Bubble King Skimmer Club

[slief]

That's a very, very BA cup cleaner. Whoa. Reminds me of the extensive cleaning set up on the GIANT skimmer at the Long Island Aquarium. Course that skimmer is multiple feet around and the wash down sprayer is a big hose. heh. But the idea appears to be the same. Very cool.

Anyway, OK cool. I'll look into the Vectra engine. It's reasonably enough priced comparatively. That's weird that Avast doesn't around the lid.

I started carbon dosing a while back and skimmate has gotten darker, grosser and tripled in volume, so I'm hoping the neck cleaner will be a great add on and save me time and keep things running peak longer between clean ups. 2-3x a week is annoying. Once a week would be nice. And not having to stick my hand down into the body/neck so deep would be nice.

Thank you sir!

Glad to help. You will absolutely love the addition of the SCH. You won't have to remove your collection cup ever if you choose not to. Just drain the cup as often as needed. The skimmer will run much more consistently as a result.

 

[jedimaster1138]

Glad to help. You will absolutely love the addition of the SCH. You won't have to remove your collection cup ever if you choose not to. Just drain the cup as often as needed. The skimmer will run much more consistently as a result.

Speaking of draining the collection cup...do you happen to know off hand what inner diameter tubing is needed to connect to the nipple that's on the bottom of the cup? Now that I think about it, I could probably cram a narrow jug in the stand pretty easily.

The cup came with that little stub of tubing + plug.

Looking at the RE website, is it... 9 mm? So 3/8" ish?

 

[slief]

Speaking of draining the collection cup...do you happen to know off hand what inner diameter tubing is needed to connect to the nipple that's on the bottom of the cup? Now that I think about it, I could probably cram a narrow jug in the stand pretty easily.

The cup came with that little stub of tubing + plug.

Looking at the RE website, is it... 9 mm? So 3/8" ish?

That sounds about right. I would have guessed 1/2" ID and that's pretty close. I just connected some old Mag filter union valves that I had laying around to the existing tubing and extended it to my skimmate jug.

 

[aronj2]

will a 1st gen deluxe 250 work on a 130g?
i bought this ultra cheap, picking it up today or tommorow, but i wonder if it would even work in a fairly high stocked 130g

 

[slief]

will a 1st gen deluxe 250 work on a 130g?
i bought this ultra cheap, picking it up today or tommorow, but i wonder if it would even work in a fairly high stocked 130g

It is really too big for a display that size regardless of the stock level. It will work but it's going to be inconsistent. It will skim great for a short amount of time until the dissolved organics are exported and then it will idle along for a week or more before it produces anything again. To get any kind of consistency, you will need to run it really wet. If you are getting a really good deal on it, then you have nothing to loose but keep in mind that depending on age, replacement motor blocks can get expensive.

 

[aronj2]

it is less than 1\10th the price of new one, and comes with a brand new original RE pinwheel + bearings..
worst case a spool burned and i need a new big block, i just picked it up,

I now run a 8inch body, 4inch neck reef octopus xp2000 int, wich is noisy as hell, inconsistent as dutch weather, but keeps tank clean.. also skimming super wet, my tea is darker.. lets see how this turns out

 

[SchnitzelReef]

My double cone 250 putting in work

 

[Confuse]

You dirty Bastard! Get a neck cleaner! Haha

 

[SchnitzelReef]

You dirty Bastard! Get a neck cleaner! Haha

Don't need one man. Even with a dirty neck, this skimmer still works great. Maybe some day. Next purchase is gunna be a few radions. Time to switch out the the DIY LEDs

 

[aronj2]

http://www.imgdumper.nl/uploads8/55bb665008276/55bb664f64ef8-IMG-20150729-WA0016.jpeg

Can someone tell me if.this magnet from my "almost unused impeller" looks?
this is the most damaged side, the pins itself look brandnew..

It came from my bk1500 pump, wich has a burned spool (pulsating and making crap noise)

 

[slief]

http://www.imgdumper.nl/uploads8/55bb665008276/55bb664f64ef8-IMG-20150729-WA0016.jpeg

Can someone tell me if.this magnet from my "almost unused impeller" looks?
this is the most damaged side, the pins itself look brandnew..

It came from my bk1500 pump, wich has a burned spool (pulsating and making crap noise)

The image of your impeller looks to show damage to the plastic at the base of the needle wheel on the larger disk that covers the motorblock cavity. The magnet looks marginally OK but also shows some wear near the top of it so it might be best to replace both the block and the rotor/impeller. I think you are in Europe?? If so, order those directly from Royalexclusiv.net

You could also consider replacing that RD1500 with the RD3 pump. That would be a huge upgrade in terms of performance and ease of fine tuning.

 

[aronj2]

yuup after good inspection, the magnet piece itself was not completely secured to the shaft and i could rotate the magnet 1mm left\recht.
also the bearing on the plastic disc side has a slight play on it..

Ordered complete pump different brand (atb airstar 2250) wich i can.rotate and bolt on original RE stand

 

[slief]

yuup after good inspection, the magnet piece itself was not completely secured to the shaft and i could rotate the magnet 1mm left\recht.
also the bearing on the plastic disc side has a slight play on it..

Ordered complete pump different brand (atb airstar 2250) wich i can.rotate and bolt on original RE stand

Hmmm.. I think you should have stuck with the BK pump and I really think you should cancel the ATB order.

The Red Dragon is designed for that skimmer and don't get me wrong, the ATB pumps are good and the block is virtually the same but the impeller and it's volute are different. RE also uses a much high volume block (4200 I think) and has Askoll make some subtle changes to the new blocks that impact the RPM of the motor for optimum performance and also because the higher power block has larger start capacitors for improved reliablity. You also won't be getting the AKB (anti lime bypass) that is included on the newer pumps which improves reliability of the motor and impeller by circulating water from the volute through the block and into the magnet cavity. This helps keep the block cooler for better longeveity. The AKB also reduces calcium buildup in the magnet cavity. This has an impact on performance and reliability as some of the flow is redircted back to the impeller cavity and also because there isn't as much buildup in the magnet cavity.

You will loose the adjustable volute which is really important as far as tuning goes. It happens to be a huge advantage of the Red Dragons. The BK impeller and volute are designed to be used together just like the ATB impeller and volute are designed as a set. I don't think you will be able to use the ATB impeller with the BK volute. This will also cause an issue with getting the pumps output to line up with the skimmers inlet even though you can rotate the volute. The base for the ATB is also different and if you can get the volute side and location to match with the Deluxe 250, you'd need to remove the base from the Red dragon and install it on the airstar but the volute and impeller batch will likely cause an issue with that.

I hate to say it but I think you made a mistake. There is a good probability that you will end up with a pump that won't work properly with the skimmer and even if you can get to match up, the performance won't be anywhere near the same. My friend Chad owned ATB USA and I am very familiar with their pumps and they are different. I had an opportunity to take over ATB USA and passed on it. That's not a knock on ATB because they make good skimmer but their pumps and most particularly their impeller and volutes are different and are designed for the ATB skimmers which are vastly different than what you have.

By the way, given what you noted about the magnet spinning on the shaft, it's very likely that your block is OK and all you needed was a new impeller and possibly a new bearing that goes into the magnet cavity which is a few dollar item and should be changed with the impeller.

 

[aronj2]

oke so i cancel the atb. Thanx again for the help man!
U mean the bearing in the back of the pump? How do i get this out?

Meanwhile i get a chinese dc pump to powr the skimmer, wich isnt really bad to be honest

 

[aronj2]

i really wonder if i should do the gues..
I mean. We talking 200euro+ for a new impeller and bearing.
If its also the block, we talking another 380 euro+shipping.. thats a total of 580 - 600 euro , while i can order a brandnew rd3 mini speedy 50w with 2000lph airdraw and the correct mounting block for 550

 

[slief]

oke so i cancel the atb. Thanx again for the help man!
U mean the bearing in the back of the pump? How do i get this out?

Meanwhile i get a chinese dc pump to powr the skimmer, wich isnt really bad to be honest

Good decision and I'm very glad to help!

I was talking about the bearing in the bottom of the motor block. RE calls it a hearing ayway. It's a small plastic barrel looking thing with an o-ring that holds it into the block. Your pump should have one that the base of the impeller sits into. If you look in the manual for the Deluxe 250, it's covered in the maintenance section. I will post a link to the manual in a moment.

OK, here is the manual. Take a look at section 2 (page 8 for bearing removal. You need to make sure you install it properly too. It's critical that it's properly installed and centered in the opening. The 9-ring fits into a slot within the bearing cavity so that it gets properly aligned.
http://royalexclusiv.net/images/content/bk_deluxe/eng/bk_deLuxe_operating_maintenance_eng.pdf

 

[slief]

i really wonder if i should do the gues..
I mean. We talking 200euro+ for a new impeller and bearing.
If its also the block, we talking another 380 euro+shipping.. thats a total of 580 - 600 euro , while i can order a brandnew rd3 mini speedy 50w with 2000lph airdraw and the correct mounting block for 550

It's a real catch 22... I have a Supermarin with the RD3 and I've had Bubble Kings with the standard Red Dragons. The RD3 combo is insanely good!!! Better than any pump I've ever owned and it makes adjusting the and fine tuning the skimmer a dream. After having the RD3 combo, I'd never go back. You do however need to contact Royal Exclusiv in Germany to make sure you get the correct RD3 for your skimmer as there are some slight differences although I think the RD3 50W is exactly what you'd need. You just want to make sure before ordering it and Torsten can answer that one best. I'd suggest emailing info@royal-exclusiv.de and include a picture of your skimmer and or the original pump with the volute installed. Torsten will reply to that and make sure you get the correct pump if you choose to go that route. If you do, trust me you will be very impressed and unlike Chinese DC pumps, the Red Dragon is the best skimmer pump you can get and more importantly, it allows for nearly 50 steps of adjustment so you can fine tune the air and water flow like no other pump.

 

[aronj2]

as i said, the chinese dc is just for temporary use..
as shown in the manual, with a BIG grey box around it:
the main bearing is fault nr1 in these pumps..
so given.. the needle wheel is changed by a shop who doesnt know what they do.. i am willing to bet money they haven changed the bearing (wich they should have done!)

so i can run the bbk with chinese DC pump. till i get my head around the RD1, so far i have 3 options:

1: replace the bearing, and see if this improves/fixes it (i know the wheel probably damaged
2: replace the bearing and needle wheel all together, and hope the block is okay.. if not, im royally screwed, for over spending on old pump, because block+impeller and bearing is more than new rd3 mini speedy 2000l/h pump.
3: keep the chinese DC pump and just save some money after the wedding, and get my self a brand new rd3 mini speedy from the get go.. and dont even bother fixing the old RD

so option 1 is where i am aiming for.. the carbon bearing in the back is STUCK in my pump.. and i mean really stuck, i need to force this out.
my friend is a mechanic, he has the propper tools and know-how to safely remove it.. so he will take it out.. and i buy a new carbon bearing (2 or 3 just to have them in stock, in case it fails)

after this i can determine if i go further option 2 or 3.. if its still broken as it is... and im not sure its only then impeller, i wont spent a penny, and ditch the pump, save some money, and will get rd3 later on..

if it does make a good chanfe, and the motor doesnt pulsate as much as it does now. i order new needle wheel.. and this pump should be good to go..

i dont know how common it is for the motor block to break down?

anyhow.. special thx to scott (just saw your face on spectrapure ad )
u are a life saver here!

 

[slief]

as i said, the chinese dc is just for temporary use..
as shown in the manual, with a BIG grey box around it:
the main bearing is fault nr1 in these pumps..
so given.. the needle wheel is changed by a shop who doesnt know what they do.. i am willing to bet money they haven changed the bearing (wich they should have done!)

so i can run the bbk with chinese DC pump. till i get my head around the RD1, so far i have 3 options:

1: replace the bearing, and see if this improves/fixes it (i know the wheel probably damaged
2: replace the bearing and needle wheel all together, and hope the block is okay.. if not, im royally screwed, for over spending on old pump, because block+impeller and bearing is more than new rd3 mini speedy 2000l/h pump.
3: keep the chinese DC pump and just save some money after the wedding, and get my self a brand new rd3 mini speedy from the get go.. and dont even bother fixing the old RD

so option 1 is where i am aiming for.. the carbon bearing in the back is STUCK in my pump.. and i mean really stuck, i need to force this out.
my friend is a mechanic, he has the propper tools and know-how to safely remove it.. so he will take it out.. and i buy a new carbon bearing (2 or 3 just to have them in stock, in case it fails)

after this i can determine if i go further option 2 or 3.. if its still broken as it is... and im not sure its only then impeller, i wont spent a penny, and ditch the pump, save some money, and will get rd3 later on..

if it does make a good chanfe, and the motor doesnt pulsate as much as it does now. i order new needle wheel.. and this pump should be good to go..

i dont know how common it is for the motor block to break down?

anyhow.. special thx to scott (just saw your face on spectrapure ad )
u are a life saver here!

The key to the bearing is that the shaft spins freely in the opening of the bearing. The bearing doesn't rotate. The bearing is probably fine. If the o-ring is in tact and the shaft spins in the bearing freely without left to right slop, then the bearing is fine. You can remove the bearing by soaking the pump in straight vinegar. Leave the pump in the vinegar for an hour or so. Then carefully pry it out. Once you remove it, slide it over the end of the impeller shaft. If it rotates freely, it's fine. The issue occurs when calcium builds up in the bearing and it freezes to the impeller shaft. Then a good vinegar bath is generally enough to fix that.

Your impeller is toast and needs to be replaced regardless of the bearing. That is a certainty since the magnet moves on the shaft. The magnet is not supposed to move on the shaft as it is permanently bonded to the impeller shaft from the factory. Also, the plastic disk below the needle wheel is also damaged. You need a new impeller. Whether you choose to use the Chinese pump is on you but until you get that skimmer running the way it was designed with a proper pump, you will never know just how good that skimmer is.

 

[aronj2]

oke.. so if i change the whole impeller and bearing...

How big is the chance of having a defective motorblock?