Vertex Skimmers

[fkshiu]

Originally Posted by Slick Fork

Still at work so no pics yet but I had a thought and did some investigating. With all the concern about the energy draw, I did some "comparative shopping" to find out what other pumps with similar flow rates are pulling.

Hydor Seltz l40 @740gph is drawing 55 watts
Sedra KSP 9000 @900gph is drawing 90 watts
Eheim 1262 @900gph is drawing 80 watts
Quiet one 4000 @1017gph is drawing 50 watts

So if we pop the Resun in there at 70 watts/1000gph it's smack in the middle for power consumption beating out the eheim and the sedra.

That puts it a little better into perspective as far as power consumption goes anyways

Those figures are misleading with respect to skimmer performance. The wattage you quote is the rated power for pumping 100% water. You won't be pumping 100% water while using it on a needlewheel skimmer since air is being mixed in. This will necessarily reduce the power consumption since air is a lot easier to move than water. Further, the GPH quoted is also for pumping 100% water and not an air water mixture. As a result, the proper analysis to do for a pump's skimmer performance is Litres per Hour of AIR (LPH) versus wattage draw. The only way to do this is with a Dwyer air meter and a Kill-a-Watt device since different pumps respond differently to being converted into air/water mixing devices. You must remember we are essentially using these pumps for a purpose they were not originally designed to do.

For example, the Sedra 9000 on my WM RX200 pulls about 1,000 to 1,100 lph at 47 watts (not 90W) - these are actual observed measurements by myself and consistent with the manufacturer's ratings.

I expect the Resun pumps to pull less power than their "water" rating, but the question is how much and at what amount of air flow? What I am surprised about is that the distributor/marketer (Proline, I believe) didn't provide these numbers in their marketing materials as with most skimmers. Other than construction quality and low noise, BK marketing is all about very low wattage draw to very high air draw. It's not that hard to determine the numbers. This is why I am somewhat concerned about the actual performance of the Resun pumps if no one has bothered to publish them. So my offer to test a vertex skimmer (or any skimmer) in the Lower Mainland stands.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

It's not like we don't have busy lives, but it sounds like we're off to test some skimmers this weekend

[kwirky]

Here are some photos of the vertex IN-250 in action. I think the Vertex is the king of the low-end after having a few weeks experience with one. Hydor's king of midrange, Bubbleking king of high end and Tunze king of the small form-factor. My only gripe is the IN-250 is so damned tall and the cup's a bit of a pain to remove without spilling skimmate. You need like 32" to remove the cup n all. But the performance is pretty damned good.

Originally Posted by Veng68

The only thing that is of concern is that the pump for the 250 gallon model uses 140 watts as compared to the Euroreef RS250 which is drawing 60 watts.

Anyone have a Vertex 250 and a watt meter?

Cheers,
Vic

I have a watt meter at home I might be able to test it out with but from experience every pump I've tested tests up to double the rated wattage once head pressure is applied. That's the reason I bought the kill-a-watt because I was pretty sure some things on my tank were sucking more power than what was on the labels. Plus you may be comparing it to an older euroreef with a Sedra pump. Euroreefs now use Gen-X pumps which is the same damned pump as a Resun (which the Vertex uses) except the Resun is hermetically sealed around the heatsink while most of the Gen-X models aren't (opened up a couple resuns to confirm the suspicion).

[Phanman]

the nog on there looks pretty nice... I wonder how this rates up to the octo extreme... decisions decisions.

[Slick Fork]

SO, I finally got around to taking some pictures. These shots are from earlier tonight so say 24-32hrs of running. I moved from a Tunze 9010 so adjusting this has been a little hit and miss for me. About half the skimmate that you see is a direct result of me overflowing the skimmer a little as I play around with "tuning" it. Still not sure if I've got it set properly but I guess time will tell!!

Enjoy

[Keri]

Delicious!

[Veng68]

We went out and fkshiu tested the Vertex 250.

I'll let fkshiu post about the results.

Cheers,
Vic

[Rippin]

I recently purchased the 180 (like 3 weeks ago) and haven't put it to the test as yet. I was drawn to this skimmer from what I've read in user's reviews AND the very reasonable price, BUT since I have purchased it they raised the price by another $75. That's a huge price increase (percentage-wise)! <thumbsdown>

[Sir Fragalot]

Very much like another euro reef knock off, made in china, tought id get one for my small tank.. pump died it in 3 days nice uint for the price though but i think the pump is junk.

[whiteice669]

I have the 250 model waiting to be fired up, will let you know, was using a pm bullet2 before