Vertex Alpha Cone 250
 

Picking up my new Vertex Alpha Cone 250 tomorrow from Marine Aquaria. I told myself I wasn't gonna buy one but when I seen it I couldn't help myself. I'm soooo excited I don't know how well I'm gonna sleep tonight. lol jj. Just wondering if anyone else is using the cone yet and if so what do you think?

I just got mine in 2 days ago from a US vendor. Don't have a review on it yet because I have to take out 2 baffles in my sump and re-silicone the bottom first to make enough room. It's definately much larger in person than it looks in the ads on the net. The red dragon pump also looks much larger than something that draws only 38 watts.

I was also surprised at the overall size of the unit. My cone has been up and running for about three hours and seems to be working already. Its taking quite a while to build up a foam head but I'm assuming its just breaking in, and what it has built for foam is super thick and nasty looking. Its pretty amazing how smooth and symmetrical the bubbles move up the chamber. I think this skimmer will be a good one but only time will tell. Impressed so far though. The red dragon puts out such fine bubbles, there's almost no turbulence inside whatsoever.

I would love to see some pics!!!

I'll see what I can do for some pics over the next little while. Busy weekend coming up but ASAP.

How much, if you don't mind me asking

After tax it was around $1300. Been running around 6 hours and its really starting to build a nice foam head now

*gulp*cough*

Replace the word "Vertex" with "Bubble King" and the reason for the price will come into focus.

Calling this skimmer a "Vertex Alpha Cone" is the equivalent of saying "Kia 911 Turbo"

made by the same company that makes the BK

Yeah the only reason its a vertex is because of the name scribed into the top of the skimmer. There's no question that the quality is the same as a BK. It has the Red Dragon pump and even says Royal Exclusiv on the top. You can't really have any kind of appreciation for the quality of this skimmer until you actually see one in person. I had talked myself out of buying one until I seen it. lol. Seem's to be broken in and working awesome already. It hasn't even been running 12 hours yet.

Not trying to hijack but thought I'd post some pics of the Alpha250. Skimmer is huge and was a little worried it would not fit in my sump so I just took out some of my rocks and put them in the refugium. Definetly a BubbleKing just without the name. http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/h...e/100_1843.jpg
The collection cup holds 4 liters of crap, my BKmini 180 holds a liter and a half.

http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/h...e/100_1844.jpgThis is it in my sump.

http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/h...e/100_1846.jpg
After 12hour of use. I think it's already broke in.
Picked it up from my buddy Dan at AquaticAddictions. Thanks Dan!

Thanks for adding pictures. I can't get pictures on here for some reason (computer illiterate lol). Now that my skimmer has been up and running for a while I thought I'd run some ozone through the system (seeings the skimmer is designed to handle ozone). Seems to be working really well. As usual the ozone has really bumped up the skimmate production. I found the bubble level came up a fair bit with the ozone so I had to 'dial back' the output.

Hey Skimmin do you have a ORP monitor? I have a brand new one that I'm trying to get rid of if not.Cheep cheep. What is the water level in your sump for the Alpha? I run mine at 9", my BK did the best at 8-9"

Yeah my ozone gen has a built in orp monitor. My skimmer is sitting in 10" of water and seems to be working fine. Seems to me the typical height they're being run in is 8"-10" of water

How many gallons is your sump? I think I need to make mine lower/smaller. I couldnt fit that thing in my sump right now, Sump to tall

As in sump too small are you talkin water level too high? I had that problem so I built a little stand out of some straight pvc pipe with 4 90s to raise the height of the BK Mini rather than trying to fiddle with the water level in my sump.

I mean my sump is to tall to fit skimmer in under the tank, That and my water level is high. Alot of water in it. I think I just need to bite the bullet and make littler sump, Its a 60g sump, under a 150g tank

Just thought I would post a follow up to this thread as I've had my Alpha 250 running for just short of a week now. Here is a picture of the skimmer running immediately after firing up the red dragon pump.
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g4...b/IMG_5004.jpg

Here is a picture of the skimmer after running for 5 days without being cleaned.
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g4...b/DSCN0277.jpg

Now that the skimmer has broken in, I can easily say that it outperforms my 36" tall mazzei injector skimmer hands down and uses only ~1/2 the electricity that the old skimmer used. It has produced nearly 2 liters of pitch black skimmate in less than 5 days. The old skimmer used to take a month or longer to produce the same quantity of skimmate.