# Other Aquarium Forums > Equipment and Accessories >  Product Review - Ocean Free Surf Clear

## Urban Aquaria

While shopping for aquarium supplies recently, i chanced upon this new surface skimmer from Ocean Free called the Surf Clear. It seems to be a new model so i figured it'll be interesting to try it out and do a review on it.

I have used the Eheim 350 surface skimmer before, so my review will include some comparisons with that model. 

The Surf Clear product box and its contents...



It operates on the popular design of a floating skimmer head and motorized pump at the bottom. 

The overall build quality is quite good and all the parts fit together well. Its design does somewhat resemble the Eheim 350, and in some ways it also matches the design and color scheme of the Ocean Free Hydra internal filters too.



The inflow speed can be controlled by turning the blue skimmer container's collar left or right.



It comes with an innovative feature which allows users to simply lift the skimmer head and container straight out of the main casing to clean it, without removing the whole unit from the tank. I like this particular feature as it helps to reduce the chances of drips and spills during regular maintenance.



The motorized pump can be easily removed for cleaning whenever necessary. The power consumption and flow rate of the Surf Clear is 3W and 200 l/ph (compared to the Eheim 350 which is 5W and 300 l/ph).

Instead of a conventional single nozzle outflow design, the Surf Clear has a grill style outflow design instead, this disperses the flow to a wider area and directs a more gentle current towards its surroundings.

Here is the Surf Clear operating in one of my tanks...



I've used it in a few tanks and it worked effectively to clear up the surface oil layers.

Overall, my experience with the Surf Clear has been positive so far. I think its worth a look at if you are also in the market for a surface skimmer too.  :Smile:

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## Urban Aquaria

Btw, forgot to mention... i got it from Seavew and the retail price was SGD$33 (after the in-store 15% discount on equipment, it worked out to around SGD$28.05).

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## Mookie

Nice and sleek design!

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## seudzar

Not bad... Can consider.. Hehehe.. Thanks for sharing

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## inrewind

I don't really know the actual mechanism of this model yet, but so far have you seen your livestock, particularly shrimps, in the chamber? 
I'm using eheim skimmer 350, & as effective as it is at clearing surface scum, I'm tired of clearing 20 shrimps each time I do maintenance. I have tried several methods to decrease the slits, but in doing so, the skimmer becomes ineffective due to surface tension.

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## inrewind

Also this model seems much easier to clean. And at two-third of the price of the Eheim skimmer, it is certainly very attractive. Please continue to update us with reviews as you use this.

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## solidbrik

What's the main aim/purpose of the skimmer?

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## Urban Aquaria

> I don't really know the actual mechanism of this model yet, but so far have you seen your livestock, particularly shrimps, in the chamber? 
> I'm using eheim skimmer 350, & as effective as it is at clearing surface scum, I'm tired of clearing 20 shrimps each time I do maintenance. I have tried several methods to decrease the slits, but in doing so, the skimmer becomes ineffective due to surface tension.


Its pretty much similar in operation to the Eheim 350, the main difference is the sponge media is inside the removable blue skimmer container (not in the main unit), so it can be easily taken out anytime for cleaning.

So far, i've only had a few tiny shrimplets crawl into the blue skimmer container, adult shrimps wouldn't be able to enter because they are too large to fit through the skimmer head grills (i occasionally even see some of them hanging out on the skimmer head grills, probably eating the bits of food or debris trapped there). I usually set the inflow speed to the minimum too (and the pump is also relatively low flow rate in the first place), which probably helps minimize the number of shrimplets being sucked into it.

Anyways, the skimmer container can be lifted up easily, so i just pull it up periodically and let any trapped shrimplets swim out, then clean the sponge.

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## Urban Aquaria

> What's the main aim/purpose of the skimmer?


A surface skimmer is designed get rid of the oil layer that forms on tank water surfaces... its quite a common issue in tanks with livestock which are fed regularly, and also in densely planted tanks where fertilizers are dosed and surface agitation is kept to a minimum to avoid Co2 losses.

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## solidbrik

I see I see..thanks

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## melthazor

Super cool!

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## sammajor

Seem to be another quality product from ocean free. Tempting to get one too.

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## seudzar

Okay! I just got 2 of this from seaview today. It really looks cool

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## kimkeat

My tank has quite a bit of dust and sometimes small dead insects on the water surface, does skimmer help or is there other simpler or better way? Thanks.

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## Urban Aquaria

> My tank has quite a bit of dust and sometimes small dead insects on the water surface, does skimmer help or is there other simpler or better way? Thanks.


Yes, a surface skimmer will help to clear the water surface of dust and small dead insects too... just have to make sure that the sponge media in the skimmer is taken out and cleaned regularly to avoid it getting clogged up over time.

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## kimkeat

> Yes, a surface skimmer will help to clear the water surface of dust and small dead insects too... just have to make sure that the sponge media in the skimmer is taken out and cleaned regularly to avoid it getting clogged up over time.


Thank you.

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## gyjd

Hey UA, thanks for the review. Going to get one for my tank soon after reading yr review.


Tapatalk

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## nicholasliao

Thanks for the review bro. Been planning to get a surface skimmer. I chance upon surface skimmers at Sun Pets and it was in a squarish design and operated by a small pump. 

It pushes the filter medium uo and down which was quite interesting. Will take a look at both and do some comparison.

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## zhou yuande

Thanks UA for the review. Definitely going to get one. Does anyone know if this skimmer is available in C328 and Polyart?

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## Excelsior

For those staying in the north and is interested y618 also selling, it comes with 1 year warranty from qian hu. I've bought one and it is good. My aquarium water surface usually have a lot of dust and oil film, after using it less than 5 minutes the surface become crystal clear. Definitely doing its job. 

Imo, it is better than eheim skim 350, the output of water is much more gentler and spreaded.

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## mercur1al

Bro, can pm me the price at y618? Thanks bro!

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## Excelsior

> Bro, can pm me the price at y618? Thanks bro!


Cheaper by $1 of what TS stated. You can call and ask, so won't make a wasted trip.

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## mercur1al

Will call them dude. Thanks!

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## stream

I'm just curious; where does the surface oil film goes to? Is there a material in the surface skimmer that absorbs it?

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## mUAr_cHEe

Some of it gets dissolved back into the water and some of it gets trapped in the sponge in it.

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## Urban Aquaria

> I'm just curious; where does the surface oil film goes to? Is there a material in the surface skimmer that absorbs it?


Yeah, there is a sponge media inside the skimmer chamber, the debris and oil film will get trapped inside the sponge... some of the oil will also get mixed back into the water column too.

You'll have to remove the sponge media regularly to clean it, same like a filter.

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## Ipit

I bought 2 of the skimmer for my 522 planted tank when i first started it after reading Urban Aquaria's review about it. no regrets, better than Eheim350 in my honest views.

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## mUAr_cHEe

> I bought 2 of the skimmer for my 522 planted tank when i first started it after reading Urban Aquaria's review about it. no regrets, better than Eheim350 in my honest views.


Did you try running with just one only?

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## Ipit

One can but need to clear daily. I use 2 because I OCD hahaha balanced.


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## Urban Aquaria

> One can but need to clear daily. I use 2 because I OCD hahaha balanced.


Yeah, i'd guess 2 units would be more effective for such a large tank surface area... a 522 tank has 10x the surface area of a 2ft tank!  :Very Happy:

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## mUAr_cHEe

> because I OCD hahaha balanced.

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## mUAr_cHEe

My 4X2 is doing ok with 1 but I do clear it twice a week.

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## Ipit

Awwww... Hahaha. Mine still traps dead leaves and does a good job of gathering them at the skimmer and it just does that without trapping my fauna especially ottos which I encountered when using eheim skim350


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## mercur1al

Having used the OF skimmer for a bit, can safely say it works really well.

Only complain I have is the sheer size of it, in my 1.5ft that thing is massive. Kindly of defeats the purpose of having nice transparent lily pipes when the skimmer sticks out.

Anyone come across a small skimmer?


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## jiajuen900

If you have the budget, ADA Vuppa. ANS has a cheaper version and there are some chinese copies on EBay

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## Urban Aquaria

Yeah, the ADA Vuppa (and the many cheaper copies from china) looks much nicer... though they don't have a floating skimmer head so you need to constantly manually adjust it as the water level changes.

All of current surface skimmer units available at the moment do still look too distracting in most tanks (especially in smaller tanks), it would be good if someone were to design a smaller and more compact version for nano tanks.  :Smile:

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## Urban Aquaria

Actually, i almost forgot... there is an alternative for smaller tanks, can consider using a hang-on back filter with surface skimmer feature, like the Ocean Free Ultra Slim Filter:


Photo from Google Images.

The inbuilt surface skimmer is alot less intrusive than a separate submerged skimmer unit... and it provides both filtration and skimming function in the same unit.

For tanks that use canister filters, this hang-on filter model could also be used as a secondary filtration unit too.

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## mercur1al

> If you have the budget, ADA Vuppa. ANS has a cheaper version and there are some chinese copies on EBay


Anything with the word ANS scares me.... hahahaha... I saw a stainless steel version earlier too. But it was $100+ as well. Not worth it imo, plus the water level needs to be adjusted properly.

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## mercur1al

> Yeah, the ADA Vuppa (and the many cheaper copies from china) looks much nicer... though they don't have a floating skimmer head so you need to constantly manually adjust it as the water level changes.
> 
> All of current surface skimmer units available at the moment do still look too distracting in most tanks (especially in smaller tanks), it would be good if someone were to design a smaller and more compact version for nano tanks.


Or they could change colour scheme to green/red etc to suit aquatic plants!  :Laughing:

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## mercur1al

> Actually, i almost forgot... there is an alternative for smaller tanks, can consider using a hang-on back filter with surface skimmer feature, like the Ocean Free Ultra Slim Filter:
> 
> 
> Photo from Google Images.
> 
> The inbuilt surface skimmer is alot less intrusive than a separate submerged skimmer unit... and it provides both filtration and skimming function in the same unit.
> 
> For tanks that use canister filters, this hang-on filter model could also be used as a secondary filtration unit too.


I did consider this earlier, but was thinking that i will have to switch it off when injecting CO2 to minimize Co2 loss. Might kill the bacteria each time the filter is stopped (8 hours), and put the tank into a mini cycling period again each time i restart the filter. In addition, i top up my water to a fairly high level, does using this mean the water can only be topped up to the height of the skimmer?

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## Urban Aquaria

> I did consider this earlier, but was thinking that i will have to switch it off when injecting CO2 to minimize Co2 loss. Might kill the bacteria each time the filter is stopped (8 hours), and put the tank into a mini cycling period again each time i restart the filter. In addition, i top up my water to a fairly high level, does using this mean the water can only be topped up to the height of the skimmer?


Yeah, there will be abit of Co2 loss from the extra water movement through the skimmer, but its not alot and you can just inject abit more Co2 to compensate for it, so not really necessary to switch it off.

The skimmer head is a floating design and the intake pipe itself is telescopic, therefore you can shorten and adjust it so that the skimmer is able to work closer the top of the tank (the photo shows the intake pipe and skimmer at its lowest extended level, i guess its more to show the entire unit for marketing purposes).

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## Bieffe

Guys new tank few days only. Does this mean I need a skimmer?

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## Urban Aquaria

> Guys new tank few days only. Does this mean I need a skimmer?


If you find that a layer of oil film is constantly building up on the water surface, the skimmer can help clear it.

Other alternatives are to increase surface agitation to break up the oil film or do more water changes or use paper towels to soak it up periodically.

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## ZIr

Hi Gurus who are using this product, I just bought a set from Seaview. Can I check is it turn the blue collar anti-clockwise or clockwise to increase the suction? Is it also normal for the telescopic intake pipe to vibrate while in operation? It's silent though.

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## Urban Aquaria

> Hi Gurus who are using this product, I just bought a set from Seaview. Can I check is it turn the blue collar anti-clockwise or clockwise to increase the suction? Is it also normal for the telescopic intake pipe to vibrate while in operation? It's silent though.


The blue collar should be turned clockwise for less flow, anti-clock-wise for more flow (you can see the dot indicator on the front of the until itself, small dot to big dot, it indicates the flow rate).

If your tank has more surface agitation, waves or ripples, the telescopic intake pipe's floating head will bob around as its automatically adjusting its height and position, so its normal in this case. But if your water surface is relatively calm and you see the intake pipe vibrating alot, then better check to see if its installed properly.

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## skytan

Up for this review.
This is probably what I need most now, overnight I will get 1 full layer of film T_T

The Glass built inflow surface skimmer is pretty much useless constantly need to adjust or am I just a noob adjusting it. 
Have a Chiong PRC one and a NAG one , doesn't seem to work .

@UA
Lets say I am using a lily pipe for my 3 feet (2036 + hilea) and I see the water outflow doesn't seem to reach the far end probably a bit over 2 and a quarter feet. Will this skimmer helps in the circulation also ?



tomorrow see got sale at Aquarama or not. 
 :Smile:

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## Jimmy

Yup, it's good. Just remember to clean the filter inside regularly. I clean mine every 2-3 days.

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## Urban Aquaria

> The Glass built inflow surface skimmer is pretty much useless constantly need to adjust or am I just a noob adjusting it. 
> Have a Chiong PRC one and a NAG one , doesn't seem to work .


I've used those integrated skimmer + glass intake pipes before, they do work... but you have to tune the intake opening adjustment at the base of the pipe to balance the flow between the top and bottom. 

Sometimes if the filter flow is too low, there may not be enough of it to share between the skimmer and intake, so either you need to adjust the bottom side to use alot less flow in order to give flow priority to the skimmer, or switch to a higher flow rate filter.

Another method is to use an airline hose to suck out some of the air from inside the floating skimmer head, that will reduce its bouyancy and allow it to work with less flow.





> @UA
> Lets say I am using a lily pipe for my 3 feet (2036 + hilea) and I see the water outflow doesn't seem to reach the far end probably a bit over 2 and a quarter feet. Will this skimmer helps in the circulation also ?


Looks like your existing canister filter doesn't have enough flow rate to generate sufficient circulation in the tank, most likely the flow rate has been reduced much lower being connected to a chiller too.

Just for comparison, i also use a Eheim 2036 (aka Ecco Pro 300 @ 750 l/ph) for my 2ft (64 liters) tank which is connected to an inline Co2 reactor, the final flow rate i measured worked out to around 600+ l/ph, which is still sufficient to provide around 9-10x turnover for the tank.

In your case, the same canister filter is operating in a much larger and longer tank (50% longer and at 182+ liters is almost 3x larger in volume than my 2ft tank), so assuming the connected chiller also reduce its flow to around 600+ l/ph or less, you'll only be getting a 3-4x turnover for the 3ft tank, which naturally results in much less circulation, especially if the tank is densely planted.

A stand-alone surface skimmer unit can help to reduce some deadspots in the tank, but its flow coverage is still limited to small areas. It would still be a good idea to consider upgrading your canister filter to a higher flow model or maybe add another filter to help improve overall circulation.

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## skytan

Thanks, I try tonight to suck out abit of air from the skimmer head.

Sorry .forget to mention my tank is a custom
90cm x 30cm x 36 cm ( 97.2L) , and I am using inline atomizer, the turn over might be just okay just probably have some dead spots at the extreme end.

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## Urban Aquaria

> Thanks, I try tonight to suck out abit of air from the skimmer head.
> 
> Sorry .forget to mention my tank is a custom
> 90cm x 30cm x 36 cm ( 97.2L) , and I am using inline atomizer, the turn over might be just okay just probably have some dead spots at the extreme end.


I see... yeah, for that tank volume the turn-over should still be sufficient with the 2036 filter. I guess the combination of chiller + inline atomizer connected to that filter is slowing down the flow quite abit, so just have to find ways to increase overall flow rate and improve the circulation.

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## skytan

> I've used those integrated skimmer + glass intake pipes before, they do work... but you have to tune the intake opening adjustment at the base of the pipe to balance the flow between the top and bottom. 
> 
> Sometimes if the filter flow is too low, there may not be enough of it to share between the skimmer and intake, so either you need to adjust the bottom side to use alot less flow in order to give flow priority to the skimmer, or switch to a higher flow rate filter.
> 
> *Another method is to use an airline hose to suck out some of the air from inside the floating skimmer head, that will reduce its bouyancy and allow it to work with less flow.
> *.


^^ THis works. The perfect solution I believe many are searching for, usually if u place it on the skimmer it will float on the water.




> I see... yeah, for that tank volume the turn-over should still be sufficient with the 2036 filter. I guess the combination of chiller + inline atomizer connected to that filter is slowing down the flow quite abit, so just have to find ways to increase overall flow rate and improve the circulation.


yup, doing some research on ways that can do now. 
May I ask if it will be bottlenecking/big reduction if I am using 12/16 hose all the way till the lily pipe? 
That's just one of the thought as my canister outlet goes to the inline atomizer to chiller then to my 12/16 lily pipe. (switch from poppy to old school lily head with a little improvement shown yesterday)

hopefully tomorrow I can get the skimmer and all will be solved also.

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## Urban Aquaria

> yup, doing some research on ways that can do now. 
> May I ask if it will be bottlenecking/big reduction if I am using 12/16 hose all the way till the lily pipe? 
> That's just one of the thought as my canister outlet goes to the inline atomizer to chiller then to my 12/16 lily pipe. (switch from poppy to old school lily head with a little improvement shown yesterday)
> 
> hopefully tomorrow I can get the skimmer and all will be solved also.


Best to keep the same hose size all the way from the canister filter to the tank, any reduction in hose or port size along the line will definitely reduce the flow accordingly.

Yeah, poppy design outflows (the ball shaped ones) do reduce the overall current as they are designed to diffuse and direct the flow upwards... the normal design lily pipes definitely generate better current and circulation.

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## skytan

Just got mine at c328.

Should have spent 26 dollars earler and saved so much trouble and a few sip of tank water .
hahha

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## cw1985

Hi. Intend to get 1 at c328. May I know the price still $26? Ty

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## cw1985

I already bought 1 at c328 for $26  :Smile:

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## ivankoh

Hi all,

I read this review and went out to buy the OF Surf Clear but it is not that effective for me. I also had to clean it almost on daily basis? I feel that the pump may not be strong enough. Maybe there's something wrong with my unit but I've checked and everything seems to be working and it's still not able to clear the surface film as effectively as I was hoping for. What else could i do?

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## skytan

Working fine for me, actually the pump is not really that critical? 

How about pictures of your placement height and stuff.

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## Urban Aquaria

Yeah, additional info on your setup would help alot.

If your tank surface area is very large or the amount of floating leaves/debris is alot or the oil layer is very thick... then you may need to clean the skimmer media much more often, or install a second unit to boost the overall cleaning efficiency.

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## Vanilla

Currently I am using the Tom skimmer connected to the inlet of my eheim external filter.
i am really keen to have one of the OF skimmer, need some advise..

cleaning the skimmer every 2-3 days is tedious, what will happen if you don't clean it every 2-3 days? Will it get blocked? Performance will drop by how much? What is the length of period to go without cleaning?

if you have a 5 footer, will it be better to get the eheim instead of OF? Cos eheim flow rate is faster hence more efficient to clear the bigger tank more effectively?

appreciate you can share your experience and advise. Thx

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## Urban Aquaria

> Currently I am using the Tom skimmer connected to the inlet of my eheim external filter.
> i am really keen to have one of the OF skimmer, need some advise..
> 
> cleaning the skimmer every 2-3 days is tedious, what will happen if you don't clean it every 2-3 days? Will it get blocked? Performance will drop by how much? What is the length of period to go without cleaning?
> 
> if you have a 5 footer, will it be better to get the eheim instead of OF? Cos eheim flow rate is faster hence more efficient to clear the bigger tank more effectively?
> 
> appreciate you can share your experience and advise. Thx


It really depends on the amount of floating debris/leaves and how thick the oil layer is in your tank... the more the surface skimmer has to clean, the more often you need to clear the sponge trap inside the skimmer. One of the ways to reduce the cleaning intervals is to just install more surface skimmer units (especially if your water surface area is large or there is alot of debris/oil), this divides the cleaning load between more units.

If the surface skimmer gets clogged up and you don't clean it, its flow rate and cleaning efficiency will just gradually decrease over time, just like how a filter would also react if its clogged up too.

The eheim unit has a slightly higher flow rate compared to the ocean free unit, so the eheim will process more water and hence clean the water surface abit quicker. But their sponge traps are similar in size, so both will eventually still get clogged up with the same amount of debris and oil.

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## Urban Aquaria

> As for my daily use , the protein oil film is not very bad.. Wat is the longest interval for you to service the skimmer?


In my case, i only use it in tanks which have particularly noticeable oil film on the water surface (which incidentally is usually my spare holding tank which is often overloaded with livestock that are in transition between tanks, high bio-load = higher feeding + waste = thicker oil film). 

Though even with thicker oil film to handle, i usually only clean the skimmer's sponge trap once a week (at the same time as i do the weekly water change), i guess oil film doesn't clog up the sponge trap as much as actual leaves and debris.

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## skytan

The good thing about the OF is the ease of cleaning/accessing the skimmer sponge. Very very easily accessible so I kind off do it once 3-4 days or during WC.

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## Vanilla

Thanks for all the advice. Will get one to try. Cleaning will b a problem for me as I have braces on all 4 sides of my tank. Have to pull out the suction cup to service...

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## Vanilla

Need to think of a way to mount it to clear the brace so easy to service..

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## ryangiggs

Hi... 

Sorry to revive this thread... 

May i know if there is an optimal positioning of the skimmer for best results? Like beside or opposite of the inflow or outflow?

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## Ivan Choo

I will place the skimmer where the skimmer outflow will direct at dead spots. Usually it's the area under the lily pipe.

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## Bieffe

I place mine diagonally across the lily pipe output. Seems to aid the flow for me. Lily pipe out towards skimmer....it suck the flow towards it.....then blow out below and seems to me moving to my inlet pipe.

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