aquamaxx ConeS CO 1 skimmer review

[reeftivo]

Thanks. After I adjust it how long will it take to level out ie 2 hour or days. Right now I adjusted it so the bubbles break 1/5th up the neck. I'm still getting more of the wet skimate. Should I give it a day or two to break in too the new level? I want that heavy dense foam.

Since its still breaking in it may take several hours for a realistic result of how the setting will perform. I would look at the air/water line in the skimmer. If you look into the body you should see a turbulent section of water and the line where the bubbles become saturated and start to rise uniformly up the body. My line is 1 inch below the collar where the Ccup attaches. That may vary for your bioload but that's the level that gets me the concentrated skim I like. When my foam head is knocked down my bubbles above the water line break just above the collar where the cup attaches.

 

[JonSadowsky]

My CO-1 arrived Friday and by Friday night I had it in the sump and running. So it has been running a day and a half. I have my water level at 9 inches and the foam break was set to where the cup attaches. By Saturday morning it was skimming and this is what I had this morning.

Now considering it has been app 36 hours that is pretty incredible. What is also incredible is the story behind me getting the skimmer on Friday as opposed to this coming Monday which is when it was due as it had to come all the way from MD in CA. to me here in sunny south Florida...

There were (and still are) quite a few of us who had been waiting patiently for the Aquamaxx product to arrive and clear Customs. In my case it was just not that I wanted to upgrade my skimmer. I had a real problem that required efficient skimming to resolve and my old skimmer just wasn't getting the job done. So after much research I settled on the CO-1 and went through the longer than expected wait as the arrival date just kept getting pushed off again and again...

I talked to customer service at NAWS who is the distributor and they did a good job of letting me know what was going on. At the same time I was in touch with the customer service rep at MD via there sponsored forum right here on RC as were quite a few of you guys too.

For those of you who dont know it, Jeff is his name and he was absolutely great in letting me know the status of my order and where I stood as far as being in line to get covered by the shipment that was due. The big day finally arrived last week and the shipment made it in last Tuesday to MD and my order was shipped that day and according to the website it was due to arrive this coming Monday, which considering it had to go cross country, was expected.

On Thursday I checked the website again just to see the tracking progress and there was no data available for my order. Obviously that concerned me and I pinged Jeff, he said give him some time to check with shipping. In less than thirty minutes Jeff got back to me and told me that there had been a shipping issue. What I hoped to hear that they were going to ship me one out right away and that I probably would have it by Thursday next week.

What they did was ship me one that day OVERNIGHT to Florida.

That is pretty impressive from my point of a view and just great customer service IMO. Hat's off to MD and to Jeff! :dance:

Jon

 

[reeftivo]

Looks like a good level for you. Just leave it alone and watch the skimmate darken up day by day.

So glad things worked out for you!!!!!

Happy reefing

Tivo

 

[Drae]

When a skimmer produces tea colored skimmate in a day or two you can best believe that coffee colored skimmate is in its future.

 

[JonSadowsky]

I'll take some pics Tuesday and we shall see.

So far I am really liking how steady the skim is...

 

[reeftivo]

I'll take some pics Tuesday and we shall see.

So far I am really liking how steady the skim is...

Looking forward to the pics.

An incredible thing I've noticed about the cone s line is there are no bad reviews. I mean NO bad reviews! Is this for real?

c'mon people! Seriously?

 

[Drae]

Looking forward to the pics.

An incredible thing I've noticed about the cone s line is there are no bad reviews. I mean NO bad reviews! Is this for real?

c'mon people! Seriously?

I think the jns r&d department has done their homework and they've been producing balanced skimmers for a couple years now. Yes the acrylic could be a tad bit thicker but for a piece of equipment that just sits in your sump and makes bubbles, I think these skimmers are thick enough imo. You're right Tivo... no bad reviews yet! These units are PERFECTLY BALANCED.

 

[JonSadowsky]

Tuesday Update:

The skimmer has been steady and stable all week and I will empty the cup today. I have not made any adjustments since the initial setup. Will keep this level for a few more days and will post back with another shot of the skimmate to see how the unit is breaking in...

Jon

 

[jroovers]

The skim will be a little lighter in color if you do that but it depends on what you prefer. If you have a lot of fish then you would want the skim wetter. If you have a lot of sps then a dryer skim would be better IME.

Curious as to why this would be the case... I'm not disputing your thought process here, just trying to understand it?

On a related note, my Co-2 has been running for 10 days and the skimmate has gone from tea coloured to near coffee colour; darkening up nicely!

 

[reeftivo]

Curious as to why this would be the case... I'm not disputing your thought process here, just trying to understand it?

On a related note, my Co-2 has been running for 10 days and the skimmate has gone from tea coloured to near coffee colour; darkening up nicely!

lots of fish dump excess waste into the system and it can accumulate quickly. Wet skimming will remove the waste quicker. Draw back to that can be that since you are pulling out more water faster, you may have to supplement for beneficial elements that are in the skimmate removed. SPS dont pollute like fish do. Drier skim takes longer to pull from the system but is more concentrated and trace elements needed for sps are not removed from the water column as quickly. Hope that makes sense:hmm4:

 

[reeftivo]

Tuesday Update:

The skimmer has been steady and stable all week and I will empty the cup today. I have not made any adjustments since the initial setup. Will keep this level for a few more days and will post back with another shot of the skimmate to see how the unit is breaking in...

Jon

that's a perfect level. depending on stocking levels and how much you feed, in two weeks yours may be close to this;

 

[JonSadowsky]

that's a perfect level. depending on stocking levels and how much you feed, in two weeks yours may be close to this;

It will be interesting to see what its looking like by the end of the week.

I'm really happy with how little tweaking it took to dial this in and how stable the performance is...

 

[Kingpin616]

My CO-2 just arrived! After I decided on this skimmer I began to wonder if cleaning the mini cones will be an issue? what do you guys think. Reason I picked this skimmer was 1) no bad reviews 2) claim dead silent. 3) heard JNS made WM AS200 this is replacing. Oh, and I wanted to be first to party with a new toy, instead if two years later like usual. Two hours in and I'm pleased. The pump does have a hum to it. Maybe I can get this two decrease?

 

[reeftivo]

My CO-2 just arrived! After I decided on this skimmer I began to wonder if cleaning the mini cones will be an issue? what do you guys think. Reason I picked this skimmer was 1) no bad reviews 2) claim dead silent. 3) heard JNS made WM AS200 this is replacing. Oh, and I wanted to be first to party with a new toy, instead if two years later like usual. Two hours in and I'm pleased. The pump does have a hum to it. Maybe I can get this two decrease?

Don't worry about the sound. It will quiet down.

Just make sure the pump stand and the skimmer are level.

I clean my cones using a couple q tips. The cones don't clog though because the hole diameters are so large, but they can get pretty slimmed up after a while and that will effect performance only slightly.

 

[JonSadowsky]

How often have you been cleaning the cones?

 

[jroovers]

lots of fish dump excess waste into the system and it can accumulate quickly. Wet skimming will remove the waste quicker. Draw back to that can be that since you are pulling out more water faster, you may have to supplement for beneficial elements that are in the skimmate removed. SPS dont pollute like fish do. Drier skim takes longer to pull from the system but is more concentrated and trace elements needed for sps are not removed from the water column as quickly. Hope that makes sense:hmm4:

That does make sense. I do weekly water changes, around 10% of the whole system, so I think for the most part that should replenish any beneficial elements that are being lost through wetter skimming. All speaks to the nutrient balance though, which in a SPS system is incredibly important.

 

[YoungREEFA]

i have started to look at the coneS CO 1.
is it still in use?

 

[viggen]

lots of fish dump excess waste into the system and it can accumulate quickly. Wet skimming will remove the waste quicker. Draw back to that can be that since you are pulling out more water faster, you may have to supplement for beneficial elements that are in the skimmate removed. SPS dont pollute like fish do. Drier skim takes longer to pull from the system but is more concentrated and trace elements needed for sps are not removed from the water column as quickly. Hope that makes sense:hmm4:

Nothing to do with skimmers..... Just skimmate ......

On my fowlr if I dial my skimmer to wet where its tea/clear/green I get algae within a day, sometimes on the 2nd day...... It's that brown/red kinda stringy stuff that coats everything it I guess 1/4-1/2 the rocks and 1/2 the substrate withing a day or two.

Keeping the skimmate dry where I cant see 1/4 in into the muck..... Zero algae

My skimmer is to small (different brand) for my tank and fills up its collection cup with that black-nasty stuff in 3 days thus I feel my skimmer is to small. Should take a week or so to fill up the cup with downtime every day where the fish rent pooping thus the skimmer isn't skimming. I think that's a mistake many make..... Going with to small of a skimmer and their skimmer can never catch up. My skimmer worked great on my old 260g..... Once a week it was full.... Not so good on my 475g

 

[Maximus]

Can someone pm or post who has the best deal on the co2? Also, does anyone what the optimal water level is on the cone 2? I'm going to make my sump soon and would like to know. Thanks guys!!

 

[NCUndertaker]

Can someone pm or post who has the best deal on the co2? Also, does anyone what the optimal water level is on the cone 2? I'm going to make my sump soon and would like to know. Thanks guys!!

I have not had mine very long, but I had it at about 9.5 and had to raise it to 9 and that seems to be the magic number for me.