Vertex IN-180 vs. BM NAC 7
 

Anyone had experience with either of these skimmers? How did they work out for you? Good buys?

I use the Vertex one and I'm happy with it.

have the 180 love the 180 but its a lil noisy atm cause the impeller has a rust blister.. bought it used so who knows how old the impeller is.

I've had both and the Nac-7 is better
Thicker foam

I've had the vertex In-180 for almost 2 years. Once in a while the pump does get a little noisy but I've been extremely happy with the output and how little I have to fuss with it to keep it dialed in.

I bought a brand new IN-180 and its the worst skimmer I have owned. Terrible noisy pump with restart issues brand new right out of the box. No more Vertex IN's ever for this guy! Only Vertex skimmer I would buy is a Alpha Cone which I have owned and there awesome skimmers. I am not sure about the BM-7 as I have never owned one.

I dont have live stock in the tank yet but from what I can see the NAC-7 is going to be a really good skimmer. It's dead quiet, nice "froth" of bubbles in it, easy to set up and clean, solid construction.

It's not what your asking but, I had a RS180 (Euro reef) essentially the same as the Vertex IN-180. It was a great skimmer also. Not the same pump as the Vertex though.

On a side note. I heard that Vertex is coming out with DC pumps that will be controlable via the Cerebra and possibly on their own as well. Integrate with their lights for feeding mode so your skimmer ramps down and a few other cool features. Might want to consider that as well.

I have a vertex and love it!

Nac

Nothin beats a cone skimmer

I had an SWC 150 BMK (non-cone, straight cylinder) - used the same atman 2500 pump that is found on the Bubble Magus NAC 7. FWIW the SWC configuration of the same pump pulled more air than the BM unit. I was very happy with the SWC unit and for $200 brand new you couldnt go wrong.

I was then given the opportunity to test a new skimmer from my LFS. The pump pulled just as much air as the ATMAN 2500(approx 20-23scfm) but only used 13w! Thats less than half of the ATMAN. Better yet the bubble quality/production on the new skimmer was phenomenal. In the SWC i didnt get a continuous column of white bubbles -there would be pockets of water that would disrupt the bubbles making there way up the column. With that said the SWC unit still performed well.

Words only do so much - Here are some pics.

(FYI my tank is only 50 gallons - heavily stocked - sps dominant - fed two small pinches pellets daily and a 1/3 cube of frozen food - 5 gallon water change every 7-10 days and i run 75 micron socks. Nothing else is dosed except calc/alk)


SWC 150 BMK after about 7-8 days of skimming - fully dialled in;

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/a...l/P1010564.jpg

my new skimmer;

unit was given a vinegar bath for 48hrs. Foam production pic below is 5 minutes into it being run in the sump for the first time.

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/a...215_203352.jpg

24 hours later

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/a...216_081654.jpg

36 hours later

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/a...218_210125.jpg


4 days later (skimmer depth was changed)

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/a...222_100154.jpg

wattage - http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/a...222_145256.jpg
http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/a...222_145218.jpg

air draw
http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/a...2_145530-1.jpg


i found the best depth for the skimmer was 6" - I cleaned the cup THOROUGHLY and ran it for an entire week. During that time i changed the filter socks once and did one 5 gallon water change.

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/a...228_092641.jpg
http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/a...228_092029.jpg


bubble action - notice how the break from fine bubbles happens low in the neck transition? Any higher and the thing over flows. Its a very powerful pump.

http://i992.photobucket.com/albums/a...8_091613-1.jpg