Water movement takes step forward

[Troy F]

www.reeftec.com (http://www.reeftec.com) Check out this innovative new product by Mike Kirda. There is a review in Advanced Aquarist by Richard Harker (haven't checked yet but Mike says there is). Looks like a winner, anyone wanna buy a slightly used Ampmaster? :D

[Doug]

That looks pretty interesting. Not expensive either. Seems to generate lots of bubbles though.

[Bryan]

I think the bubbles were introduced to show the water movement.

[CHEAPREEF]

Looks like it's got lots of movement, if the bubbles are not a result of the pump it looks like a good invesment. But it also doesn't look that hard to make.

Clinton

[DJ88]

hmmm..

Here we go again..

Time to get creative. :D

[ 16 June 2002, 21:55: Message edited by: DJ88 ]

[Aquattro]

Originally posted by DJ88:
hmmm..

Here we go again..

Time to get creative. :D <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">So, will we see drawings tonight? :D

[ruck'n'reefer]

I am leaving for holidays... but when I get back I plan to work on this one. Darren I'll be in touch. Too many ideas are flowing! (Pun intended)

[powerreef]

Very interesting...... but dont you think once you buy the unit then buy the pump and then the wave maker timer the price is a little heavy. Sure does look good though. Amasing what a RC airplane prop can do

[AJ_77]

Has no-one tried the Ocean Currents units that J&L sells?

Just wondering how they would compare.

[Delphinus]

I wonder if the microfauna suffer the same "sheering stress" as they do in centrifugal pumps. You'd think it might be comparable, but then again ... maybe not as bad?

I wonder how the pump will fare in the long run in such an idea. Since we're now not moving an impeller, but a propeller, the weight of the water displaced is different than intended, etc. etc.

But it is a neat idea. An RC plane prop. That never occured to me. I once thought about using an old fan blade, but decided it probably was too much work to figure out how to make it spin under water ... :D

[DJ88]

Alan,

Do a search for Ocean currents on RC. you'll find out all kinds of stuff.

They do require a high GPH pump and have a tendancy of not working after a whort period of time from what I have read. I had looked into them a while ago. Take a read and decide for yourself tho.

Tony,

I wonder how the pump will fare in the long run in such an idea. Since we're now not moving an impeller, but a propeller, the weight of the water displaced is different than intended, etc. etc. <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">These are a few of the things I was thinking about last night. Once concern of mine was keeping the magnetic part of the impellor inside the housing. But once the pump turns on the back force of the prop will keep it in.

As for wear you may find more due to the propellor will force the shaft back into the pump instead of it just rotating and forcing water out in the direction of the impellor rotation.

Another thing is that you will have to buy specific pumps. If I remember right not all mag pumps will always rotate in the same direction once you start it up. So if it decided to work in the opposite direction you'd be sucking things in.

YOu'd definately want to have something like this in a larger tank IMO. Once you start getting the housing and such overtop of a powerhead it's getting BIG. I may try making one out of a spare mini jet tho. See what happens. You don't really need the whole enclosure. Just a shroud around the propellor. Ships use this design all the time.

If you hadn't noticed my mind is going nuts on this idea.. lol.

[SuperFudge]

Interesting idea,

But I think shes still as much of an eyesore/spacehog as powerheads and overflows for me.
:(

Now if we could have a bulkhead and mount it on the outside of a tank,that would be sweet. :D

Marc.

[BCReefer]

Great item, I’m interested in it.

FYI and a little off topic

Just to let you budding inventors out there. I work as a buyer and I have a lot of contacts in manufacturing through North America. If you ever need any help or names just E Mail me and I will be glad to help. Some of the prices that I see for simple skimmers etc is truly out rages. Before I get flamed I understand that stores need to make money to pay their bills but some markups are outrageous.

Darren and others if you do make one I am interested in buying 1.

Cheers,
Patrick

[titus]

Hello Patrick,

Am I missing something here? smile.gif If you have any examples, please e-mail me. I think you are probably talking about the small or junk skimmers sold by stores where people don't go there to buy aquarium stuff but other stuff.

[mkirda]

Originally posted by Troy F:
www.reeftec.com (http://www.reeftec.com) Check out this innovative new product by Mike Kirda. There is a review in Advanced Aquarist by Richard Harker (haven't checked yet but Mike says there is). <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Umm...
First of all, I don't make this product.
Jimmy Chen is the owner/creator/maker.

Reading further on this thread...
Anyone wanting to create knock-offs... go ahead.
You'll find that the drive-dog is rather difficult to make without the proper tools. I couldn't make one, and I know how they are made...

Funny how quick you all are: JC makes essentially ZERO profit on these units. Good luck with your DIY endeavors. Hope your time is worth about a $1/hour...

Regards.
Mike Kirda

[mkirda]

Originally posted by powerreef:
Very interesting...... but dont you think once you buy the unit then buy the pump and then the wave maker timer the price is a little heavy<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">No, I think it is quite cheap, honestly.
There is no comparable device to move water in this fashion. For the amount of water it moves, watt for watt, the price is incredibly inexpensive.

[mkirda]

Originally posted by CHEAPREEF:
But it also doesn't look that hard to make.

Clinton<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Clinton,

It isn't hard to make... Until you get to the drive dog. Then, you got some issues. It'll be difficult to do without the proper tools, and takes a bit of time. At $70 for two units, the pricing is cheap. My time is worth a lot more than that... If yours isn't, Go for it!

Regards.
Mike Kirda

[DJ88]

Mike,

Welcome to the board.

with that said..

People here were discussing the whole design and trying to come to an inderstanding of how it works and is done. Nothing more. In all honesty I can say I am not interested for various reasons. Yeah I took a look at building something similar. but it won't go past that. So I don't know why you are reacting as you are. Yes it s a great adaptation, I can see areas in it's design I personally don't like and have doubts about, but it really isn't a new idea. It's one that has been adapted from other uses outside of the hobby. Like most things we are using.

Here are my thoughts on the design after a bit of time to think about it. These are just some quick ones.

1. Size. It's big. no doubt about it. I personally hate powerheads to begin with. Adding an enclosure around a pump makes it bigger. It may push GPH but you can get around its size.

2. Cost. $70 is in US dollars. Most of us here are Canadian. Exchange takes it to over $100 for the inital cost. Then add in shipping(with exchange again) and then the costs of dduties and taxes at the border. Another $30-40 or more. By that time you are hitting probably close to $150+ for two pumps. Something to keep in mind is costs. Reefkeepers are cheap. Especially with products we can't readily get up here. Add in the costs of a decent wavemaker and it is really getting up there IMO.

3. If you were to put this on a wave maker I forsee fish getting diced. I have had blennies and they love to go into openings. Timer turns off, propeller stops fish goes in. Next thing you have is fish chowder. I'd fashion some form of slatted grid or grill to prevent this from happening. To minimise flow losses due to friction, tapering the slats somehow will help with this. All it takes is one and people will shy away from buying.

4. It's a new product. Once I have seen/heard about how it stands up to time and use then I'd think about buying one. But since I don't have a single PH in my system and don't plan on adding one I don't see any reason to look deeper into this one. Plain and simple. It's a great adaptation I will give it that. Hopefully it pans out. If not I can gurantee it will stir the creative juices in other inventors in this hobby to make something new and push our tanks forward again.

Those are just a couple of thoughts. Keep in mind this is a forum for sharing and developing ideas. As this product was by JC. An idea. Coming on here and taking a bit of a condescending tone with people talking may make someone think twice about buying. Especially coming onto a board that you have never posted and all of your posts were in this same tone.

bad PR IMO.

Welcome again to the board. The more the merrier. You are more than welcome to post on other subjects if you so chose.

[Troy F]

Hi ya Mike, nice to have you here.

I've seen posts from a few people using this product that have no problems with fish getting in there. However, wouldn't some kind of mesh solve the problem and provide good ol' piece of mind?

I understand Mike's concerns regarding the product and I think everyone of us would feel the same way if we'd spent the time and energy to make a new product. Have a look at the article in Reefkeepers this month on skimmers. Those guys put an awful lot of time and money on the Bullet skimmers only to have everyone and their dog making them. You have to admit it would be frustrating. Having said that; if you have the skills to make your own stuff more power to you. Hopefully enough people will still support the product and continue to encourage people to invest their time in developing new, innovative products.

Well gotta go and adjust my *cough...skimmer ;)

[Delphinus]

Um ... Do I sense a bit of cynicism or defensiveness here? Unless I've missed something, nobody is knocking the product, so please, don't take anything personally here, it it just discussion of a new idea. If it's too expensive for some, well then, they won't buy it, which is going to happen anytime you have a new venture. Anytime you sell a product you are going to have to deal with your share of tire-kickers. But don't worry about that. If it's a quality product, word will get around and sales will increase.

Ah, good old Jimmy, I remember him. Good luck with this idea, guys, hopefully this will take off and go somewhere.