SWC VS Bubble Magus!!
 

We are starting this thread to showcase the new SWC skimmers as we are now the western retailer for the product line. We are going to post results on a head to head comparison with Bubble Magus to review the results....... I will be adding the whole line of SWC skimmer to the website over the next two to three days....

Stay tuned!

If you send me one I could do a review :)

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=61648 :D


In case someones interested.

Nice link!

Also check these links out, they compare the SWC to the Bubble Magus and a few others with great reviews!

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...3#post17367453

http://www.reef2reef.com/forums/f267...-33065-10.html

Ohh I am totally following this one!

Consider this, how many CANADIAN companies do we have making kickass skimmers... One... SWC. Bubble Magus is a knockoff skimmer, SWC wins hands down.

Here is the page you want to look at for the start of the Bubble Magus comparison....

http://www.reef2reef.com/forums/f267...g-33065-4.html

So are you guys planning on dropping the BM line?

Performance vs $ thats all I care about.

Well, I like SWC skimmers and own one myself but that statement isnt exactly accurate. The skimmer body is made in China by honya and the pump isnt made in Canada either...in the case of the sicce its Italian....not sure on the the askoll or the pumps they are using for the small cones but Im sure they are not Canadian.

Also I dont see how Bubble Magus is any more a knock-off then SWC. Every skimmer manufacturer is stealing ideas these days.

At least the profit margin on the sale should stay in Canada....

I do believe SWC is one of the best (if not THE BEST) value skimmers on the market.

Honya no longer makes anything for SWC as far as I know, Honya make Skimmers for Octopus and Vertex.

Well, we will likely still stock the most popular models; however, we will most likely up the prices a little to align with all of the other dealers pricing in order not to undercut them.



We will instead promote the SWC line and compete against the BM.

Well the octopus extreme is the same body as the SWC extreme. I think SWC went white though...is that when they dropped honya? Either case I doubt the moved the production of the body to Canada....most likely still in China somewhere.

The volutes for the askoll pumps are CNC I believe....made in Canada. Jay also does mod the other pumps, design etc in Canada.

I don't believe any of the actual pumps he uses are made in Canada are they?

Also where are the bodies made?

Im sorry to be a stickler but implying they are made in Canada is not the whole truth unless they are made in Canada.

Will be following this closely lol I have the BM 180CS at the moment but am looking to upgrade in the near future. I want one with a Askoll pump but they are way over rated for my tank (150gal total) Any chance you could get a smaller model with the askoll pump?

Be a stickler all you want but they are a Canadian brand, and you would be supporting a Canadian company. There aren't too many Canadian companies in this hobby, and let's face it most companies source their parts from all over the world. Volkswagen sources parts from Mexico, Japan, and the US, but we still call it a German car!

Are you kidding me? I already own an SWC skimmer and think their great.

That is not the point. Did you even read my posts? If the body and pump is not made in Canada you can not say the skimmer is made in Canada. Period. Similar to saying VW is a German car, you can say SWC is a Canadian skimmer....made in china and Italy etc.

Ask a VW dealer or Honda or Toyota if the car is strictly made in Germany, Japan etc. and you will get your answer.

I take pride in buying items made in Canada....which is getting harder and harder to do. If SWC did manufacture the skimmer body in Canada I'm sure I would be supporting a Canadian economy a great deal more. I don't blame SWC for outsourcing to China....its the way the global markets are taking away manufacturing. I'm guilty as well for buying tons of cheap imported stuff. It's hard not to go for the value that is there.

On a side note China has become very good at artificially de-valuing it's currency to keep it cheap.

The Canadian content of the SWC product is valid question -particularly since we've just finished saying that the design is more or less a copy. The question is is it relevant to someone looking to buy the product ?

It may just be that a purely Canadian skimmer does not (and may never) exist. In which case, the SWC product is as close as you're going to get.

The folks at SWC could probably build their own bodies and pumps and price the product accordingly. However, there are other businesses out there that specialize in these areas and by virtue of volume, can make a comparable item at a lower cost. I think the folks at SWC are savvy enough to know that in this (or indeed ANY hobby market) it's all about price and that if they made everything themselves and charged 25% more, they'd likely be out of business pretty quick.

I haven't seen any documentation from SWC on their product but I'd like to think that it would be a LOT better than the piece of toilet paper in 'chinglish' that I got with my BM. Also, it sounds like you can actually call SWC and speak with someone who knows what's going on if you have issues and or need parts. All else being equal, just those last 2 items make the SWC a good choice in my book !

SWC VS Bubble Magus!!
 

My SWC 160 cone arrived last week and this ^ along with many positive reviews and the fact that at least some of the $ will stay in canada, was the reason I chose the SWC over the others I was considering (bubble mag-china HQ, price changing deuchery, vertexIN-large footprint were the other reasons). Every little part is readily available for the swcs, and Jayson was great about answering the questions I had for him (would have just bought it from Ian who's great to deal with, if I knew a couple weeks ago he was picking them up...no free biobeads for me...)
Anyway in the end it was an easy choice and for what it's worth I got the new model with the white bubble plate and the box still says made in china, here's a pic

When are we going to see some results on how the SWC units actually skim compared to the BMs? That's my main concern!

Haha, I laughed so hard from reading my BM doser instructions something about shoving the tubing into the sun hole and then rotating. Still very happy with the overall product though.

Exactly. Same reasons for me. Been friends with Jayson for 10yrs. Purchased lots from him and never had a problem. Local business support for me, although 200km away. As Canadian as it can get.
Great to see someone else selling the products, besides American vendors.

With Ian,s permission. We posted a link for some reviews, if thats of any help to you. Not comparison with any other products though, except for what I and the others have used or seen in action.

Doug, I read the threads plus many more but this thread was started to show actual results from Ian on the SWC vs BM and I'm really interested in seeing the results. I need a skimmer so I can finish setting up my new sump and the the new tank going. I was going to get a BM NAC7 but now it seems like SWC is the new band wagon so I want to see if it's worth the extra money or not. From what I've read so far the build quality is better but I'm not sure on performance.

How do you compare the performance of 2 skimmers? ;) By the amount of skim-mate they produce? No! By the color of skim-mate? No! By the smell of skim-mate? No! By some physical factors? No!
I would love to have some Feldman & Maers type study of the skimmers. Show me some numbers!

Ask and ye shall receive :lol: Try these for some methods:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2010...chterm=skimmer

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2010/2/aafeature

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2009/1/aafeature2

I have a SWC 250 cone skimmer and while I don't know much about Bubble Magus skimmers I know a few people with Bubble King skimmers and my SWC skimmer pulls out just as much skimmate if not more then their bubble kings do, so IMO I'd say that SWC skimmers are excellent skimmers :biggrin:

Pic.'s speak volumes and this is four days worth of skimmate in my SWC 250 cone collection cup:

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...p/P7160475.jpg

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...p/P7160476.jpg

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...p/P7160477.jpg

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...p/P7160478.jpg

Holy crap!! :shocked!:

Judging by other posts on Canreef, we now have the attention of the competitors running this comparison! Proof is in the NOG and the overall construction of the equipment. We chose BM to compare to as the SWC are comparably priced; however, they are not comparable quality.

We are not going to offer demos on the SWC skimmers but instead offer this thread as an avenue for owners to post their opinions good or bad about both manufacturers.....

We sell BM and we sell lots of it, we also sell Reef Octopus and now SWC, out these three brands of Skimmers the SWC and "Super" Reef Octopus are hands down better quality with better pumps and overall design.

We are going to start a trade in promotion for those looking to exchange their BM for an SWC, more details to come!

So I guess the change of heart to post comparison results between the two brands means performance wise the brands are about equal just a difference in cone quality?

Change of heart from what? I am confident that most of the SWC skimmers will outperform BM, I also believe the build quality is better. With all the links posted, read for yourself the many comparative reviews that have been done. The SWC skimmers pull more air and generally at equal to or less wattage.

Your first post in this thread said you were going to compare the SWC to the BM head to head and to stay tuned for results. What does that mean if not to compare actual performance results? So far none of the links have said that either one actually skims better than the other and that is the type of info I would like to know. A few weeks ago you yourself was saying how great the BM skimmers worked so I just want to know if anyone has actually compared the two based on performance in the same tank before I buy my skimmer. Right now I'm not sure which way to go as I can get the BM for cheaper but if the SWC skims better then maybe it's worth the extra money. I haven't heard of any BM quality problems and they both use the same pump so I am trying to find out which one works better based on head to head results not from someone who has only used one of the products but likes it so that must mean its better. You got me really interested in this product but I want to be sold on it.

SWC VS Bubble Magus!!
 

The BM skimmers do work well for the price, I have never said they didn't. If anyone were to ask me what I thought about them I would tell them the same thing now as I would have before taking on SWC. The difference now is I have now seen the build quality side by side, researched the reviews and I have been schooled by the manufactuerer on the benefits of SWC vs BM all of which I have confirmed by looking at the overall reviews. This thread has also been open for those that have run both brands or just one to voice their opinion either way. To do an actual in tank head to head is very difficult as it would have to be done in such a way that both tanks had exactly the same chemistry and bioload, this would be very difficult to do an would be open to so much debate.

No matter what tests we did everyone is still going to have their opinion on what is better, for your next skimmer you will just have to go with whatever one feels like the right choice for you.. Do your research, listen to what people have to say about each brand and take it from there.

Choice is good, we will continue selling both brands as well as others not mentioned here, I too look for barains and "bang" for the buck; however, sometimes a few extra dollars are worth it.

Sorry to dissapoint we can't have a BM / SWC cage battle.

Just can't make my life easy, eh Ian?:lol:

When you say that the build quality is going to make a better skimmer. You should know that the pump is what makes the skimmer having a CNC machine isn't going to make a skimmer work better then another skimmer. I have owned many skimmers and believe you me, I used to own a Deltec AP 851 with the Ehiem skimmer that was a amazing skimmer not because of the DELTEC name the Reason is for the EHIEM pump. I have owned many high end skimmers like the BK mini's
Deuxe BK's and didnt care for them. alot of Hype however the BM 220 Cone is a amazing skimmer that houses the EHiem pump that skimmer will hands down compete or out drive the Deltec 851. or even keep up the REASON IS THE PUMP.

I just want to chime in here and reference this thread wherein we discuss the SWC vs BM skimmers and the end consensus was that they are essentially identical. If they are not, then I would like to be the first customer on that trade-in program you were talking about. I am also a bit disconcerted by the whole switch over to SWC, with the official policy seeming to be that the BM is an inferior product but now the prices are going to go up on the BM skimmers - a supposedly inferior product! Will you still be honoring warranties on the BM skimmers for customers who have already purchased them? The whole "I think we made our point" vs aqua digital is a bit suspect as well. Don't get me wrong - I'm not trying to be inflammatory, I'm just confused!

Oh sorry, the thread I mentioned:

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...743#post533743

good point

SWC VS Bubble Magus!!
 

Lol, people are sure serious about their skimmers, I want to raise the price of the BM enough to make it an even playing field for the other dealers that are stocking the bm line. Take this thread for face value, nobody is saying that BM is a poor product, it isn't; however, this is the place to talk about the pros and cons of both brands. I happen to also like the octopus skimmers but this thread wasn't about those.

Anyways, carry on.

Well Ian I'm sure you have tried them all so let's hear your input of the
SWC skimmers'
BM skimmers
Octopus skimmers. since you have access to all 3 :biggrin:


SO what BM are you comparing the SWC one to is there a certain one that you would like to have the pros and the cons on