I did not fish any snails out of it. Just a spontaneous failure of catastrophic proportions. I did ask The Google and apparently they do sell replacements so I'm going to see if I can find a replacement needle wheel before I invest in a new skimmer. I really do like this skimmer. It has served me well. Other than the whole imploding thing.

Maybe a new impeller... Lol
:mrgreen:

Well, for about $150 US I can get a replacement impeller from a place in California, or for a bit more I can get a brand new Bubble Magus Curve 9 which is more or less an upgrade/replacement to my current outdated Bubble Magus 220CS. Decided to go with the new skimmer. Just waiting for my LFS (yes that's you guys over at CONCEPT AQUARIUMS) to get their shipment in.

In the meantime, I'm completely skimmerless (going on week 2 without now).

Damn!

Any noticeable change in coral coloration yet?

Corals look great. Very nice.

What pump is that that failed?

the curve 9 is the same skimmer I have been eyeing up for some time .. I figured it would be a good upgrade from my omega 150.. I think you made a good choice..

That depends.. would you consider brown a colour?

The pump that came with my Bubble Magus 220CS was an Eheim 1260. Great pump! Served me well for the past 5 years. I would totally get a replacement impeller for it if it wasn't for the $150US price tag and the fact that it would probably take a couple of weeks to get here :cry:

Ever thought of making a DIY needlewheel mod? I even have a couple things that I bought to mod an old skimmer that I have lying around. We should see if they fit ;-)

The meshwheel mods work well too.

Just google "DIY needlewheel impeller" and look at the images that come up. Theres so many options for you! I like the bio-ball one.

Ya, when I was googling for a replacement I also pulled up a bunch of mods involving enkmat(sp?) etc.. I suppose I could go down that route, but at this point I would rather just get a new skimmer. This skimmer also has a clogged air intake. I totally cut the air line and MacGyver'ed a silencer/muffler with a small water bottle. Although I'm pretty sure the water bottle muffler is actually making it noisier. :neutral: If my LFS (Yes, that's you DAVE AT CONCEPT AQUARIUMS) doesn't come through with a new skimmer by the weekend I may give the needle-wheel-Frankenmod the 'ol college try.

LOL. Well I will always vote new skimmer. But hey...you might as well mod the old one to sell it or keep it as a spare. I totally have enough stuff to make two or three different mods. You're welcome to take them if you feel like trying it out.

Thanks! I will keep that in mind. That's a great idea about re-selling the old skimmer.

The Bubble Magus Curve 9 !!
 

Yes, it has arrived ! Or rather it arrived last Friday. And not a moment too soon. I was getting tired of doing 50% water changes..

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This is the entire kit.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...psec4f31ac.jpg

The instructions manual consisted of two printed pages. This diagram and another page with instructions.

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It looks like pumps have gotten a lot smaller over the years. This pump (supposedly) pushes the same amount of volume as my busted Eheim 1262 that came with my Bubble Magus 220CS, but only half the footprint ! Amazing.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...ps485d888d.jpg

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I was curious, so I yanked out the needle wheel to have a look.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...ps174869f2.jpg

The needles are fairly small compared to what I'm used to (the one that came with my Eheim). It definitely looks like it will slice and dice bubbles real good, but those needles do look fragile. I wonder how long they will last.

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And here she is all assembled.

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So there's this red cap sorta thingy (it's at the bottom of the above picture). I haven't quite figured out where it goes yet. I can't seem to find it on the instructions manual. If I had to guess, I would guess that it covers the hole at the top of the skimmer cups lid. There is a circular groove on the inside of the lid that seems to fit this red cap thingy, except that it is loose. There is no way it will stay in this groove without glue or silicone. Seems odd.

The intake.

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And this right here would be why it is called the "Curve".

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This wire holder is a really nice touch. My last skimmer didn't have one.

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Another thing I really like about this new skimmer is the body fasteners. Check out these little doohickies !

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Swing them open like so..

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.. and voila!

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The skimmer body lifts right off of the base plate! I love that!

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...ps18d4d77b.jpg

It's quite a tight fit in my skimmer chamber so having that future means much much much much much easier removal of the skimmer for maintenance. Seriously, I put off skimmer maintenance on my last skimmer because it was such a pain to remove the skimmer.

And here is the new and shiny up against the old and busted.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...psbb5ff883.jpg

The new one is slightly taller (maybe a couple of inches). Other than that, it's more or less the same skimmer but with a new pump and a few refinements. I actually like the cup lid on my old skimmer better so I decided to use it instead of the stock cap which has a hold in the middle of it. :noidea:

Cruve 9 on the left with BM220CS lid. BM220CS on the right with Curve 9 lid.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...ps06b6d8ba.jpg

Time for the vinegar bath.

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While I was at it, I figured I mind as well clean up my biopellet reactor and top it up as well. Here's my setup out of water.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...ps312d8f32.jpg

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mmmm... pellets..

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And finally, back on-line and back in action ! The Dynamic Duo!

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1b4beaef.jpg

MMmmmm... skimmmsss...

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awesome. you got it.
five us a review in a week

FTS
 

And here is the tank as it sits today.

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Wow! beautiful tank!!

enchanting kein.

Lookin damn good

Wow the tank looks stunning. Great job!

Nice skimmer update pics, outstanding looking tank!

That red thingy goes at the center of the bottom side of top removable lid :mrgreen: (I had to use all the positions to point it out! Damn)

That's what I though! But how does it stay in place?? It doesn't sit tight enought to stay in place by itself. I would have to glue it in.

Mine came pre-assembled so I am guessing your's might have been separated somehow. I guess you can just glue it. It doesn't play much of a role other than curving out the skimate smoothly.

Ok cool, thanks! I will just glue it in then. I was wondering why the heck there would even be a hole there, but then figured out that they probably intend to allow people to install skimmer cup cleaners into this hole.

Thanks guys! :-)

Kien....after looking at your tank pictures I told myself I can't let you take all the glory, so I promptly ordered myself another tank. Hopefully I will get it going before Christmas....:mrgreen:

My guess is the hole is so you can retrofit a neck wiper, and thus the red cap is something you put on if you don't have that. If it were me, I would silicone it in place rather than weld-on so that it's easy enough to pull off in the future if you get an auto cleaner.

Yay! New pics and updates in one of my favorite tank build journals on Canreef! :biggrin:

OOOoooo! The plot thickens !! :-) And also, pics or it didn't happen ! :biggrin:

Ya, that makes sense. Great idea about the silicone!

As usual Kien leaves us wanting more pictures of everything to do with his tank. Jealously and admiration are the name of the game.

One of these times when I am back in Calgary I will have to whine and whimper to see your tank in person I have been told it is a sight to behold in itself

Thanks! You are welcome over anytime. Drop me a PM next time you're in town !

Making waves !!
 

For the past 5 years I have been using (or rather trying to use), a couple of Tunze 6105s as my primary water mover. They worked great, when they worked. I even had them jacked into my GHL profilux controller which allowed me to adjust their flowrate programatically. However, the problem with my Tunzes, is that they were ridonkulously unreliable. I have a salt bucket full of dead Tunzes *sadface*. I returned a couple of them for warranty but some of them ended up out of warranty. I wish someone had let me know that they were meant to be disposable like q-tips.

Anyway, sometime this past spring yet another one failed *sad face*. I ran with just one Tunze 6105 all spring, summer and fall. I really didn't have time to do anything about it. I also didn't want to just run out and buy yet another Tunze. A Vortec perhaps? I'm not really a fan of those either because every time I'm at someone's house that has a Vortec on their tank I can hear the whirr-verp whirr-verp of the external motor. I realize that they don't bother people but they bother me.

Last week when I finally had time to do something about replacing my dead Tunze I decided that I would try out one of them Vortunzes. Wait, crap, that's not right, hang on.. .. sorry, Jebaos.

While I was at the store Denny mentioned the "New Thing" that was all the rage with the cool kids these days, the Jebao RW! Since I'm still running metal halides, I figured this was my one shot at maybe getting to sit at the cool kids lunch/wings table again. So anyway, he showed me the Jebao RW-8, a wireless(ish) version of the Jebaos! I like wireless(ish). He convinced me to grab a couple of the RW-8s that they had in stock. I wasn't immediately convinced that the RW-8s would be enough flow, but sadly they didn't have the next size up, the RW-15s. Well, what the heck, for under $100 a pop, why not.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...ps15016bc6.jpg

So I brought home a pair, hooked them up, and started to tinker. After poking around the control panel I quickly figured out how to sync them up. It was actually pretty easy considering I hadn't even read the manual yet. Set one as the Master and the second one as the Slave. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. I sat back and watched both of them happily pushing water in unison. Cool.

My first impression was one of amazement by how much water these little suckers pushed! They appeared to push as much water as my Tunze 6105s. This despite the fact that the 6105 is *supposed* to push roughly 3000(ish) gph whereas the Jebao RW-8 is *supposed* to push only 2000(ish) gph. At any rate, I was satisfied with their flow rate and quite amazed by their compact size! My Tunzes took up a heck of a lot of room while the Jebaos are almost HALF their size! AMAZBALLS!

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...pscb2cbe9d.jpg

So then I decided to play around again with the settings. Next up was trying the different modes and power levels. What I instantly fell in love with was their wave making ability. I've always wanted a wave in my tank but I have no room for a wave maker and I could never for the life of me get my tunzes to sync up properly to generate a wave. I have no idea why (user error I'm sure). At any rate, with the Jebaos, after setting them to Master/Slave and dialing in the wave (mode 1), both powerheads pulsed in unison and generated a nice little wave for me. I could adjust the frequency of the wave with a speed dial. I was yet again amazed! I had a wave going in my tank with two little powerheads the size of the little Korellia that I use in my salt mixing container, and all at a cost of $180 ! Truly AMAZBALLS!

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...psaf287084.jpg

I am totally expecting one of these to fail within a year, but at their cost compared to the Tunzes, I'll still be ahead of the game! :lol: In the meantime, I am totally enjoying the gentle swoosh-swoosh, sway-sway of the new wave in my tank.

Next time I'm in town I'll bring over my surfboard. :wink:

But seriously, keep us posted on these amazballs things, considering a couple for supplemental flow on my fishies crib.

Hmmm interesting. I went from Vortechs to Tunzes cuz I coudnt put the vortechs on the back of the tank and didn't want anything on the sides. I have 5 Tunzes in mine and they stick out like a Karadashian ass. :lol:How much smaller than the Tunzes are they? It's either 2 of those or 2 Maxspect for me.

Tomorrow I will mount of my 6105s right under the Jebao RW8 and snap a pic for comparison sake. THe RW8s are nearly half as small as the 6105s !

I recently learned about the Maxspect Gyre's as well (if that's what you're referring to) and saw a demo, those are AMAZBALLS too! I am considering putting one right under my overflow weir and using it as a surge for supplemental upper water column flow. Alternately I thought about mounting a couple of them vertically where my powerheads are at the back wall (in place of the tunzes/jebaos). At the end of the day, it is a great time to be a reefer as some AMAZBALLS technologies are coming out.

boring corals pics.
 

*** DISCLAIMER: There may be blue clove polyps in some of these photos. Viewer discretion is advised ******

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😱 man Kien I am so envious of your pictures 😱