Bubble King Skimmer Club

[Jeremy B.]

@JFannin, Going with an overpowered skimmer is really just as bad as going with an underpowered skimmer. I can't stress enough how important it is to go with a skimmer that is appropriately sized for your tank, especially a workhorse such as a Bubble King. For your size system I would suggest looking at a good 6" or 7" body skimmer. For Bubble King this would be the following models:

Double Cone 150
Mini 160
Double Cone 180
Mini 180

Of those four the Double Cone 180 with the Red Dragon 3 DC Speedy pump would be my suggestion for you. None of the models mentioned above would be oversized on your system to where performance would be affected, but I certainly would not suggest going any bigger. The Double Cone 180 w/RD3 Speedy pump is a beast, and nothing in our hobby will match the combination of performance / quality of construction / efficency and noise level. The pump is literally silent, and super easy to dial in and set up.

 

[Jfannin]

So in your opinion would you say the Double Cone 180 would be able to handle a 120g DT w/ 40g Sump minimalist reef all on its own? another words no Cheato, GFO, or any other form of filtering besides maybe 10-15 lbs of LR in the DT.

Live stock would be 4 clowns, 2 dwarf angles, 1 wrasse, 1 yellow tang, and a little later on i my add a few Anthias (maybe 4)

Corals would be full SPS of about 10 but most likely less then that.

Figured if the bio-load is way to low i can just feed more then once a day like i do know and maybe add another fish or so, But thats only if my bio-load is way to low.

Im truly sick of having an algae issue when ive tried everything in the book to the word. Im just not sure if its been an under powered skimmer issue from day one or a bad LR issue from day one. But if my thoughts are the skimmer should be able to starve the algae that was on the LR.

Thanks for all the input.

 

[Jeremy B.]

I don't think a skimmer exists that alone can strip your water so much that your chaeto dies off. Filtering a tank by foam fractionation just doesn't work that way, and it wouldn't work well enough. You would have to use other methods of tank husbandry and filtering in conjunction with a really good protein skimmer to starve off any macro such as chaeto, etc. This would be things such as strong skimming, running carbon / gfo, carbon dosing, and running a light fish load.

There are plenty of skimmers on the market that wall into the category of being a perfect setup on your system, but I wouldn't rely on any of them to starve off macro on their own.

 

[Jfannin]

got yah, thanks for the help. Ill start saving and once i have the cash in hand for a BK well see.... I know i havent found a bad review on a BK yet. so i guess that saying something

once again thanks for the oppositions.

 

[jedimaster1138]

The Double Cone 180 w/RD3 Speedy pump is a beast, and nothing in our hobby will match the combination of performance / quality of construction / efficency and noise level. The pump is literally silent, and super easy to dial in and set up.

I will second, third or whatever this quote. I've been running the Double Cone 180 with RD3 for something like 4 months and it is indeed, literally dead silent. Not a sound comes from it despite the huge froth of bubbles it's generating. It is engineering at its finest.

About the only thing wrong with the skimmer is the utter horribleness that is the stink of the skimmate it produces Oh wait, that's a plus, nevermind. :strooper:

 

[apexifd]

So I just ordered a bk250 for my system, and the skimmer is on back order.

do you think it's way oversize?

I have 150dd sps dominate tank with 40 gal frag tank and 90 gallon sump.

Total of 7 tangs and good number of fairly wrasse plus misc.

I figure the bio load is heavy. and way over system

 

[Jfannin]

jedimaster1138: what size tank do you have yours on and what kind of bi load?

 

[Jeremy B.]

So I just ordered a bk250 for my system, and the skimmer is on back order.

do you think it's way oversize?

I have 150dd sps dominate tank with 40 gal frag tank and 90 gallon sump.

Total of 7 tangs and good number of fairly wrasse plus misc.

I figure the bio load is heavy. and way over system

Yes, it is absolutely oversized. The 250 series BK skimmers are 10" bodies, you need to stick with an 8" body, which are the 200 series. Take a look at the Double Cone 200 with the RD3 powered pump on it. This would be a kick butt skimmer on this size tank! Now if your 90g sump was also stocked with livestock then I'd say stick with the 250 series, but with just 90g of sump water, and not much of a bioload in that frag tank, I think you're going to get less performance out of the 250 than what you would the 200.

 

[Jfannin]

Not second guess you or any thing, but how do you get less performance if it to over powered?

I get that waist attaches to the bubbles and then end up in the collection cup. But if the skimmer has skimmed all their is to skim at a given time, wouldn't the bubbles still be their to attract or catch the next bit of waist that comes along? I guess I could see that at some point you will produce less skim but wouldn't that be a good thing? Wouldn't that be the point in time that the skimmer has removed pretty much all waist and will start to just slowly pick up what little waist is slowly produced?

Wouldn't that be a good thing or am I'm missing something?

 

[jedimaster1138]

jedimaster1138: what size tank do you have yours on and what kind of bi load?

120g long + 40g sump that will hopefully be partially used as a frag grow out area.

Bioload is heavy... ~20 fish at the moment. 2 tangs and 10 anthias among others. Lots of SPS frags, LPS, z's and p's and clams. I feed several times a day and am lazy with water changes the these days thanks to the rest of life. I measured NO3 this morning - 2 ppm (red sea) I think the low nitrates can be attributed to both the Bubble King running like a monster and 6 clams eating up some of the nitrate too.

But yeah, like I said...if the Double Cone's aren't the best skimmers on the market, they are in the top 2 or 3. The tea is dark, thick greenish brown and smells like a sewage treatment plant on a bad day.

 

[slief]

Not second guess you or any thing, but how do you get less performance if it to over powered?

I get that waist attaches to the bubbles and then end up in the collection cup. But if the skimmer has skimmed all their is to skim at a given time, wouldn't the bubbles still be their to attract or catch the next bit of waist that comes along? I guess I could see that at some point you will produce less skim but wouldn't that be a good thing? Wouldn't that be the point in time that the skimmer has removed pretty much all waist and will start to just slowly pick up what little waist is slowly produced?

Wouldn't that be a good thing or am I'm missing something?

Not a good thing to oversize your skimmer contrary to what would seem logical. A skimmer needs a constant load of waste to produce consistantly. If it's oversized, it will produce good skimmate until there isn't enough waste in the water column to get the proper bubble thickness in the neck. You end up having to adjust the skimmer very wet to get good production. This results in semi regular overflows and makes adjusting the skimmer really difficult. When it's properly sized, the skimmer will perform much more consistantly. It also makes for much less adjusting and futzing and much more set it and forget it. Especially with BK skimmers as they are very efficient. BK is one of the few skimmer manufacturers that actually rate their skimmers conservatively instead of over rating them like most do.

 

[Jfannin]

That makes since I guess. So let's say someone does buy a skimmer and it a little on the over sized side of things. Someone of course could always add live stock, but let's say someone doesn't want to add live stock. Would turning down the skimmer help? Kinda like going from skimming wet to skimming dry?


When I do order one I no longer plan ongoing to over sized, instead I'll probably go with the biggest one you recommended.

 

[ken6217]

I have a 90 gallon reef with moderate to heavy bioload. I am currently running a BK Mini 160. I want to trot the new double cone with RD3 pump. Is the 180 too big?

Thanks,
Ken

 

[hatfielj]

There is ZERO noise coming from the skimmer. I will personally guarantee you that you can not find a more quiet needlewheel / venturi skimmer than a Bubble King that is running the Red Dragon 3 DC pump on it.

I'll second that. These pumps are dead quiet. It's really impressive. I've owned several now and would never consider anything else.

 

[Powdermonkey]

I just received the SM250 with the DC pump. Reading the directions it says to turn the "nozzle screw" 1-1.5 turns. No nozzle screw included with my shipment. According to the manual "operation without the nozzle screw is prohibited". Do I have an old manual or am I going to beating my head on the wall waiting for the part?

Good thing PA double boxes these things! UPS tried their best to break it.

 

[bayoupr]

I think you might have the wrong manual. All the one's I see have the fixed gray nozzle on the DC pump unless the pictures are deceiving. PA should be able to give you the answer.

 

[Powdermonkey]

I think you might have the wrong manual. All the one's I see have the fixed gray nozzle on the DC pump unless the pictures are deceiving. PA should be able to give you the answer.

Thanks, yup just a fixed gray nozzle on mine!

 

[Jeremy B.]

Sounds like an older manual may have been slipped in by mistake. The DC pump is speed adjustable, so this is the adjustment for the skimmer now, rather than the older style adjustable nozzle. This is a much better way of adjusting a skimmer than what the nozzles were. The air / water mixture stay balanced with the speed adjustable pump, rather than the adjustable nozzle not keeping air and water proportionate to one another through the adjustment.

 

[Powdermonkey]

Sounds like an older manual may have been slipped in by mistake. The DC pump is speed adjustable, so this is the adjustment for the skimmer now, rather than the older style adjustable nozzle. This is a much better way of adjusting a skimmer than what the nozzles were. The air / water mixture stay balanced with the speed adjustable pump, rather than the adjustable nozzle not keeping air and water proportionate to one another through the adjustment.

Thank you much!

 

[BrentH]

Just ordered my bm250 today from jeremy .... Going on a 480 I was worried its to small butt from what I'm reading it seems should be fine I have a medium biolad to kinda heavy tons of sps and live rock