Let's talk about skimmers

[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

[reeferfulton]

so what your saying is

1. bubblemagus curve 9 is noisy then impeller broke , but otherwise great skimmer ?

2. Omega 150 is silent bling bling yet came broken ? ( which sounds like vertex to me..) and has a bad design .aka reaction chamber

3. Trying a 150 prime that is an omega knock off ?


Why did you not just get a new impeller and see how the curve 9 behaves before jumping ship 3 times ?

[kien]

The impeller on my Bubble Magus (Eheim 1260) just busted too! I'm about to pick up a Curve 9 and by the sounds of it I should pick up a spare impeller while I'm at it Actually that doesn't bother, so long as a have a working skimmer that skims awesome ! The impeller takes quote a beating. It is spinning 24/7 and i'm sure random junk gets sucked in there and mangled up.

[Skim]

Well I never said that the Impeller broke, it makes noise as in it rattles and I am waiting for a new one. The BM is a great skimmer but it is too much I believe for my tank as it will skim and then die off, I had it die off for three days one time and then it slowly comes back and will skim some nasty stuff. I would like a skimmer to be more consistent. The Omega well I think they just put too big of pump on it for its body size but that's just my opinion. The RO Prime was one I was looking at it because of the way the cup twists off I like that and you know what I bet it skims better then the Vertex just because of the pump and as for the Prime being a knock off I don't know, I read an article that the Prime was ready to go 1 year before the Omega was released but they did not have the new pumps for them and decided to wait, how much truth there is to that I don't know. So like I said I wanted to get the RO 150 INT as a back up or if I liked it use it full time and use the BM 9 as back up but they did not have it so I ended up with the Omega. I just wanted to post what I have observed so far and it just may help some decide on a skimmer.
So this is what I am saying.

1. BM 9 Great Skimmer ( have it for 8 months ) should have gone with 7.

2. Got the Omega and IMO does not live up to all the hype, and just posted what I noticed from having one.

3. I was think of the Prime but I got the RO 150 INT instead and I will post my opinion on it when I have used it and if I don't like it I may even try the New Coral Box Skimmer with the DC pump as it looks quite interesting. The one thing that I am starting to see is that the skimmer with the pump inside may be the way to go as it seems they do not have as much turbulence in them and act more like current and co-current skimmer no rotation.

That's what I am saying.