planted and medium stocked.