Bubble blaster vs Askoll pumps?

[plancton]

There you go, from somebody who really compared both. I'll go super cheapo and I'll let you know of my Vertex alpha cone 250 replica with bubble blaster pump. For a total of just $490 dlls! vs $12000 of the original.

 

[sjm817]

Bluereefs, do you sell the BB pumps? Your homepage linked in your profile sure looks like you are a commercial dealer for them. I've seen you post quite a bit about these pumps. This doesn't appear to be a source of neutral opinion.

 

[Dyraxe]

Glass box Design just did a article on the new bubble blasters from china, They are a copy of a great pump which we all can agree. As for quality they said only time will tell once more people try it and use it. It is too new to tell, more people need to test it out and see what they think. IMO Try it out! It's only 300 bucks how bad can it be. Believe it or not China is not the China we all grew up with they are becoming very advanced by leaps and bounds and we are being left in the dust. It sucks but thats a whole other argument.

 

[plancton]

Dyraxe: its not $300 it is just $225

Here in planet Mexikon we tend to go cheapo and we´ve seen chinese products getting better everytime. We know many popular commercial pumps are made in china, I think SEDRA pumps are made in china, etc. I´ve never had a pump failing on me, well, only a hydor return pump, I think they´re made in Italy by the way.

The most popular cheap brand in Mexico is RESUN. Resun are Chinese and extremely cheap but the quality is really bad and fail a lot but they are so cheap that even if they fail you can still buy 3 more and equal the price of a good pump. But ever since Octopus products came out, there´s been a great difference, I had an octopus skimmer when everbody was using remoras, and the octopus was the same quality and design as an ASM G1, used it for two years and never failed, the octopus version of the remora was also far superior. I´ve never seen an Octopus product dissapoint, they are good quality and are Chinese, that´s why they are really hitting the american market.

What always goes wrong is the impeller, impellers are replaceable and they fail after 2 to 4 years, they only need to be replaced and I think that happens with all pumps. With a 3 year warranty, that´s pretty much all I need.

My point is to make a replica of the Vertex alpha cone 250 using cheap materials and achieving the same skimmate. If I start spending a little more on items, at the end it will be expensive and the initial objective will be gone. In that case I should have bought the original, and that was not my objective.

 

[bluereefs]

BTW that quite a bit post about octopus equipment are actually aprox 24 post from october 2008 till today (counting posts in this thread) most of those post are when people asking pictures of octopus equipment in work and few post trying to help when someone have problem with octopus skimmer.

 

[Reefobsession]

Dyraxe: its not $300 it is just $225

Here in planet Mexikon we tend to go cheapo and we´ve seen chinese products getting better everytime. We know many popular commercial pumps are made in china, I think SEDRA pumps are made in china, etc. I´ve never had a pump failing on me, well, only a hydor return pump, I think they´re made in Italy by the way.

The most popular cheap brand in Mexico is RESUN. Resun are Chinese and extremely cheap but the quality is really bad and fail a lot but they are so cheap that even if they fail you can still buy 3 more and equal the price of a good pump. But ever since Octopus products came out, there´s been a great difference, I had an octopus skimmer when everbody was using remoras, and the octopus was the same quality and design as an ASM G1, used it for two years and never failed, the octopus version of the remora was also far superior. I´ve never seen an Octopus product dissapoint, they are good quality and are Chinese, that´s why they are really hitting the american market.

What always goes wrong is the impeller, impellers are replaceable and they fail after 2 to 4 years, they only need to be replaced and I think that happens with all pumps. With a 3 year warranty, that´s pretty much all I need.

My point is to make a replica of the Vertex alpha cone 250 using cheap materials and achieving the same skimmate. If I start spending a little more on items, at the end it will be expensive and the initial objective will be gone. In that case I should have bought the original, and that was not my objective.

You will not have anywhere the replica of a alpha with a bubble blaster pump. You might as well call it a whole differnt skimmer. The pump is what makes most of the skimmer.

 

[Reefobsession]

I can be biased as well but why you think bubble blaster are cheap China product?
Is not cheap that is for sure.
I use them in all my aquarium, bubble blaster and water blaster as well. I dont used askoll laguna pumps but used askoll profesional powerhead what are IIRC more expensive and better askoll pumps then laguna and water blaster are better, use less electricity, more powerfull and less noised. BTW in one of my friend reef aquarium askoll profesional 3000 exploded (literally) after year or two in use. BTW I used askoll profesional pumps for years.

Besides litlle hum (air draw) on bb pumps they are very silent, askoll pumps was louder in my aquarium. Power and perfomance in both bb and wb pumps IMO are amazing, bb 5000 in super skimmer pull incredible amount of air and I clean skimmer aprox every 24-48 hours because neck is loaded with gunk (only 3 fishes on 150 gallons). I dont see any heat problem with bb or wb pumps, use them in sump but when I touch them they have same temp like aquarium, in my 150 gallons aquarium with 1 x bb 5000, 1 x wb 5000, light with 2 x 150 w HQI + 4 x T5 54 w, I still use 2 heater to get my temperature in 26 degree C, 1 degree temp rising I get after my light get turn on for few hours, so there is 0 temp rising from pumps in my aquarium, temp is measured with TECO chiller.

In my experience with various pumps on the market (except red dragon) and long term use of askoll pumps Water Blaster and Bubble blaster pumps are much better.

Askol pumps are dead silent in my oppnion. I have seen 10 or more in use. I have seen 3 octopus 2000XP skimmers that use the bubble blaster and they all had an annoying vibration sound. I am sorry, but you cannot convince me that a askoll is noisy, or that the bubble blaster is a better pump. The askoll's have been around for a while. Where as the bubble blasters havn't been around for that long in the states. As of right now, the best pump on the market is the askoll. You are the first and possibly the last person that will say that the BB or WB is a better pump.

 

[drdoolittle]

nice.. following this thread.. I'm thinking on using Bubble blaster 5000 as a replacement for my Eheim 1260s on my HS A250.

 

[luther1200]

I can be biased as well but why you think bubble blaster are cheap China product?
Is not cheap that is for sure.
I use them in all my aquarium, bubble blaster and water blaster as well. I dont used askoll laguna pumps but used askoll profesional powerhead what are IIRC more expensive and better askoll pumps then laguna and water blaster are better, use less electricity, more powerfull and less noised. BTW in one of my friend reef aquarium askoll profesional 3000 exploded (literally) after year or two in use. BTW I used askoll profesional pumps for years.

Besides litlle hum (air draw) on bb pumps they are very silent, askoll pumps was louder in my aquarium. Power and perfomance in both bb and wb pumps IMO are amazing, bb 5000 in super skimmer pull incredible amount of air and I clean skimmer aprox every 24-48 hours because neck is loaded with gunk (only 3 fishes on 150 gallons). I dont see any heat problem with bb or wb pumps, use them in sump but when I touch them they have same temp like aquarium, in my 150 gallons aquarium with 1 x bb 5000, 1 x wb 5000, light with 2 x 150 w HQI + 4 x T5 54 w, I still use 2 heater to get my temperature in 26 degree C, 1 degree temp rising I get after my light get turn on for few hours, so there is 0 temp rising from pumps in my aquarium, temp is measured with TECO chiller.

In my experience with various pumps on the market (except red dragon) and long term use of askoll pumps Water Blaster and Bubble blaster pumps are much better.

Not to burst your bubble, buts its impossible for the pumps to put out zero heat. A watt is a watt, so if you have 100watts of pumps running it is the same as a 100 watt heater. Some do add more heat from friction and other variables, but they all add some heat.

 

[plancton]

I just know that something is true:

Octopus products might be chinese, but so far so good, I´ve had octopus skimmers kick *** to other commercial american brands, as well as known many happy costumers, and people who have used them said they were top notch and reliable, I don´t see the BB HY 5000 dissapointing.

I bet the founder of the octopus company is an american reef enthusiast and entrepreneur who copied all top quality models and went to China to had them done the same with cheap labour.

 

[Reefobsession]

I just know that something is true:

Octopus products might be chinese, but so far so good, I´ve had octopus skimmers kick *** to other commercial american brands, as well as known many happy costumers, and people who have used them said they were top notch and reliable, I don´t see the BB HY 5000 dissapointing.

I bet the founder of the octopus company is an american reef enthusiast and entrepreneur who copied all top quality models and went to China to had them done the same with cheap labour.

I am not getting into USA vs. Chinese vs. German. The red draon/askoll pumps are made in Germany. If I may recall there are not very many skimmer pumps made in the US.
Rember the pump is what makes the skimmer. So saying that a chinese skimmer blows an American skimmer out of the water, then that really isn't a valid point.
Just my .02
sicce's are made in Italy and China
Red dragon/askoll are made in Germany
Bubble blaster pumps and water blaster pumps are made in China

 

[sjm817]

Like I writed before I never used laguna type askoll pumps, I used askoll profesionall 3000 and askoll profesional 7800, they was louder with more vibration then wb 5000 I use now, they also used more watts.
what I find the best for my animals I use, not because something is made in China or Germany or USA ...

The Professional 3000 and 7800 are not the pumps being discussed here. The skimmer pumps being discussed are the smaller Askoll 1500 based pumps. They are dead silent. The wattage they use varies from mfgr to mfgr and the model and capacity of the pump. The reason that the Chinese pumps are not trusted is they have a history of poor quality, unreliable pumps such as the Resun. The BB pumps will need to used for awhile and prove to be a quality product before many will be comfortable with them.

 

[ksed]

Askoll blocks are actually made in Italy, modified in Germany

I am not getting into USA vs. Chinese vs. German. The red draon/askoll pumps are made in Germany. If I may recall there are not very many skimmer pumps made in the US.
Rember the pump is what makes the skimmer. So saying that a chinese skimmer blows an American skimmer out of the water, then that really isn't a valid point.
Just my .02
sicce's are made in Italy and China
Red dragon/askoll are made in Germany
Bubble blaster pumps and water blaster pumps are made in China

 

[sjm817]

Askoll blocks are actually made in Italy, modified in Germany

Wouldn't that be Red Dragons Askoll blocks are actually made in Italy, modified in Germany, Airstars Askoll blocks are actually made in Italy, modified in Austria, SWC Askoll blocks are actually made in Italy, modified in Canada, or something like that?

 

[hammmerhead]

I may be missing something, but why spend $500 on building a skimmer when you can purchase one with a warranty that performs equally as well?

 

[Reefobsession]

My bad on the blocks. We all know the main reason why the blocks made in Italy cost more, because of labor, and higher grade materials. I would honestly go with two tunze hydrofoamer's over a bubble magnus. $180 a piece. Might as well go for the SWC askoll for $15 more. $375.

 

[2dawghouse]

Personally I am a "seeing is believing" type person. I would like to see someone make a video with a BB 5000 placed in a certain volume of water, put a dwyer and a kill a watt meter on it and let it fly.

Or simply lets see a video of it on a skimmer under load. Although its not really a fair comparison between a BB and laguna since no two skimmers will load up a pump the same, but atleast it can show some of the pumps potienal.

 

[Reefobsession]

Personally I am a "seeing is believing" type person. I would like to see someone make a video with a BB 5000 placed in a certain volume of water, put a dwyer and a kill a watt meter on it and let it fly.

Or simply lets see a video of it on a skimmer under load. Although its not really a fair comparison between a BB and laguna since no two skimmers will load up a pump the same, but atleast it can show some of the pumps potienal.

Couldn't agree with you more. If the BB 5000 pulls around 10 to 20% less than they advertised I would give it some credit.

 

[drdoolittle]

does anyone have a spec of the bb 5000? i'm looking for physical dimensions and performance spec.

Thanks

 

[ksed]

Ok you win:lolspin:

Wouldn't that be Red Dragons Askoll blocks are actually made in Italy, modified in Germany, Airstars Askoll blocks are actually made in Italy, modified in Austria, SWC Askoll blocks are actually made in Italy, modified in Canada, or something like that?