Let's talk about skimmers

[Dez]

Ever since I got rid of my Beckett skimmer due to change of return pump, I've been running a skimz skimmer. I am happy with it. I set it and forget. I would say that I have a decent enough bio load. I believe it's a 250 model running on over 300 gals water volume. I basically sold my Beckett and added $50 to buy my skimz skimmer used. I hate maintenance, so it was a decent choice for me. I love the twist off top with only about 1/2" clearance needed to take the cup off.

[TimT]

Hi Brad,

I have never been a fan of pin wheel impellers and cavitating a pump. Cavitating a pump is inherently destructive and I think this is what we are seeing by the amount of pump motor failures. By cavitating a pump I am referring to injecting air into the inlet.

I have used mazzei injectors in the past on several skimmers and they work way better than a beckett etc. I presently use an ETSS downdraft skimmer with an external pump. No moving parts in the skimmer.... yay. Been running flawlessly for 8 years with ozone.

My recommendation is to mod one of the existing bodies you have to accept a 3/4 barb or female adapter, get a mag 6 to 9 pump and I think I still have a used 3/4" mazzei I can set you up with. Put a ball valve in between the pump and mazzei and your good to go.

Cheers,
Tim

[Skim]

I know this post is a few months old but I thought I would put my 2 cents in as I am looking for a skimmer again. I went back and gave a quick read through Advanced Aquarist test on skimmers and found it to be quite eye opening when it comes to skimmers.
Feature Article: Further Studies on Protein Skimmer Performance

To put it a nut shell NO MATTER WHAT SKIMMERS TESTED only 25 to 30% of TOC was removed, From BK's to RO NBW 150 it came down to how fast the TOC where removed. So the myth on 1 size up I think just went out the window and no matter how big or how many recirculating pumps it will not remove more. So with that said I think we should reverse are thinking and look at getting a skimmer rating that the lite bio-load falls into the size of the tank volume and is reliable ( good quiet pump and good needle wheel if it has one ) and use GAC to remove more of the bio-load ( TOC ) as it removes 65% to 90% of the TOC in the system. This is because only certain Organics will stick to air bubbles.
It does make you wonder about the that question that keeps crawling up are we over skimming, in the sense that we are throwing money out the window for skimmers that look more like pieces of art. I believe the skimmer that removed the TOC was a Air driven PM skimmer.
Anyhow just wanted to post this to give people something to think about and next time you see a post that says " my skimmer will out skim any skimmer " you can say no it will skim what all the others will 25% to 30% it just may do it faster.
Something to think about.

All the best.

Mike

[Aquattro]

Mike, I think the "faster" part is important. If I'm doing large water changes every x days, and skimmer A is faster at removing than skimmer B, then by the time I change water on day x, I end up with less TOC in the water column. No?

I also agree that a tall airstone driven skimmer will outperform any other under tank model available.

[RDNanoGuy]

Skimmer sizing is a huge debate. Most skimmers are rated by how much water can be processed in a given amount of time similar to turnover rates for sumps. Most manufacturers use 3 times the system volume per hour for normal or medium bioload.

As the article referenced above shows, over skimming a tank is a myth. When the total TOC's in the water column fall below a certain amount the skimmer simply stops being able to produce a foam head that can reach the collection cup. When the TOC's rise again the foam head will build again and be able to reach the top of the cup and be removed.

In my opinion a skimmer is properly sized when it reliably skims but periodically stops. If it is constantly foaming it's not keeping up with the TOC production in tank and should be upsized.

[Fesso]

If you're at all handy the best bang for the buck I found was the Avast CS1.
Rated up to 200 Gallons. It comes as a kit that you assemble yourself. It took me half an afternoon to get mine put together and it was fun. It's a recirculating skimmer so water depth is not important. It's about $300 including the Sicce PSK1000 recirc pump.
And how sexy is the smoked acrylic?


Here's the product details:
http://www.avastmarine.com/ssc/do/pr...ne-Skimmer-Kit

[Skim]

Well its been a while since my post on the article that I read. Just to give a quick up date as to why I read that article. I purchased a Bubble Magus Curve 9 I guess in early spring this year and man what a Skimmer the stuff that it brought forth from the tank water was hard to believe. Up tell then I had a Eshopp 150 good skimmer simple easy to use and would get a nice dark almost black sludge. Well the BM 9 started to get noisy and is oversized for my 100gal+ sump, this skimmer is rated for 300 to 400 Gal and I believe it could do it, I think it starts from a 10" base and tappers to 6" neck. I was lucky it fit into my sump, I knew it would fit but to get into the sump was the trick. Anyhow started to get noisy and now am waiting for a replacement impeller so I thought I need a good back up and went to a local well semi local reef shop and wanted to get a Reef Octopus 150 INT well no stock and was asked why do you won't that piece of doo doo get the Omega 150 ( I did look at it and read a lot about it and was even considering the RO Prime ) its far better look hold the lid feel that look Titanium screws bla bla bla bling bling bling long story short I bought it because I needed the skimmer. He said he could get RO and sells them but said the Omega is a far better skimmer. So all the way home my gut is telling me NAY NAY ( John Pinette R.I.P ) and I get home, more bling bling the box what a beautiful box well if anything I have a $400.00+ box well open it, Flute has chip out of it, the air stem is snapped of and all I could think about was NAY NAY. So now I have to get a new Flute and I glued the stem back. So onto my review of my NAY NAY Omega Skimmer. I personally can not recommend the Omega 150 I would have to say save your money and get something else the pump is too big for the 150 the turbulence inside the cone is just nuts, does it skim yes, could it skim better yes. The reaction chamber is about 10" now I am talking the area where bubbles can be seen and about 6" is just swirling around and going nuts and that leaves 4" of true reaction area not much and its moving quite fast upwards. Anyhow enough of that so IMO NAY NAY on the Omega 150 for my fellow Reefers. Sorry I must say that it is the quietest Skimmer that I have ever heard.
I have just put an order in for a Reef Octopus 150 INT, I was considering the SRO 200 but I read a couple of reviews that said the Blaster pump was to much for the size and better off with the 150 so back to where I started from wanting the RO 150 INT and should have it next week.

Tell then all the best.

Mike