Bubble King Skimmer Club

[jthao]

Here's a very very common sense idea for all the stores that sell their products, very simple guys!!! That is if we Americans can even agree on 1 thing and can collaborate together (which is probably the hardest part about this idea) Why don't all the USA stores just all agree to drop all royal exclusiv products at once! I gurantee and I'm willing to bet my house on it, that if American stores are willing to agree and do that, royal exclusiv will wake up and respond and take care of all the stores requests and customers immediately!!

What's crazy is that not only the customers are getting douped but the stores like PA are having trouble getting parts themselves! Kudos to PA for helping the guy above. Sending out their own skimmer as a loan. RE should definitely learn a few things from PA!

 

[jthao]

Compared to the "New Customer Service", Proline was light speed. :spin3:

LoL!! This is just too funny.

 

[bayoupr]

LoL!! This is just too funny.

It's true. Although this is not saying much. The one problem I did have with a BK skimmer , Proline took care of it within 8 weeks (not the best) but compared to what it is now, "Light Speed". BK's CS has always sucked. Quick to sell but slow to resolve problems, especially warranty issues. This is why I no longer have any of their products. I guess the store in Florida they opened is selling sunscreen, beach balls and autographed RE Tee Shirts.

 

[BrettH]

The supermarin 200 uses the big block motor so the stand for the block is not glued in. It's very easy to remove the stand and put new motor block in. The motor block attaches to the stand from behind, and the volute attaches to the front of the stand, essentially making the stand the middle section between the block and the volute. The small block red dragons are the smaller askoll blocks and for those the stand is glued to the bottom of the block and the volute itself is screwed right onto the front of the motor block.
I have the sm200 as well, and it has never given me problems. But like someone here mentioned, I also keep a motor block on hand just in case. I actually have a Laguna max flow 2000 motor block. It's the same big block that the red dragon 1000-2500 uses. The vertex alpha line of skimmers uses the small block motors, as well as the supermarin skimmers that use 2 pumps (the second pump is the small block). I used to have a deluxe200, it uses the big block red dragon 1000. It pulls less air and water than the supermarin line, but I believe that due to the skimmer body being open design and more water/air contact time, it's rated for same as sm200. I believe the inside cone design of the supermarin, limits its contact time a bit and essentially even though the body is same size as the deluxe 200, the actual mixing area inside the body is less than the deluxe model.

Brett: I would do what someone suggested. Buy a Laguna pump, and fit the block onto your stand/volute etc. See if that solves the problem. Worst case is that you have an extra motor block I suspect that if youve done everything and it still doesn't work right, your motor may be going bad.

The Laguna 2000 does not fit with the Red Dragon 1500. The magnet that is on the Red Dragon impeller is too big to fit into the Laguna 2000 pump. The pumps are very similar, but to use the Laguna pump, I would have to retro fit the stand and the some how modify the impeller/use the Laguna impeller. You also have to eliminate the bypass.

The pump is also slightly smaller, so I am guessing the Laguna 2400 or 2900 is the correct pump?

Hopefully my new pump will be here soon from RE.

Brett

 

[BrettH]

I wonder if non-mini BK owners look down on us Mini's

Nah...we're just compensating for our own insecurities.

 

[slief]

The Laguna 2000 does not fit with the Red Dragon 1500. The magnet that is on the Red Dragon impeller is too big to fit into the Laguna 2000 pump. The pumps are very similar, but to use the Laguna pump, I would have to retro fit the stand and the some how modify the impeller/use the Laguna impeller. You also have to eliminate the bypass.

The pump is also slightly smaller, so I am guessing the Laguna 2400 or 2900 is the correct pump?

Hopefully my new pump will be here soon from RE.

Brett

Can you post a side by side of the motor blocks? My first thought regarding the impeller is the bearing. You may need to remove the bearing from inside Laguna and replace it with the Red Dragon bearing. Also, doesn't the Red Dragon base with the rubber feet fit the Laguna block so you don't have to modify your stand? You now have me wondering if your Red dragon pump is not the big block motor and instead the small block Laguna. Also, yes, the Laguna doesn't include the Lime Bypass and while I have never tested it, I would imagine you could mod the Laguna and add it. Not sure if it would make any difference though. The smaller Red Dragons don't include the Bypass and if memory serves me, the Original Big Blocks didn't either.

 

[jthao]

the bypass of course has to be diy. The stand is a perfect fit from the red dragon big block to the Laguna 2000. I have a red dragon return pump and skimmer pump and a Laguna 2000 sitting in front of me as I type this. Eveything from all 3 pumps fit each other, I gurantee it, I've tried it all.

The Laguna block holes have to be redrilled to fit the red dragon stand and from there, the volute attaches to the stand as usual. Only thing you have to mod is the holes to attach block to stand and mod the bypass if your red dragon has it, my return doesn't, my skimmer pump does.

The impeller from my red dragon return fits my Laguna 2000, and Laguna 2000 impeller fits the red dragon blocks, why wouldn't they fit? The block is the exact same block. Idk which 2000 you're talking about, but my Laguna max flo 2000 block is not slightly smaller, it's identical to the red dragon big blocks. But again, we are talking about the big blocks now. Red dragon has a small block, which is equivalent to the Laguna 1350 and I'm unfamiliar with these as I don't own any of it besides the red dragon 1500 small block that was on my vertex alpha skimmer which I don't have anymore.

the askoll blocks either for laguna or red dragon, as far as I know, only have 2 block design, a big block and small block. I don't get how u say that the Laguna 2000 is slightly smaller than the red dragon block???? Then that means the Laguna you have is a small block not big block. There is no such thing as a slightly smaller block than the big block but still bigger than the small block. All the Laguna 2000+ pumps use the same big block (internally may be drawing more power etc, idk about that) but as far as the outside, it's the same size as the big block red dragons. Again, there is only a big block and a small block, there's no such thing as a medium block. If u have a big block then evrything fits wether it's red dragon or Laguna, and same thing goes if u have small block red dragon or Laguna.

You'd think I know what I'm talking about since I have a red dragon 4,5m return pump, a red dragon 1500 big block skimmer pump, and a Laguna maxflo 2000 pump right in front of me.
But who knows, I'm not an expert only a person that owns these products, so maybe I just got lucky and got the ones that fit, there may be ones out there that don't fit, honestly, I wouldn't know that if there were.

 

[bayoupr]

The Laguna 2000 block changed design after 2007 if I remember correctly. All 2000 blocks from 2007 and up are of a different size. The older blocks are smaller. I ran onto this problem trying to get an extra pinwheel for the one I had. The pinwheel wouldn't fit and that's when Victor informed me of the differences in the blocks.

 

[re_usa]

Hello everybody,
it's time for a statement with respect to several comments on RE USA and how we handle warranty. Of course, we always try to give our very best, to help all customers asap, no matter if warranty or not. 'Selling fast, not taking care' is absolutely not our philosophy - and will never be.
It is correct, that we've had some trouble with warranty issues. For this we only can appologize. Nevertheless we had to optimze internal work-flows as well as the information-flow from and to our dealers and wholesalers.
Some of these warranties had a real long way before they've reached us. We've spent a lot of money and time to handle all these issues. Several of these became new pumps allthough we could not know, whether it was a warranty or not. Some were even out of warranty and became a new one. We wanted to solve it and we kept this promise to our customers.
The last days we took care together with our dealers, that any warranty issues will reach us earlier and we also will have more manpower in our customer support from December on.

We've installed the US warehouse 'cause we wanted to get closer to the US customers and also had (have) the intention to be much faster than we could have been from Germany. Several influences made the start-up (08/15/14) a bit "bumpy", but now we're sure that all problems could have been solved.
So, again a big "SORRY" for the inconveniences, a few customers have been faced with. In case of any questions or wishes we're always there for you. Just send us a mail.
Thanks to all of you and have a great day.

Your RE USA-Team and of course, also best regards from Germany

 

[sreefs]

This is great news for all owners of R-E products and potential owners.

 

[jasonfrey]

Thanks for the post RE. I would like to mention they have been working super hard to fix a lot of issues recently and many were due some internal issues with our company communication issues, etc and I believe just about all the old issues have been resolved.

Since Florida is up and running and working out there workflow, we have seen a much faster response time and warranty support and they are stocking more and more parts. So soon you will have all the advantages of a high end german made product without the disadvantages of getting parts down the road.

 

[Superpuma]

RE, you fail to mention some pumps were in warranty yet you still charged and accused the customer of lack of cleaning and maintenance of the pump. l know l cleaned and maintained my pump, when crabs, limpets etc get stuck in an impeller you have to remove and clean the pump, this happened on quite a regular basis, yet you still charged me to repair my pump that was still in warranty.

I'm happier with the Bubble Magus l bought for a little more than the cost l had to pay to have my in warranty BK mini 180 pump repaired.

Not a happy BK customer. Mike

 

[SchnitzelReef]

Hello everybody,
it's time for a statement with respect to several comments on RE USA and how we handle warranty. Of course, we always try to give our very best, to help all customers asap, no matter if warranty or not. 'Selling fast, not taking care' is absolutely not our philosophy - and will never be.
It is correct, that we've had some trouble with warranty issues. For this we only can appologize. Nevertheless we had to optimze internal work-flows as well as the information-flow from and to our dealers and wholesalers.
Some of these warranties had a real long way before they've reached us. We've spent a lot of money and time to handle all these issues. Several of these became new pumps allthough we could not know, whether it was a warranty or not. Some were even out of warranty and became a new one. We wanted to solve it and we kept this promise to our customers.
The last days we took care together with our dealers, that any warranty issues will reach us earlier and we also will have more manpower in our customer support from December on.

We've installed the US warehouse 'cause we wanted to get closer to the US customers and also had (have) the intention to be much faster than we could have been from Germany. Several influences made the start-up (08/15/14) a bit "bumpy", but now we're sure that all problems could have been solved.
So, again a big "SORRY" for the inconveniences, a few customers have been faced with. In case of any questions or wishes we're always there for you. Just send us a mail.
Thanks to all of you and have a great day.

Your RE USA-Team and of course, also best regards from Germany

Those words sound really nice, but when u have customers like superpuma still getting screwed over by RE, they sound like empty promises. U can talk all you want, but actions speak louder then words.

RE, you fail to mention some pumps were in warranty yet you still charged and accused the customer of lack of cleaning and maintenance of the pump. l know l cleaned and maintained my pump, when crabs, limpets etc get stuck in an impeller you have to remove and clean the pump, this happened on quite a regular basis, yet you still charged me to repair my pump that was still in warranty.



I'm happier with the Bubble Magus l bought for a little more than the cost l had to pay to have my in warranty BK mini 180 pump repaired.



Not a happy BK customer. Mike

 

[slief]

RE, you fail to mention some pumps were in warranty yet you still charged and accused the customer of lack of cleaning and maintenance of the pump. l know l cleaned and maintained my pump, when crabs, limpets etc get stuck in an impeller you have to remove and clean the pump, this happened on quite a regular basis, yet you still charged me to repair my pump that was still in warranty.

I'm happier with the Bubble Magus l bought for a little more than the cost l had to pay to have my in warranty BK mini 180 pump repaired.

Not a happy BK customer. Mike

When crabs and other stuff get stuck in the impeller, it causes the motor block to work harder than it's designed to. It causes the motor block to draw more amperage which often results in premature failure. By your own admission, you indicated that you had that happen with regularity and to me that sounds like an induced failure as opposed to a quality issue that would be covered under normal warranty.

I'm in the server manufacturing business and see induced failures like that with regularity. Dust accumulates inside a system causing things to overheat. Graphics cards and power supplies with fans commonly fail as a result of this. The fans get crudded up with dust and eventually seize due to coil failure. Pumps aren't much different. If the impeller isn't able to spin properly, the coils inside the motor block can fail prematurely due to heat build up or increased amperage draw as mentioned above. I've seen this scenario more than once. While it would have been a kind gesture from a PR perspective to address your pump as a warranty, it is not out of the realm of possibility that those frequent intrusions by crabs and limpits caused your pump to fail outside of the scope of warranty and in all likelihood, that is the root cause of your failure. Covering those kinds of failures is very costly from a manufacturing standpoint and it sets a precedence. That scenario as well as calcium build up inside the block which causes the same issue is probably the most common cause premature pump failures.

At the end of the day, regardless of what skimmer you run, you really need to address that issue. This is one of the reason why I run filter socks. It does wonders for keeping those critters out of my skimmer pump. You can either eliminate as many of those intruders from your sump as possible or have a small acrylic box made with lots of little holes in it for flow to cover your skimmer pump. That would prevent larger critters like hermit crabs and limpits from getting in there and potentially eliminate future headaches as a result of that scenario.

 

[Superpuma]

So basically the warranty is void if you don't use a filter sock and if your saltwater tank contains crabs and limpets.....Very sensitive pumps for the price are these, can't say l've had the problem with any other.......

 

[BrettH]

Can you post a side by side of the motor blocks? My first thought regarding the impeller is the bearing. You may need to remove the bearing from inside Laguna and replace it with the Red Dragon bearing. Also, doesn't the Red Dragon base with the rubber feet fit the Laguna block so you don't have to modify your stand? You now have me wondering if your Red dragon pump is not the big block motor and instead the small block Laguna. Also, yes, the Laguna doesn't include the Lime Bypass and while I have never tested it, I would imagine you could mod the Laguna and add it. Not sure if it would make any difference though. The smaller Red Dragons don't include the Bypass and if memory serves me, the Original Big Blocks didn't either.

@Slief - here is a side by side of the impeller. Unfortunately I didn't take a side-by-side of the motor block, but the Laguna 2000 was slightly smaller. The bottom impeller is the Red Dragon (Larger). sorry about the quality.

View attachment 297599

 

[BrettH]

the bypass of course has to be diy. The stand is a perfect fit from the red dragon big block to the Laguna 2000. I have a red dragon return pump and skimmer pump and a Laguna 2000 sitting in front of me as I type this. Eveything from all 3 pumps fit each other, I gurantee it, I've tried it all.

Not in my case. The Laguna Max Flow 2000 block was definitely smaller. I bought my skimmer in late 2012.

The impeller from my red dragon return fits my Laguna 2000, and Laguna 2000 impeller fits the red dragon blocks, why wouldn't they fit?

It doesn't fit because the Laguna 2000 Block is smaller, but here is comparison of the two impellers.



Pictures of my pump. I should have taken a side-by-side of the pumps before I returned it, sorry.

 

[Adamc1303]

Quick question. I recently took apart the skimmer to clean it and now for some reason it isn't skimming. I am not getting enough bubbles in the skimmer chamber. The bubbles aren't fine either so it isn't building a foam head. It a SM250. Anyone know what needs to be adjusted. I'm sure it's a small fix.


Thanks,

Adam

 

[MBMAX]

I just want to let everyone know that I finally got my warranty pump from RE. it took 5 months ,14 days , dozens of emails and countless phone calls but I finally got it.

A big Thank you for the support that many expressed in this forum and I hope that all those still waiting get their problem taking care very soon.
I want to believe that this is the end of nonexistent costumer service for PA and RE and they get their act together and we see more action and less apologies.

 

[jthao]

I guess they must have different size Laguna 2000 out there, and u got the smaller. Maybe I got the bigger and correct one Cuss mines is identical to my red dragon 1500 big block skimmer pump as well as my red dragon 4.5m return pump.
If it matters, my laguna pump doesn't say maxflo 2000. It just says Laguna maxflo, and then on another part of the box, it says 2000gph