Best Skimmer for my reef tank

[stony_corals]

Hahn - You're taking that too personal, hence my smiley face... again You're one of the few people on this board that knows his stuff.... I won't respond to the other OT stuff.
Like I said in my original post that I don't think lph/wattage is a good measure of a skimmers effectiveness. Imagine 1000 lph in a 6" dia NW, I don't think that would be efficient...

"I think becketts vs. needlewheels should be looked at more. If there was some scientific testing done to determine what the real differences are, perhaps becketts would be justified in the end to some extent, or, the beliefs that some have about them would be shown to be myths."

Well, this was why I posted my initial post in this thread. The consensus is that NW are superior, case closed. I do not think that a true, scientific, study would every be done. It'd end up being like the salt "studies"... I simply presented some anecdotal information on what I found, I have an MBA, I know how to setup up experiements, analyze data, etc. I also did not say that I think becketts/downdrafts are superior, only the results that I found over a short period of time... the systems were not exactly the same in that I didn't measure out the food I fed during that time, and there's a lot of variables that I can not test for without a $1k colorimeter (may be in a couple of months) that can measure organic phosphate levels... The only comment I made was simply that I believe the processing power (turnover) has been underestimated, and this is clearly an area where many (not all) becketts/downdrafts shine relative to many (but not all) NWs....

 

[hahnmeister]

I never took issue with that, or took it personally, I was more concerned with what I would consider 'flawed logic' to justify not being concerned about energy use.

 

[stony_corals]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10840671#post10840671 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hahnmeister
I never took issue with that, or took it personally, I was more concerned with what I would consider 'flawed logic' to justify not being concerned about energy use.

Ok.

It's not flawed logic, it's the pot calling the kettleblack. Someone is worried about me running a pump that consumes 180w, but they're running 1000w halide?!?!? I was exaggerating to create effect (with a smily face on top of it)... I doubt anyone would have taken my comments that seriously... though this is the Internet.

 

[Klaus Jansen]

The ultimate pump for a needlewheel is a DC pump though. Controllable speed with no power loss like an AC pump with PWM and speeds that will shame any AC pump, wider torque (no sputter at startup and ability to use a larger wheel with less wattage), power factor is eliminated all together (RMS wattage is real wattage), lower wattage in general, only will spin in one direction, etc. Klaus's move to the Red Dragon 2 is a good one not just for flow control, but skimmer pumps as well. I really am shocked that

Hahnmeister....
wait a little time... By next Interzoo we have any new toys for you... :eek2:

regards...

 

[hahnmeister]

I know, I know Klaus. I cant wait for more DC pumps in this market. Its a largely overlooked possibility in this market... it would solve so many things if more pumps were just DC.

 

[mavgi]

all the "skimmer pump" they never build for a real skimmer pump they are just a return pump that modify for skimmer .

the only pumps in this market that build as a skimmer pump it's the Sicce PSK2500 and the RD pump .

as far for heat the sicce not make a lot of heat and they are controllable to i saw already 3 sicce with controller that run between 65-100 watt and pull between 3000-6000LPH as far as i know nothing can't beat those Sicce pump today .

i wait as other to see the new RD DC pump with the alloy mesh to i am sure they will be good pump to .

 

[bernie lyons]

energy

energy

Hey hahnmeister , while your on the road to conserve energy , why don't you replace those metal halides with PFO LED lights ?
They will make a much bigger savings on energy conservation than the difference of nw vs beckett driven pumps . I am sure as klaus comes out with dc motors for his new skimmers , some one will also come out with a dc motor to circulate our aquariums with , thus we " beckett heads " can use such a motor as well for our "hog" skimmers !!!
bernie lyons :lol:

 

[Sparkss]

As for NW having low turnover rates, that is just rubbish . We get between 1500 and 2000 GPH through our skimmer (that only uses 130W total, give or take). And as you can see from my sig, that is on a 380g tank, so what exactly is the turnover rate through your beckett ? and how many watts do you use ?

To answer the original post question, the best pumps for the $$ at this time would be the Reeflo. But they only go up to 600g IIRC, so depending on your sumps, fuge, prop tanks that might be connected together, the Reeflos might be a bit anemic for your tastes. Then it would be time to step up to a Volcano. I hear that Scott is also working on a smaller skimmer, to match the Reeflo, but more optimizable (like the full sized Volcanos are), but that is a little ways off just yet.

 

[hahnmeister]

Re: energy

Re: energy

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10842301#post10842301 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bernie lyons
Hey hahnmeister , while your on the road to conserve energy , why don't you replace those metal halides with PFO LED lights ?
They will make a much bigger savings on energy conservation than the difference of nw vs beckett driven pumps . I am sure as klaus comes out with dc motors for his new skimmers , some one will also come out with a dc motor to circulate our aquariums with , thus we " beckett heads " can use such a motor as well for our "hog" skimmers !!!
bernie lyons :lol:

I will buy LED's when the technology gets more affordable and has a spectrum more to my liking (and a spread). Im not into the monochromatic blue look. FWIW, the unit I would have to use would be a 400watter, and that wouldnt cover my tank, being 30" front to back. So instead I use a light rail, and my total wattage is 466 with the halide and the 4 T5 bulbs, and I get PAR levels across the whole tank that shred the output of a LED system. I would have to run two rows of LED's at 800 watts to get what I need. So Im running a system that is actually more efficient than the LED's in the end. Corals love the light rail too. Come on, admit it... less than 500 watts for a 125g full of SPS... that takes it. The closest that a LED system would get would be if I used a 6' 125g and a 6' unit for 600 watts.

Those Red Dragon 2 pumps are first and foremost developed for flow actually...

http://archiv.korallenriff.de/07_tunze_reddragon2.html

The problem, for flow, a propeller pump will still be more efficient, so Ill stick to my tunzes, but I think I need another 6100 for my 125g... I miss my previous 90x turnover rates, and I think my corals do too. Tunzes are not DC, but actually low voltage frequency controlled pumps. The only propeller driven DC pumps are those cheap Resun prop pumps. I wish someone would come out with a DC prop pump that was good... like a nano-tunze or something. That would kick butt. With DC, a nano-stream could hit 5000rpm easily and pump more water than the larger ones.

 

[stony_corals]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10842951#post10842951 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sparkss
As for NW having low turnover rates, that is just rubbish . We get between 1500 and 2000 GPH through our skimmer (that only uses 130W total, give or take). And as you can see from my sig, that is on a 380g tank, so what exactly is the turnover rate through your beckett ? and how many watts do you use ?

To answer the original post question, the best pumps for the $$ at this time would be the Reeflo. But they only go up to 600g IIRC, so depending on your sumps, fuge, prop tanks that might be connected together, the Reeflos might be a bit anemic for your tastes. Then it would be time to step up to a Volcano. I hear that Scott is also working on a smaller skimmer, to match the Reeflo, but more optimizable (like the full sized Volcanos are), but that is a little ways off just yet.

Tom, I agree there are a few NWs that do have more throughput, but those are few relative to the majority of NW designs out there.... The Reeflo is a really interesting skimmer, I've thought many times of giving it a try. After using a few ERs and BKs, the BK is hands down a much better performing skimmer (more expensive too), even with the meshmods. I normally use pumps in the 180 - 200w range for becketts and downdrafts.... as far as the turnover from 5 - 10x. One thing I've found though with BKs (and most becketts and dd) is that their system ratings are pretty good, and if you follow the ER sizing with a BK/beckett/dd, you'll have a lot of skimmate initially, but then it drops to nothing.... Hahn, I think you experienced this with the ATIs as well....

Glad to see were back on topic BTW, fwiw Hahn, the house I'm building ( uh, I mean my wife) this spring will have geothermal heating, and solar panels, and a lot of natural lighting

 

[stony_corals]

Yeah, LED isn't there.... plus, like Hahn, I can't stand the blue look. Those RD2 DC may cause me to ditch everything but the BKs when they come out... I only hope that Klaus will have the supply that will come from the demand....