ATB 'Small' Cone Pan/Plate Skimmer
- Thread starter hahnmeister
- Start date
hahnmeister
In Memoriam
There are externals... but not in the cone series... YET. Just wait and see... just wait and see...
hahnmeister
In Memoriam
I suppose, the D400 is recirc, but with its bottom opening like it does, it cant be external. The D600 might still be though.
Making an external line has been brought up, but for now, the most cost effective way would be to add a sump/tank compartment to your sump.... and run them internal an external sump. The design change required to make these external would require some rather expensive add-ons, but I know the idea is on the table.
Making an external line has been brought up, but for now, the most cost effective way would be to add a sump/tank compartment to your sump.... and run them internal an external sump. The design change required to make these external would require some rather expensive add-ons, but I know the idea is on the table.
Al G Blenny
New member
Trying out first pic. Sorry if this doesn't work. New photo hosting site for me. Photobucket problems.
This is a pic of the ATB small almost completely taken apart.
This is a pic of the ATB small almost completely taken apart.
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<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11047080#post11047080 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Al G Blenny
Trying out first pic. Sorry if this doesn't work. New photo hosting site for me. Photobucket problems.
This is a pic of the ATB small almost completely taken apart.
Very nice, i love the disassembly! Wow, even the neck comes off.
BTW, you forgot to put the keywords around the URL.
Al G Blenny
New member
Thanks. I edited my post. I'm not sure what keywords are but I found a different address to put in the img boxes. I'm not very technical so sorry if that sounds dumb.
Here is a pic of how the lower internal ring attaches to the bottom plate of the skimmer.
Now the bubble plate and the ring that goes above that.
Nice pic of main body assembly.
MAN! I don't want this to turn into a "how to post pics thread" but this is so annoying. I am posting these the same exact way as above but they don't work. This happens to me all the time with R.C. and I don't know why. I put the IMG tags around the pics but they don't show up. What the heck am I doing wrong?
Here is a pic of how the lower internal ring attaches to the bottom plate of the skimmer.
Now the bubble plate and the ring that goes above that.
Nice pic of main body assembly.
MAN! I don't want this to turn into a "how to post pics thread" but this is so annoying. I am posting these the same exact way as above but they don't work. This happens to me all the time with R.C. and I don't know why. I put the IMG tags around the pics but they don't show up. What the heck am I doing wrong?
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You almost got it right
Just remove the ?v=0 after the .jpg.
Just remove the ?v=0 after the .jpg.
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11047144#post11047144 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Al G Blenny
Thanks. I edited my post. I'm not sure what keywords are but I found a different address to put in the img boxes. I'm not very technical so sorry if that sounds dumb.
Here is a pic of how the lower internal ring attaches to the bottom plate of the skimmer.
Now the bubble plate and the ring that goes above that.
Nice pic of main body assembly.
Al G Blenny
New member
Great! Thanks! Here we go with pics of the stand pipe
Bottom cut out so you can adjust outflow
Pic of it upside down so you can see the muffler
Standpipe completely open
Now Partially closed
Notice the red pins on the pipe and the pipe holder. When they are lined up to each other, the pipe is open all the way. The farther apart they are, the more closed it is
Bottom cut out so you can adjust outflow
Pic of it upside down so you can see the muffler
Standpipe completely open
Now Partially closed
Notice the red pins on the pipe and the pipe holder. When they are lined up to each other, the pipe is open all the way. The farther apart they are, the more closed it is
Al G Blenny
New member
Now the fun stuff
Seconds after first plugging it in
My sump is at 7". Recommended water height is 6-8".
Three minutes after plugging it in. The top of the foam is at 8" in the skimmer body. At this point I clearly see some brown bubbles collecting at the top.
Nine minutes in and I am now amazed. You can see how brown the top layer is. Not only that but it is easy to see that there are three layers of bubbles in the chamber. The bottom is filled with what looks like solid micro bubbles. No water except under the bubble plate. Next is a section of large bubbles above the fine ones. Then the best part is there is a pillow of foam just hovering above the rest. It just floats up and down gathering more brown bubbles when it dips down. Remember this is less than ten minutes after the first setup and it is already pulling stuff out that my old skimmer didn't. I was running an AP851 and it was all skimmed out at this point. Not much being collected every day. It is a very good skimmer but the ATB picked up a lot of slack that the Deltec left behind.
Here you can see the "pillow" floating up.
Seconds after first plugging it in
My sump is at 7". Recommended water height is 6-8".
Three minutes after plugging it in. The top of the foam is at 8" in the skimmer body. At this point I clearly see some brown bubbles collecting at the top.
Nine minutes in and I am now amazed. You can see how brown the top layer is. Not only that but it is easy to see that there are three layers of bubbles in the chamber. The bottom is filled with what looks like solid micro bubbles. No water except under the bubble plate. Next is a section of large bubbles above the fine ones. Then the best part is there is a pillow of foam just hovering above the rest. It just floats up and down gathering more brown bubbles when it dips down. Remember this is less than ten minutes after the first setup and it is already pulling stuff out that my old skimmer didn't. I was running an AP851 and it was all skimmed out at this point. Not much being collected every day. It is a very good skimmer but the ATB picked up a lot of slack that the Deltec left behind.
Here you can see the "pillow" floating up.
Al G Blenny
New member
About an hour later and some gunk was building up in the skimmer but not in the cup. Took these pics then closed the pipe a bit.
This is also what i mentioned/noticed about my KZ skimmer when I got it and how it more or less forces bubbles to merge as it rises due to the smaller area as it higher up in the cone. It's amazing how much faster a conical skimmer builds up the foam head compared to a cylindrical skimmer.
I'm really interested to see how much different a venturi version of it performs compared to the beckett on in the KZ. Please keep the pics coming very good documentation and interesting info.
I'm really interested to see how much different a venturi version of it performs compared to the beckett on in the KZ. Please keep the pics coming
very good documentation and interesting info.
Al G Blenny
New member
About another hour after I raised the water height in the skimmer (which was still much lower than any other skimmer I have used) and it started to collect so I called it a night.
Al G Blenny
New member
Yeah I can't imagine ever buying a cylindrical skimmer ever again. I bet all the big skimmer companies will be following suite with the cones in the near future. It's kinda like the difference between a Tunze stream and a Seio. One is refined and the other uses brute force. The cone skimmers can use a lot less energy to collect a lot more crud.
I woke up in the morning and the thing was going crazy. I guess I opened it up too much which I can see lots of people doing if they are used to normal skimmers. It's amazing how low you can keep the water in chamber. It's in the lower third as compared to most other skimmers needing it up as high as the neck. I didn't take any pics because nobody wants to see a cup full of water. I cleaned it out and adjusted down. When I got home that evening this is what I saw.
I got lazy and stopped taking pics but this was a few days later after cleaning it out once. I only have three green chromis in the tank and I hardly ever feed. I wonder where all this stuff is coming from. I'm sure it will slow down after it has collected all this extra stuff. I'll keep you guys posted.
I woke up in the morning and the thing was going crazy. I guess I opened it up too much which I can see lots of people doing if they are used to normal skimmers. It's amazing how low you can keep the water in chamber. It's in the lower third as compared to most other skimmers needing it up as high as the neck. I didn't take any pics because nobody wants to see a cup full of water. I cleaned it out and adjusted down. When I got home that evening this is what I saw.
I got lazy and stopped taking pics but this was a few days later after cleaning it out once. I only have three green chromis in the tank and I hardly ever feed. I wonder where all this stuff is coming from. I'm sure it will slow down after it has collected all this extra stuff. I'll keep you guys posted.
