ATB Econo 840 Skimmer Review

[mojo~]

As the List of skimmers I review grows, I have now brought myself to review one of the new skimmers from the ATB line. I went with the 840 as it should be a really nice match for my 90 reef tank and custom sump. This is only the second cone skimmer I have actually ran on my system. THe other was the Warner Marine K2. just a refresher for those who are not familiar with the other skimmers I have reviewed. They include Bubble King, Aqua C ,ETSS, Bermuda, MSX, OCTO, OCTOX, and Warner Marine just to name a few. I caught alot of static with my past excitement over the K2 skimmer so we will see if this one goes any better.

First off the skimmer arrives in two boxes. One houses the skimmer and the other pump.

At first glance the skimmer looks nice. The build quality of the skimmer is above average but not quite to the level of a bubble King or warner marine. Now that is the skimmer body itself. Now dont get me wrong. It is still very nice.
Now as far as the pump goes.....It is one of the nicest sicce pumps I have ever seen. I am so glad they made a new volute cover so the skimmer doesnt have the issue of dpulling different amounts of air if it runs in reverse. This is a big plus for this Sicce powered skimmer over any of the others. Here are a few pics of the pump.

 

[mojo~]

Now as far as the skimmer goes it appears to be very solid and well built. looks like it is going to be a well balanced machine.

 

[mojo~]

Now I didn't change to the large pinwheel yet. I wanted to see what it would do totally stock. So I put the skimmer in place and fired it up.
Now I only spent about 15 minutes with the skimmer because I had to head out. I must say this skimmer is really quiet. Another big plus in my book. I have it running in about 6.25 inches of water running wide open for it to break in while I am out. I would say that the skimmer is almost as quiet as the bubble king skimmer I had previous. Pretty impressive out of a sicce in my opinion. So far so good. again I will post more tonight when I can play around with a a bit more. here are two action shots before i left for the day...

 

[mojo~]

I will say it seems to be real smooth. I am not sure how else to really decribe it. Its quiet, it fires right up and it starting to skim. Shots are only about 3 minutes in. I will test the air draw and bump up the level as it starts to break in. More to come......

 

[jdg]

Subscribing!

 

[Reefer08]

tagging along. Excited to see how you compare this to the K2.

 

[Lo0seR]

HEY!!!.....You stole my bumper sticker. Now put the hurt to that Eco skimmer so we can see what to expect out of the Big Daddy "DELUXE".

 

[mojo~]

Well When I said that the warner marine hada little thicker material. I also forgot to add it was different. The WM had acrylic lids and the ATB skimmer Has PVC. The pvc is the same as what is used on the BK skimmers . Is one better than the other? Well the pvc stands up to ozone better. Not sure of the other benefits but both are good so dont get me wrong. But I wanted to make sure you all know that to compare the two thicknesses is really fair as they are different materials. Did I mention how quiet this one runs. Simply amazing. I ll take more pics tonight... More to come Mojo~

 

[saltydragon]

nice...thats is some pretty plastic...the pump is simply a work of art

 

[mojo~]

Yea I am pretty impressed with the pump. My favorite part of the whole skimmer.

 

[Necsones]

im interested in what this skimmer can produce...

 

[mojo~]

yea only time will tell. I have no doubts it will produce a nice steady skimmate. But we will give a little time and see what she does. To answer how i think it will stack up to the K2. Well the are different. I think the k2 is a great skimmer. The only draw back is the same as any other sicce. They have the potential of running in the wrong direction do to the volute cover. But I would place the K2 between the 840 and 1050 as far as tank volume. The k2 pulls a little more air with a larger neck than the 840. however the 1050 will cylce more water and could pull more air as it has 2 pump options. By all means its too early for me to say what one I would choose if I were buying one of these two. But I do like the pump work that was done on this skimmer. Made is super quiet. So we will see.

 

[Necsones]

i know its a really really good skimmer, but just looks so cheap. Was prolly made out of $30 dollars worth of material, if that. lol.
Im actually looking at this one or the cat2 for my self.

 

[jdg]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14700410#post14700410 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Necsones
i know its a really really good skimmer, but just looks so cheap. Was prolly made out of $30 dollars worth of material, if that. lol.
Im actually looking at this one or the cat2 for my self.

Doesn't look cheap to me ... looks sturdy and well built.

 

[bluemanta]

you sound like you REALLY like the pump, as probably mentioned a few times I agree with that, its a beautiful piece of work...do you know if that ATB make their own or this is a pump from some place else? (i mean the real guts of the pump, not the plastics around it...), thanks.

 

[Necsones]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14700481#post14700481 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jdg
Doesn't look cheap to me ... looks sturdy and well built.

nono im not saying it looks cheaply built, just saying theres not much to it in materials.

 

[GSMguy]

the motor block volute cover and magnet on the pump are from a sicce PSK 2500.

 

[GSMguy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14700553#post14700553 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Necsones
nono im not saying it looks cheaply built, just saying theres not much to it in materials.

What you can't see in the pictures are the airwelds these skimmers are not glued together the plastic is welded together it takes more time and is much stronger. It doesn't take much in materials but there are considerable man hours involved

 

[jdg]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14700558#post14700558 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by GSMguy
the motor block volute cover and magnet on the pump are from a sicce PSK 2500.

Please help me out here ... what exactly are "a volute" and "volute cover" ?

 

[GSMguy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14700632#post14700632 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jdg
Please help me out here ... what exactly are "a volute" and "volute cover" ?

The volute is the round red thing, the grey circle with the white thingy that connects to the air is the volute cover.