Bubble King Skimmer Users. Post your pictures and skimmer setup here!

[slief]

Hi,

I have a couple of questions in regards to the operation of my BK with the view to trying to get the most out of it

I have a DC 200 with the RD3 speedy pump. I've had it for a year and it's been working well.

I run a Zeovit system with a total volume of approx 180gallons with 19 fish. (most small).

Currently struggling to keep my No3 and PO4 intact so I'm questioning whether my BK is working as well as it should.

My first query is in regards to the wattage display on the pump. When I press the buttons to increase the wattage, let's say to 60, a second later it reverts back to a lower setting, currently this i runnig at 36W. I've never understood this so perhaps someone could explain what the two numbers mean.

Secondly, after reading this thread, I saw that a lot of recommendations were to have the red wedge pipe wide open. I had a look at mine and it's almost completely closed. It's been like this for most of the time, and I do get what I think looks like a good foam head, but now I'm not sure if the skimmer is performing optimally.

It's currently sitting in approx 8 inches of water.

Below is a pic of the foam head I get and I fill about 3/4 of the collection cup with medium brown stuff about every 5 days

Any advice would be most appreciated.

Thanks.

Regarding nitrates, the skimmer is only one part of the equation. The skimmer removes dissolved solids from the water but it doesn't remove nitrates. Removing dissolved solids will help reduce nitrates but nitrate removal is a function of bacteria in the tank. Things like sufficient live rock and or sand that provide sufficient bacterial surfaces play the biggest role in nitrate reduction. Flow in the tank also plays a big role as it will help prevent waste from settling so that it can be sent into the overflow for the skimmer to remove but again, the function of nitrate reduction is comes down to bacteria in your tank and the skimmer can only reduce some of the dissolved organics that contribute to nitrates. .

When you press the button on the controller, the first number you see is percentage of power. Then it reverts to the actual wattage for that power percentage.

As for your wedge pipe being closed that much, if you raise your sump level, that will allow you to open your wedge pipe more. You load is VERY low for this skimmer and because of that, you will have to run the skimmer in deeper water or with the wedge pipe more closed but it sounds like you wedge pipe is more closed that it should be. While that won't impact the foam head, it will impact the balance inside the skimmer and could contribute to surging where the water goes up and down inside the skimmer.

36 watts is pretty high for that skimmer. I normally suggest 27-30 watts for an appropriately stocked tank. You tank is lightly stocked for this skimmer so 30 watts would likely result in better performance.. If you do choose to lower the power, you will need the skimmer in deeper water meaning you will need to raise the sump level or lower the skimmer if it's on a stand. The reduced power will increase your contact time and decrease the bubble size which will help it remove more dissolved organics more efficiently.

If you read through the setup and tuning thread, I discuss a lot about the setup and tuning of these skimmers and it will give you a good idea of how to go about fine tuning yours.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2546139

 

[lee_d_m]

Hi,

thanks for the detailed reply. I've lowered in the sump now by a couple of inches and will give it a bit of time to adjust. Now, when I open the wedge pipe fully the water inside the skimmer is about halfway up the collection cup. The bubbles look quite wet at the moment and there's no foam head forming, but I'll check it in a couple of hours and see what it's like.

 

[slief]

Hi,

thanks for the detailed reply. I've lowered in the sump now by a couple of inches and will give it a bit of time to adjust. Now, when I open the wedge pipe fully the water inside the skimmer is about halfway up the collection cup. The bubbles look quite wet at the moment and there's no foam head forming, but I'll check it in a couple of hours and see what it's like.

It will take some time to settle in. That said, I wouldn't have dropped your sump level. That is counter productive as the lower power setting will decrease the water level inside the skimmer. From the sounds of it, you didn't lower the pump level? The 36 watts you are running will result is fast bursting bubbles that will generate very wet skim and not very efficient organic removal.

As I said in my original post, I would decrease the pump speed to 30 watts and you will likely need this skimmer in deeper water and by lowering your sump level, you made it shallower. As such, I would raise the water back to 8" or even 8.5", lower your pump speed to 30 watts. I would also suggest opening the wedge pipe so that it's wide open and give it several or more hours to settle in. Then check where the water/bubbles start to turn to foam. If that transition is just above the base of the neck, let it run for a bit and see how it produces. If it's not, close the wedge pipe some but try not to exceed half closed. If you need to go more than 1/2 closed on the wedge pipe, open the wedge up all the way and raise your sump 1/4" and let it settle back in to see where the level is in the neck. If the foam level is still low, close the wedge pipe some to see if you can get it up into the neck without having to go past 1/2 closed on the wedge. Continue to do this until you find the right sump level. You have a very low load for this skimmer so you will need a higher sump level that others but the slower pump speed will result in much better foam which is what you are after.

 

[lee_d_m]

Sorry, I didn't write that very well. What I meant was that I've lowered the skimmer in the sump, so that its' sitting deeper in the water, it's about 9.5inches deep now whereas it was 8 inches before.

I also dialled the pump down to 30w and opened the wedge pipe about 7/8ths open.

Since I did this, which was about 3 hours ago, the dense foam head has returned and foam is just trickling slowly over the top of the skimmer neck into the collection cup.

I realise I've changed a lot of things all at once, but I think I've now got it close to how you suggested and it seems to be working.

 

[slief]

Sorry, I didn't write that very well. What I meant was that I've lowered the skimmer in the sump, so that its' sitting deeper in the water, it's about 9.5inches deep now whereas it was 8 inches before.

I also dialled the pump down to 30w and opened the wedge pipe about 7/8ths open.

Since I did this, which was about 3 hours ago, the dense foam head has returned and foam is just trickling slowly over the top of the skimmer neck into the collection cup.

I realise I've changed a lot of things all at once, but I think I've now got it close to how you suggested and it seems to be working.

Gotcha. Then it sounds like you are on the right track. You may end up needing to lower the sump level a bit but keep an eye on it. If you do need to lower it, I would do so in 1/4" increments but it sounds like you are really close now. In fact, if it turns out you need to lower it, you might bump the pump speed down 1 increment. That will thicken the foam a bit more and increase contact time while also lowering the level slightly in your tank. My suggestion is that you experiment a bit with that. You really won't need to go over 30 watts but might find a slightly lower speed will result in even better foam consistency. Either way, I suspect you will be really pleased with the results from this change. Let it ride as it is for the next several to 24 hours and report back. That said, it might be best to post the update in the other thread for that so we can keep this thread more about final settings.

I will probably ask moderators to move these posts into the other thread any ways that way we have one thread that people can refer to for what is working for people and another thread covering how to setup and trouble shoot.


http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2546139

 

[lee_d_m]

Ok, will do and thanks for your help. Feel free to move this to the other thread, I wasn't aware that one existed until you mentioned it.

Cheers

 

[kavatica]

Bubble King mini 200 slim with RD3

Bubble King mini 200 slim with RD3

I have a Bubble King Mini 200 slim with RD3 pump running on my 150 gallon mixed its in my sump which is a trigger system emerald 39 depth is set to 9" and pump runs around 38. I think I've had it for maybe a year or so love the skimmer its really awesome i love it even more because i use to travel allot for work so i really haven't sat down and dialed it correctly like i have the last few weeks cause i finally got a job where im home now and i gotta say im even more impressed!! The pic shows maybe a day, day and half collection and i can see the chunks its pulling out with the foam actually forming down the neck into the collection cup, before i really didn't get that unless when i cleaned it and forgot to seat the neck back down properly. So i look forward to weeks collection and see if it smells like death like it usually does when i dump the cup.

 

[reefid]

Ac BK SM250 running 130G sps dominated tank with 2 small tangs, 2 anthias , queen angel and 3 nemos. Also 5 firefish and one borbo . Skimmer sit at 8" water level. Edge pipe closed 60%.



Should I pull it down 8.5" ? Thats 5 days worth of skimmate.

Thanks

Hendrik

 

[ReefClownMIA]

Ac BK SM250 running 130G sps dominated tank with 2 small tangs, 2 anthias , queen angel and 3 nemos. Also 5 firefish and one borbo . Skimmer sit at 8" water level. Edge pipe closed 60%.

Should I pull it down 8.5" ? Thats 5 days worth of skimmate.

Thanks

Hendrik

Hendrik,

This skimmer is very large for your system size, sounds like you have a mid size bio load.
I'd bring it down to 8.5", run around 37w on the pump, and see if this will help., You're running the skimmer pretty dry, and may benefit from running it a little more wet.

 

[slief]

Hendrik,

This skimmer is very large for your system size, sounds like you have a mid size bio load.
I'd bring it down to 8.5", run around 37w on the pump, and see if this will help., You're running the skimmer pretty dry, and may benefit from running it a little more wet.

I think his Supermarin uses the Red Dragon with the adjustable volute and not the RD3 pump. ReefID, please correct me if I am wrong. For his light load relative to the skimmer size, 9" is about perfect with the Red Dragon. In fact, I ran my SM250 with the RD3 in 9" of water for the first several months and it skimmed just fine too. I have since lowered it but my load is pretty heavy. In my experience, the lighter the load, the deeper the sump for that skimmer as he will need to skim wet to maintain the consistency. Judging by the foam collecting on the neck, it looks like it's set pretty well as it is. If anything, he could improve the skimmate output by closing the wedge slightly but that will result in wetter skimmate. The amount of skimmate isn't horrible for a small tank considering the SM250 has a pretty large diameter collection cup.

 

[reefid]

Thank you Slief and ReefClomMIA,

I will to increase the water level. Yes Slief was right mine is normal red dragon pump.
Anyway just realised this thread designed for ppl to post their skimmer. Will post in the tuning thread

Thanks

Hendrik

 

[ReefClownMIA]

I've had my skimmer setup on PVC pipes, to raise it to the proper water height..

Figured it was time to ditch the PVC pipes!

Before:

Build this:

After:

 

[reefid]

:blown: That stand is amazing, thanks for sharing.

 

[SchnitzelReef]

I am not really following what your issue is. I just checked your build thread because you left out some important info such as the model/size of the skimmer, your display size and fish load. It looks like you have a Double Cone 250 skimmer, 250 gallon display and from what I can tell, you don't have many fish in there. When you say you have the pump at full power, I assume you are talking about the RD3? What is the sump depth in the skimmer chamber from the bottom of the skimmer to the top of the sump water line?


The best pump setting for the Double Cone 250 is about 37-38 watts. The lower the setting the finer the bubbles so I would start at 37 watts. Given your load, you are going to need to have the skimmer in at least 9" or more of water to get the water level where it transitions into foam up about 1" from the collar where the cup threads onto the body. You can close the wedge pipe to raise the water level inside the skimmer but if you have to close it more than half way, you should really raise the sump level. Closing it more than half way will likely cause a bit of surging in the skimmer because you end up restricting the flow out of the skimmer too much.

That's funny you mention that. I have my DC250 running at 37w, and I have it in 10" of water, and I have the output closed around 90%. Skimmer doesn't surge, but I tried lowering the skimmer even more, and it didn't matter. I still had to run the pipe closed 90%.

Side note. My skimmer works great, and skimms very consistent. Just boggles my mind why the pipe has to be closed so much.

 

[slief]

That's funny you mention that. I have my DC250 running at 37w, and I have it in 10" of water, and I have the output closed around 90%. Skimmer doesn't surge, but I tried lowering the skimmer even more, and it didn't matter. I still had to run the pipe closed 90%.

Side note. My skimmer works great, and skimms very consistent. Just boggles my mind why the pipe has to be closed so much.

If I had to guess, you probably have a light load relative to the skimmer size. That Double Cone 250 skimmer is rated up to 390 gallons heavy load and they are conservatively rated. The lighter the load, the greater the need to have the skimmer running deep. I run a Supermarin 250 on my 480G display with over 50 fish in it. Many of which are 8" or more. While it's not the same model skimmer, they are very similar in design and the bodies are the same size and nearly the same volume. While I am not sure of your display size and load, if I had to guess, your skimmer is relatively oversized so you are having to run it deep to keep the foam head up high in the body. Especially given that your skimmer doesn't have to break a sweat to keep your DOC's to a minimum. The end result is consistently low DOC levels. At the end of the day, it's all about the consistency and the end result and as long as it's working for you, that is all that counts.

 

[SchnitzelReef]

If I had to guess, you probably have a light load relative to the skimmer size. That Double Cone 250 skimmer is rated up to 390 gallons heavy load and they are conservatively rated. The lighter the load, the greater the need to have the skimmer running deep. I run a Supermarin 250 on my 480G display with over 50 fish in it. Many of which are 8" or more. While it's not the same model skimmer, they are very similar in design and the bodies are the same size and nearly the same volume. While I am not sure of your display size and load, if I had to guess, your skimmer is relatively oversized so you are having to run it deep to keep the foam head up high in the body. Especially given that your skimmer doesn't have to break a sweat to keep your DOC's to a minimum. The end result is consistently low DOC levels.

Yea that's kind of what i had figured. Oh and to be clear, I am in no way complaining. I love my skimmer.

I wish I had done a little more research, I always assumed go big or go home when it comes to skimmers and what they are rated for. My display is 250g, and I have maybe 20 fish. (And they are smaller fish). I think I would have been better off going with a bubble magus....hahaha. Gotcha. No but seriously, I think a DC/SM 200 would have fit my tank better.

And I'm glad I posted this, hopefully someone reading this won't make the same mistake. Bigger is not better with Bubble King. These skimmers are no joke. I dose potassium nitrate weekly to try to keep my nitrates at 1ppm.

Quick snap of tank and skimmer

 

[slief]

Yea that's kind of what i had figured. Oh and to be clear, I am in no way complaining. I love my skimmer.

I wish I had done a little more research, I always assumed go big or go home when it comes to skimmers and what they are rated for. My display is 250g, and I have maybe 20 fish. (And they are smaller fish). I think I would have been better off going with a bubble magus....hahaha. Gotcha. No but seriously, I think a DC/SM 200 would have fit my tank better.

And I'm glad I posted this, hopefully someone reading this won't make the same mistake. Bigger is not better with Bubble King. These skimmers are no joke. I dose potassium nitrate weekly to try to keep my nitrates at 1ppm.

Quick snap of tank and skimmer

Good god.. Your tank is gorgeous and your skimmer looks like it's performing amazingly well given the size of your display. I wonder if your dosing has something to do with the skimmers performance given the light load??? I wouldn't expect that good of foam consistently given the skimmer size in relation to your load. I run mine wet so I don't see that kind of foam making it's way into the cup despite my heavier load. Then again, the Supermarin's are really great for wet skimming anyway.

I just took these now. This is about 5 days of worth of skimmate. Running at 37 watts and 8.5". Wedge pipe is just shy of 1/4 closed but again, this is the SM250 on a much heavier load.

 

[ReefPharmer]

Bubble King Skimmer Users. Post your pictures and skimmer setup here!

That's when I first set it up. I no longer get buildup on the neck area

 

[SchnitzelReef]

Good god.. Your tank is gorgeous and your skimmer looks like it's performing amazingly well given the size of your display. I wonder if your dosing has something to do with the skimmers performance??? I wouldn't expect that good of foam consistently given the skimmer size in relation to your load. I run mine wet so I don't see that kind of foam making it's way into the cup despite my heavier load. Then again, the Supermarin's are really great for wet skimming anyway.



I just took these now. This is about 5 days of worth of skimmate. Running at 37 watts and 8.5". Wedge pipe is just shy of 1/4 closed but again, this is the SM250 on a much heavier load.

Looks tasty lol

My skimmer doesn't consistently foam like that. It comes in waves. Some times it foams like crazy, and sometimes it just cruises by not foaming much. I consider that consistent with my bioload

 

[slief]

Looks tasty lol

My skimmer doesn't consistently foam like that. It comes in waves. Some times it foams like crazy, and sometimes it just cruises by not foaming much. I consider that consistent with my bioload

That makes sense and is in line with what I would expect under the circumstances.


Yea, mine looks tasty all right.. :lolspin: I drain it every week or so into a 1.5 gallon jug. I dump the jug down the toilet when it gets full. That is the one chore I don't like because as you might expect, it's pretty rancid smelling.