Bubble King Skimmer Club

[karn888]

Thanks Jeremy for you advice. I will get the ball valve this week for the installation of the new skimmer during this weekend.

By the way, what is the size of the feed hose going into the skimmer?

Also, does it matter that the skimmer be raised off the ground to compensate with the sump? My sump is under the cabinet, which is raised about 5 inch off the floor.

 

[Jeremy B.]

Jeremy: Is there is a significant difference in skimming capacity between an Alpha 200 and an ATB 840? I have an 840 on a pretty heavily stocked 130 net gallon SPS system and am wondering whether an Alpha 200 would do a better job.

There is a substantial difference in skimming capacity between an ATB 840 and Alpha 200. The ATB 840 is more equivelant to an Alpha 170, and even at that the Alpha 170 is a bigger skimmer than the 840 by a decent amount. Having said that, I don't think moving to an Alpha 200 on your size tank is going to be an improvement, I would just stick with the 840 as that should be more than plenty for you.

 

[acesq]

Thanks Jeremy.

 

[karn888]

I heard from some people that if you have the filter sock and the water coming from the overflow got processed by the filter sock first before going into the skimmer, the skimmer will not perform as good as it should be. Is that true? If it is, should I remove my filter sock and have all the water from the overflow got processed directly by the skimmer?

I am trying to set up my BK Deluxe 300 Ext, but since there is no manual provided, it quite confusing about initial adjustment. Is there anyone running this same model can help me with initial tuning? How should I start?

 

[Jeremy B.]

The filter sock is just that, a filter, so if water goes through that before the skimmer then you're taking out some of the particulate and dissolved organics via mechanical filtration first, which means there is a little less for the skimmer to pull out. This isn't necessarily going to hurt skimmer performance though.

For your 300 Ext I would recommend starting the water level about half to 2/3 the way up into the coned neck, then adjust accordingly from there.

 

[Greg 45]

Jeremy glad I just read last post on where to start skimmer was having a few issues .
Trying this setting.
I was running water level into the bottom of cup slowed down performance.
Thanks Greg

 

[karn888]

Jeremy,
Thanks for the advice. I just set up the 300 Ext during the weekend and it is now running in. I am running Eheim 1260 with ball valve dialed down about 40%. Let's see how it is in couple days.

For my other set up, I just set up Mini 160 for my nano tank. It is sitting in about 7-inch of water (just cover the top of the pump). Do you think I should raise it up. It is also running in. I will post pics.

Thanks
Karn

 

[nreefer]

Does anyone have any pictures of a SM300? Just the most recent versions please.
Does the Slave pump have an adjustable venturi now or is it just the master pump with the ability to adjust.
Thanks!

 

[Jeremy B.]

Jeremy,
For my other set up, I just set up Mini 160 for my nano tank. It is sitting in about 7-inch of water (just cover the top of the pump). Do you think I should raise it up. It is also running in. I will post pics.

Thanks
Karn

Leave it at 7" for right now and see how it goes. If it's not working well at that depth take it to 8".

 

[Jeremy B.]

Does anyone have any pictures of a SM300? Just the most recent versions please.
Does the Slave pump have an adjustable venturi now or is it just the master pump with the ability to adjust.
Thanks!

The slave pump does not have an adjustable venturi, only the main pump has this on it.

 

[karn888]

Here is the shot of the skimmate after 3 days of my BK 300 Deluxe EXT since start running.

The foam collapsed and there are not much of the solid foam on top. However, those skimmate are pretty much from the dripping from the cup lid (I presume). Is there anything I should adjust?

Here are the shots of my BK Mini 160 of my nano tank. It also started running around the same time as my BK 300

Same thing, the foam collapsed on the top and I did not get solid foam.

Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks
Karn K.

 

[Jeremy B.]

Everything looks fine. Just let them run and get mucked up and dirty. The longer they run, the better they perform!

 

[Rouselb]

I have two BK SM-250s. Both are using the Red Dragon 2000 pump. Heres the issue, one of them is using 75W and the other is using 145W. The 75W unit has a yellow nozzle, and the 145W has a red nozzle. The red nozzle appears to be an older design. Both of these skimmers are skimming, although, the red nozzle makes more noise and i can see water bubbles in the silencer tube. Every once in awhile, i see a bubble pop at the top of the inlet. I raised the red one up an extra 1" and it skims the same as the yellow unit. Can anyone explain this?? Thanks.

 

[nreefer]

Interesting, I just bought a SM300 and the nozzle on the Main pump (RD2000) is red. I think it is the latest version. The nozzle on the slave pump (RD1500) is fixed and not adjustable.

 

[Jeremy B.]

I have two BK SM-250s. Both are using the Red Dragon 2000 pump. Heres the issue, one of them is using 75W and the other is using 145W. The 75W unit has a yellow nozzle, and the 145W has a red nozzle. The red nozzle appears to be an older design. Both of these skimmers are skimming, although, the red nozzle makes more noise and i can see water bubbles in the silencer tube. Every once in awhile, i see a bubble pop at the top of the inlet. I raised the red one up an extra 1" and it skims the same as the yellow unit. Can anyone explain this?? Thanks.

It sounds like you are running the red nozzle too far closed and pumping a lot more water than you are air/water mix, causing the power consumption on the pump to shoot way up - although I"m surprised it would shoot up that much if that is indeed the case!

 

[nreefer]

SM 300 is incredible - mini review

SM 300 is incredible - mini review

For anyone debating whether a BK skimmer is worth the money I would have to vote yes now. I was always on the fence as to the true value of these skimmers and now after over 10 years in the hobby I finally decided I was done experimenting with other skimmers and wanted to buy a skimmer that I would have no regrets with.
As everyone has said before the build quality is amazing. But so are the Reef Octopus skimmers and so many other skimmers on the market now as well.
The real difference is the performance of the design and the red dragon pumps. I am pulling out about 3 times the skimmate compared to previous skimmers.
The tank conditions have improved dramatically. Two examples of this (one visual and one quantitative)
1) I have been fighting dynos for about 2 years. Nothing major just a dusting on the sand bed which has kept my sand from being white every day after the lights come on. After hooking up the BK in no less than 2 weeks my dynos are gone. Pure white gravel throughout the day.
2) My ORP haze been hovering around 320 for the past year, I run ozone thru a reactor. After hooking up the BK 2 weeks ago my ORP is now 415. No other changes have been done to my tank.

I think my only con on this skimmer is the wattage draw is not as specified.
The slave pump pulls 50 watts and the main pump pulls 83 watts.
The air draw however is exactly as specified which is great as so many other companies tend to post air draw numbers when the pump is not hooked up to the skimmer body and there is no back pressure on the pump.

Hope this helps anyone looking into these skimmers. If I would have just bought this skimmer 6 years ago I would have actually saved money instead of trying out multiple different ones and selling them at a loss.

 

[dipan]

Need some guidance on setting up a BK250 Deluxe. I have it in approx 9" of water and just running it for the past few days. Left the plug on the skimmer cup drain hose off and emptying back in the sump. Salinity is not up to full yet, still setting up, but there is a lot of volume going through the neck of the skimmer and then spilling back out into the sump via the cup drain. Like a small steady stream of volume. I have the wedge pipe fully lowered and open (closing it seems to increase level in the skimmer resulting in even more skimmate.

Is all this normal or should I look into raising the skimmer some more?

 

[Jeremy B.]

Dipan, where do you have the venturi set at? I recommend starting at 1 and 1/4 turn out from closed. Also, try start the sump depth at 8" and running the telescoping pipe all the way down, and the wedge fully open to start.

 

[dipan]

How does that work? As I understand it the venturi is an insert and I'm not sure jow to adjust it more than one turn? Right now the dots are lined up. Standpipe is all the way down and wedge pipe is fully open. Thanks Jeremy!

 

[ryanuuy]

Im also thinking of getting a bk now after reading all the reviews! I have a 160g display with a 80g sump. Which model would you guys recommend? I also run bp on this system and its a primarily sps tank so the water has to be pristine. I was thinking a skimmer rated for around 500-600g? What do you guys think?