My Skimmer

[fdiddy]

So, recently I've been having an issue with my skimmer. It was putting a large amount of stray voltage into my tank (Enough to shock me when I put my hands in the water).

... this got me thinking with a new pump purchase. The pump that was on my Euro Reef RS180 was a GenX GX4100 - so aptly named because it does 4100 litres/hour. The bubble king 180 uses a pump that is rated at 3000 Litres/hour (if my research was correct - please correct me if I'm wrong). Why does my skimmer need to be running 4100 l/h on my 180g (total water volume) system?

[albert_dao]

RS180 pump specs:

# Power Consumption W/Air: 45w
# Air Intake: 900-960 lph
# Water Flow Through: 400 gph

BK Mini 180 specs:

# Power Consumption W/Air: 28w
# Air Intake: 1200 lph
# Water Flow Through: 525 gph

Whether or not you need that level of performance is based upon the actual demands of your tank's bioload. If your skimmer is filling up everyday and you're still having issues controlling the nutrient levels, a better skimmer is in order.

[fdiddy]

Thanks for the info! Glad to see I was just wrong on my specs :P At any rate, does anyone have one of these and can share some mods that might help it perform better (other than just a new pump)?

[untamed]

Keep in mind that the skimmer body itself isn't getting any larger. If you put the larger volume pump on it, you will be pushing more water through the skimmer...faster. I don't know what the perfect amount is, but I'm pretty sure there is a flow rate that is simply too much.

At that point, water/air would just be blasting through the skimmer with no time to interract with the air.

[albert_dao]

BK skimmers have bubble plates allowing them to put more air and water through the body than an equivalent Euroreef/ASM. This is true of all skimmers with bubble plates and reaches its height of potential with the Supermarin dual cone body which blasts INSANE amounts of air into a comparatively small body (2000lph/4000lph, 22" tall 10" dia body...)

Finally, I'd wager that contact time is less relevant than reduced turbulence, y'know, the whole quantity vs. quality arguement :D. Bit I digress, mainstream skimmers have undergone enough testing that I doubt one would have to worry about any particular unit getting too much water/air through the body.

[fdiddy]

That's kind of the issue i was having with the skimmer before. I felt there was WAY too much turbulence in the skimmer. When I go to Bayside and see his BK in action (I know.. .way better quality skimmer), their turbulence is almost nothing compared to mine... and his pump is pushing more water through? Maybe I'll look into modding a bubble plate in.

[albert_dao]

Colby has which model of BK?

[fdiddy]

Can't say I've ever looked. It's on a 230g display tank with what i figure to be a 90gish sump.

[albert_dao]

Oh! You could try a meshmod to the impeller. Just be prepared to manually start the skimmer should you have to turn it off.

[fdiddy]

Sounds like fun. I didn't really want to add another pump (for recirc mod), but this looks interesting. I understand why it's more effective than the needlewheel, i don't really know if i want to start messing with the impeller just yet. If anyone has a link to a bubble plate being added to this thing, please let me know.

[albert_dao]

You can try a halfer meshmod by throwing some enkmat over the existing pinwheel without shaving off any of the other pins if you want to do a 'test run' prior to a full on commitment.

As far as adding a bubble plate goes, you might as well pick up one of these:

http://www.vertexaquaristik.com/products/proteinSkimmers/internalSkimmers/inSeries/in-180.php

Would be ten times easier than buying and machining the acrylic then cutting open the body to get it nestled in there.







*In the best interest of full disclosure, I should probably mention that I work for the distributor of BK's and Vertex...

[fdiddy]

Yeah, they have those at the LFS, but that would really take the fun out of it :)