I am new to reef central, I just bought a bubble king 200 with the speedy pump. I am planning on putting it on a 180 gal later but for now I have it on a 125. I know it is too big for my tank, I have a no coral but quite a bit of fish ( butterfly, tangs. angel fish). Until i upgrade to the larger tank, what could I do to make it work as well as it will on my small tank? Would it need to be lower in the sump or higher , and what wattage should i run it? Any help will be appreciated, it seems to be working ok, I just wonder if I could get it better. Thanks
Bubble King Skimmer Club
- Thread starter JohnL
- Start date
slief
RC Sponsor
Due to it being so oversized, it likely won't be very consistent on your system. Raising the sump level will help as it will make the skimmer run wetter. Set the pump to about 37 watts and try 9" of sump depth. Keep the wedge pipe wide open and fiddle with the sump level until you get it producing some skim. What will happen though is that it will produce well for a couple days until it reduces the dissolved organics in your system. Once it does, the foam will turn to bubbles that burst on the surface and it will run that way until there are enough dissolved organics to get it producing well and then the cycle will repeat itself.
Due to your light load relative to the skimmer size, you will have to play around with the sump depth and RD3 settings but 37 watts should be a good starting point. Adjust the RD3 until you get a decent looking foam. Let it settle down for a half hour between adjustments. Once you have a decent foam, then start playing with the sump level more. If you are overflowing, your depth is too deep and if your water level is below the neck, your level is too low. I'd aim to have the water level where it turns to bubbles around an inch or so up into the skimmer neck since you have such a low load.
Thanks for the help, I had a choice of the 180 or the 200, the 200 was only a few dollars more. I saw you said something about putting a reducer in the neck to make it smaller. Where could i buy one or have it installed in the neck? I have a vertex alpha 170, do you think it would work better with the speedy pump installed, until i went to a larger tank. Thanks for the EXCELLENT advice. I think I am really going to enjoy reef central.
slief
RC Sponsor
If you have a local acrylics supply/fabricator near you, that would be the best bet. You could measure the inside diameter of the skimmer neck and find an acylic cylinder online with a matching outside diameter. The thicker the matierial the better as the thicker it is, the more you will reduce the neck diameter. If you could find 1/4" thick or thicker material ,that would be a good start. Order it and take that to the acrylic shop along with your collection cup so they can cut a ring that that is about the same outer diameter as the outer diamter of the neck and has an inside diamter of the inside of the acrylic cylinder you bought. They would essentially be making an acrylic ring that would glue to the new cylinder so you could slip in into the skimmer neck from the top of the collection cup.
As for the Alpha 170... On your current size system that may be a bit more consistent but if you were able to reduce the neck diameter of the BK one, the BK is by far a better skimmer. I ran an Alpha 300 myself and while I did like it, it was fussy and grossly underrated. I much prefer my Supermarin.
gobuckeyes
Member
Hello getting ready to move from a 125 upto a 240 fish only med stock
Was checking to see if bubble king double cone 200 plus RD3 speedy
Would be right choice not sure if it's to much for what I need or is it right size
Was checking to see if bubble king double cone 200 plus RD3 speedy
Would be right choice not sure if it's to much for what I need or is it right size
Dread Pirate
New member
What skimmer to get
What skimmer to get
:dance:
hi guys-
I am setting up a mixed reef 30X30X18 rimless with a 27X27X15 sump/refugium and I want a royal exclusiz skimmer and return pump. Can someone give me some direction on what unit I should get?
Thanks in advance for the help:fun2:
What skimmer to get
:dance:
hi guys-
I am setting up a mixed reef 30X30X18 rimless with a 27X27X15 sump/refugium and I want a royal exclusiz skimmer and return pump. Can someone give me some direction on what unit I should get?
Thanks in advance for the help:fun2:
slief
RC Sponsor
The Double Cone 200 would be perfect for you planned system. That would be my first suggestion.
slief
RC Sponsor
So your display size is about 50 gallons? The Mini 150 would be about perfect for that size display assuming you have a decent load. As far as a pump goes, I'd suggest the RD3 50 watt pump. It would be dead silent and provide plenty of flow.
Dread Pirate
New member
Thanks for the help. My display will be a bit over 70gal.
slief
RC Sponsor
That's perfect.. That would be the correct skimmer for you.
Dread Pirate
New member
Cool. Do you think the mini 180 is to much skimmer for that set up with a medium bio load?
Dread Pirate
New member
I was thinking the double cone 180?
clorox
New member
The 180 would be too big and inconsistent on a 70g. I have the DC 180 on a 130g and it's perfectly sized.
Dread Pirate
New member
Got it .. I can't find the 150 anywhere. I can only find the mini 160 on aquarium specialty .. Where is the best place to find it ?
slief
RC Sponsor
Yep! Very good advice and I agree 10000%! While the Double Cone 180 is a great skimmer, it would be too large and inconsistent on your tank.
Right now, I don't think there are any of the Mini 150's in stock in the US and there likely won't be for another month or so. I'm not sure there are any 160's either. Premium may have Mini 160's but I am not sure. Since it appears you have space for the Double Cone, you should consider the Double Cone 150. It's a bit bigger than the mini as far as foot print but would be perfect for your tank regardless of fish load. I prefer the design of the double cone because the pump isn't inside the skimmer body which makes for much easier maintenance when you service the pump. You will not need to remove the skimmer to clean the pump. Instead, you just pull the skimmer pump from the sump and leave the skimmer body in the water. Those are in stock.
Last edited:
Klaus Jansen
.Registered Member
Next week we send any pallets to our Warehouse, include the Minis, and the 130 and 150 Double-Cones....
best regards .. .Klaus
best regards .. .Klaus
Help me choose a skimmer
Help me choose a skimmer
I have a 130 gallon main dispaly tank with a lot of sps and some lps. The tank i also heavy stocked with fish. i Also have a 132 gallon fish only split with refugium (only 3 fish) and 40 gallon sump all connected together on the same setup.
Im looking on buying the Double cone 250 with rd3 pump. but im also looking at the supermarin 250 either with rd3 og original pump. The price is more or less the same
What would you suggest me buying, supermarine or double cone?
ps. im planning for a few years in advanced and want to set up a 400 gallon display tank in the future so the skimmer is considered in those plans
edit: i also got an offer on a 1 year old used supermarin 300 skimmer for the same price as the double cone 250.
Help me choose a skimmer
I have a 130 gallon main dispaly tank with a lot of sps and some lps. The tank i also heavy stocked with fish. i Also have a 132 gallon fish only split with refugium (only 3 fish) and 40 gallon sump all connected together on the same setup.
Im looking on buying the Double cone 250 with rd3 pump. but im also looking at the supermarin 250 either with rd3 og original pump. The price is more or less the same
What would you suggest me buying, supermarine or double cone?
ps. im planning for a few years in advanced and want to set up a 400 gallon display tank in the future so the skimmer is considered in those plans
edit: i also got an offer on a 1 year old used supermarin 300 skimmer for the same price as the double cone 250.
slief
RC Sponsor
The Supermarin is without a doubt the better of the two skimmers in terms of build and performance. That said, I run a SM250 on a heavily stocked 480 gallon reef display. My display has around 60 fish in it (many of which are very large tangs) & the SM 250 is perfect for my size and load. My fear is that the 250 models will be oversized for your load and may be inconsistent. The SM200 would likely be a better choice with your current setup unless you truley have a heavy fish load. If you don't, you will likely have to run it really wet to maintain consistency. If your plan is to get a 400 gallon down the line, then I wouldn't be opposed to a SM250 but know that for your current setup, the SM200 would perform better.
As for the SM300, it would be way oversized for your tank. I gave serious consideration to the SM300 on my display and chose the SM250 in my case because you are better off with a properly sized skimmer that is always consistent and hard working than an oversized skimmer that is inconsistent and hardly works. The SM300 would be grossly overisized in your system and would be very inconsistent.
Similar threads
