Surface Skimmer??

[eguiyab]

Hey everyone, I'm fairly new to the borad as well as Saltwater. I have been reading around on the net about surface skimmers lately and i think that i could benifit from one. I have occasionally a fair amount of "junk" on the surface and would like to get rid of it.
I currently have a MaxiJet 900 feeding my HOB skimmer and it is placed aprox 2 inches from the surface with the intake laying sideways, not down.
My question is couldn't i just have the intake grid point up with a few grills just breaking the surface? I then would have a short run of tubing from the MJ's output go to a 90deg elbow and continue on to my skimmer. Would this be a suficent surface skimmer?? Yes, No? Any disadvanatages??
I also purchased a Brass elbow, now i am concerned about having this be in the water... should i be? Metals leaking into the system?
Any advice would be helpful

[Doug1]

NO Metal in the tank!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You could get one of them little hang on catch cups like they use in stores to hold the bag when you get a fish. make sure your powerhead will fit inside, then cut slots around the top to let water from the surface flow into the cup to be pumped thru the skimmer

[Loverotties]

No Metal,plastic ok. If you have a canister filter they have those skimmer atachments on the intake sides that work really good!