slief
RC Sponsor
Glad to help! By the way, we have a Bubble King/Royal Exclusiv forum here. You should post pictures of your skimmer and share your setup in the Bubble King thread there.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2543749
Bubble King Skimmer Club
- Thread starter JohnL
- Start date
Glad to help! By the way, we have a Bubble King/Royal Exclusiv forum here. You should post pictures of your skimmer and share your setup in the Bubble King thread there.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2543749
slief
RC Sponsor
Way too big. A double cone 180 would be much more appropriate and would be the one I would recommend.
Thank you sir!
slief
RC Sponsor
First off, great choice. I run the same skimmer on my system. I do however hope this skimmer isn't on a 150G display. If so, it's WAY WAY WAY oversized and likely won't be very consistent unless you run it really wet. If it's on that 470 you're buiding, then you're going LOVE LOVE LOVE this skimmer! It's been by far the best skimmer I've ever owned and trusts me when I tell you, I've owned a lot of different skimmers over the years from German Made Klase skimmers to Beckett skimmers, Reef Octo's, Euroreef, Vertex Alpha's etc. Despite paying full retail for my SM250's I can still say it was worth every penny after 1.5 years.
Don't use the pump speed to control the water level inside the skimmer. You use the pump speed to get the best foam quality. Typically, that is around 36-38 watts forfor the SM250 and other 250 sized Bubble King skimmers on appropriately sized displays. If this is on a 150g tank, your likely going to need to run experiment to find the sweet spot. These skimmers need a consistent amount of dissolved organics to maintain a good foam head. Due to the diameter of the neck, these skimmers should be matched properly to the display size. In the absence of enough dissolved organics, the skimmer won't be able to maintain a consistent foam head. Instead the bubbles will burst at the surface and not stick together so as to make good foam. As such, if your skimmer is disproportionately sized to your tank, you will need to run the skimmer deeper and wetter to keep it producing consistently or just live with on again/off again skimmate production.
The water level inside the skimmer ideally is set with a combination of sump level and wedge pipe. I first dial the foam quality in via the pump speed. In your case, set it 36 watts if you have a really heavy fish load or 38ish watts if your load is lower. Let it settle in for a day or so. Then with the wedge pipe wide open, raise or lower your sump level until the transition from bubbles to foam is right at the white collar where the neck attaches to the body. That will be your driest skim setting. From their use the wedge pipe to adjust from dry to wetter skim.
We have our own forum here on Reef Central and there is a Bubble King setup and tuning thread where fine tuning these skimmers has been discussed in depth. You might want to take a look here:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2546139
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sensei
New member
Thanks for your answer Scott ,
yes it is in the 470 DT I just cycled. it is attached to a seahorse DT of 70 g and sump has around 70 g of water, I have calculated there is 550g of water inside the whole system now so it should be correctly sized. I just have 3 fish inside DT now
I went over the link you sent and here are some photos of SM with the tunning I have now
please tell me what you think
Thanks again
slief
RC Sponsor
Looks fine for now. You could even drop it to 36 watts. It might thicken the bubbles up more and create a bit more contact time. You have no load in the system let alone enough dissolved organics to maintain a good foam head. Just leave it there and let it break in. Until you get your load way up, this skimmer won't produce much and won't necessarily make good foam.
Post updates in that other thread so other Supermarin 250 users can learn something as well.
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slief
RC Sponsor
Sounds good. Very glad to help. You might drop the speed down a notch as that will improve contact time a bit while also slowing the bubbles down.
sensei
New member
Thanks Scott,
I am not sure if understand corretly.
If I reduce the speed of the red dragon pump, then the foam will be lower and I would need to turn the pipe to higher the foam?
why reducing the speed increases the contact time
reducing the speed means less air bubles or not?
thanks
I am not sure if understand corretly.
If I reduce the speed of the red dragon pump, then the foam will be lower and I would need to turn the pipe to higher the foam?
why reducing the speed increases the contact time
reducing the speed means less air bubles or not?
thanks
slief
RC Sponsor
Reducing the speed means less water moving through the skimmer in a given amount of time thus greater contact time. The faster the water moves through the skimmer, the less time the water spends in the skimmer body. While it does mean less air bubbles, you can only force so much water and air through a skimmer body and have the skimmer work efficiently while also being balanced. The RD3 pump mixes a proportionate amount of air to water at any speed but the skimmer bodies can only handle so much based on their size. Too much water and air means the bubbles will rise quickly and burst at the surface and not necessarily create good foam. Especially if the amount of dissolved organics/load is light. You want the bubbles to rise slower giving proteins/DOC's a chance to stick the bubbles. It's not about how much air or water you force into the skimmer body. It's about what you do with that air. The RD3 produces very fine bubbles so with a lower flow rate, the bubbles will rise slower and more dissolved organics will stick to them. The larger the skimmer, the more flow and air needed. The smaller the skimmer body, the less airflow. It's all about balance.
And yes, reducing the speed results in less flow into the skimmer which results in lower levels in the skimmer. You can raise the sump level to counter that or close the wedge pipe a bit more. The more waste in the water, the more dense the foam which results in a higher level inside the skimmer body so the amount you will need to adjust is in part relative to the amount of waste in the water.
Anyhow, having run the same skimmer for over a year and a half, I haven played with all kinds of different settings. 36-38 watts is generally the sweet spot. You ultimately need to experiment because every tank is different as the loads vary from one system to the next. 36 watts should produce more dense foam but you will need to raise your level a bit. The higher speed will result in wetter skim but it won't be as efficient in removing the waste. At this stage, any adjustments you make are kind of futile since you really don't have much of a load. I have the same skimmer on a 480 gallon display with over 50 fish. Many are in excess of 8" and I feed very heavily. Your skimmer is starving for waste at this stage so until you get the load way up, you're going to have to skim really wet to keep it even remotely consistent.
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teebone110
Member
Question, I have noticed that in my SM200, the bubbles stay in the top half of the skimmer body, is there a way to adjust this?
If I remember correctly, its sitting at 9 inches water depth.
Are there any obvious adjustments needed?
Thanks in advance
If I remember correctly, its sitting at 9 inches water depth.
Are there any obvious adjustments needed?
Thanks in advance
slief
RC Sponsor
It might help to see a picture but if you want to raise the level of the bubbles, you can either increase the sump depth or close the wedge pipe some. The ideal sump depth is relative to the load in the system, salinity and other factors. If your SM200 has the RD3 pump, the ideal speed for the pump is between 28 and 32 watts. You want to adjust the speed to get the most dense/thickest foam possible. If you have the standard Red Dragon pump, closing the nozzle on the pump will decrease the amount of air into the skimmer and increase the amount of water. This will raise the water level in the skimmer. Opening increase air and decreases the water flow which lowers the water level.
We have a dedicated Royal Exclusiv for here and there is a setup and tuning thread with lots of info. I would suggest reading through it as it will give you a lot of insight into fine tuning your skimmer. It would also be a good place to post a picture of the foam level inside your skimmer.
Here is a link to that thread.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2546139
teebone110
Member
Thanks, please see my response in the above link
Bossy @ Belgium
New member
hello everyone,
i have a bubble king mini 200 but the pump died on me.
I think it's the first generation (old black pump cover) and uses the bubble king 1000 pump.
What laguna pump would be the replacement block for my pump: the 960 (4000Lph) or the 1350/old 1500 (5000Lph). I have acces to all pumps...
greetings,
Bossy
i have a bubble king mini 200 but the pump died on me.
I think it's the first generation (old black pump cover) and uses the bubble king 1000 pump.
What laguna pump would be the replacement block for my pump: the 960 (4000Lph) or the 1350/old 1500 (5000Lph). I have acces to all pumps...
greetings,
Bossy
slief
RC Sponsor
I don't think you can use an off the shelf laguna maxflo 1000 for that motor/volute combo. Royal Exclusiv used a custom block that had a special speed setting as well as other subtle differences. You also get the base plate when you order the original. My suggestion would be to order the replacement block from Germany at RoyalExclusiv.net. You can try a Maxflo 1000 but it's a crap shoot..
Bossy @ Belgium
New member
So the blocks used in the first generation are different than the ones used in 2gen?
I only thought it was the volute that was upgraded?
didn't the 180 gen2 use the same as the 200gen1?
wouldn!t an 1500/1350 fit?
grts Bossy
I only thought it was the volute that was upgraded?
didn't the 180 gen2 use the same as the 200gen1?
wouldn!t an 1500/1350 fit?
grts Bossy
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