Bubble King

[Adobo]

Herr Jansen,

Do you foresee a time when your company will offer abschäumer for less money. Currently, abschäumer von royal-exclusiv cost more than any other brand here in the United States.

Ted

 

[John Brancheau]

Ted,

I know you asked Klaus that question, but your statement is not 100% true, while the price of these skimmers are not inexpensive, the are not the highest priced skimmers in their catagories.....

I did some shopping by price early on, pound for pound, my 300 was less expensive than some of his competeitirs........

John

 

[Adobo]

John,

I am a beer budget kind of a guy so I wouldn't even know who his competitors would be. To get into any bubble king skimmers, you gotta lay down $1700. Only the biggest skimmers from the other manufacturers cost that much. You're probably right, though. Those of you you who did the price shopping can probably point out where bubble king offers a better value.

The nature of my question was more around bubble king offering something in the next category down. As an example, I know ER and Deltec sell a lot of skimmers in the $1000 category. I am curious to see if royal exclusive ever wants to play in that "market".

Ted

 

[moonpod]

Is it bad when I'm deciding which specialty I should go into, just so I can afford this hobby!?

Peace,
John

John, that's not even funny. Yes I'm prostletyzing and yes it's easy for me to say b/c I'm done training, but you gotta go into the field you love. You gotta do the field that you'll still be happy doing even after medicare cuts the reimbursement randomly by 50% as they did to the CT surgeons a few years back. It can be that arbitrary. You cannot make that decision on a $$ basis b/c you don't know what the finances will hold in 20 years. I know you're joking, but it's a thought that should be expunged from your brain.

 

[moonpod]

Oh, and Ted, I'm guessing that it may not be "worth it" for Klaus to go into a cheaper line of skimmers or go "smaller". Due to the size of the operation, he doesn't run on "economy of scale" so the margin on a smaller unit with what is essentially the same amount of work to assemble may not make it "feasible". You gotta remember it's not like hundreds of these things are made a month like say...ER. It's more like...10.

 

[John Brancheau]

I do understand Ted, and please do not mis- understand me, I had two euro's that I was using before I upgraded to the BK, I think the hardest part of reducing the cost would be the Red Dragon pump, as you proabably know, that alone is a grand, and like moonpod said, I think Klaus works on quality over quanity..

Not to say of course that the quality is nothigh on the other skimmers, but, they purchase their pumps from another source I believe........



John

 

[Klaus Jansen]

Dear Fliger..

welcome to Cologne and visit my Company, my tanks and German beer....

@Internal ./. External skimmers,
fliger, you can regulation the water input in internal skimmer, with adjustable nozzle, reduce -40 % and higher + 100 % ..

you can regulation the water input in external skimmer, with feederpump 0 - 100 %

the idea of regulation the water input was, reduce the turbulences and for regulation the BK Skimmers on the Reeftanks. When the reefer have many fish inside the tank, is better more flow, when the tank is more for SPS-coralls, it is better to pump fewer waters by the skimer. Each reef aquarium is different. With a BK- skimer it is possible, the skimmerpower perfect on the fish existence to adjust. In addition it is however important to understand the technology and attitude to bubble King..

See you in April..

Klaus.

So Klaus, you don't put much into the "dwell time" theory, since water turns over much slower in the external than the internal?

Also - would you say the 300 External has been changed much since the first few "problems" on this thread arose? Are they easier to find the sweetspot? I have owned 3 high end large external skimmers so am somewhat familiar with finding the sweetspot, but Bubble Kings seem a little more finicky.

Is your factory in Cologne? One of my best friends family lives there and we're going out to visit next April. Would love to see the facility if that's at all possible!

 

[Klaus Jansen]

Herr Jansen,

Do you foresee a time when your company will offer abschäumer for less money. Currently, abschäumer von royal-exclusiv cost more than any other brand here in the United States.

Ted

Dear Ted,

many people ask me that.... we want see... Cheaper Skimmers are not running with Red Dragon Pump.

regards... Klaus

 

[Klaus Jansen]

Oh, and Ted, I'm guessing that it may not be "worth it" for Klaus to go into a cheaper line of skimmers or go "smaller". Due to the size of the operation, he doesn't run on "economy of scale" so the margin on a smaller unit with what is essentially the same amount of work to assemble may not make it "feasible". You gotta remember it's not like hundreds of these things are made a month like say...ER. It's more like...10.

@Moonpod,

100 % Correctly... we can build maximally 20-30 skimers in the month. More are not to become it also.

regards... Klaus

 

[Fliger]

Klaus, just to be 100% sure, you are saying there are separate contols for water and air. They are independant of one another, and I can keep the air at 100% while the water is at 50% or the other way around. If so, that is fantastic and something that is unique to BK.

I will definitely visit the company. I've been to German many times, but never to Cologne. My father is of German decent (Fliger/Flieger/Flyer). My mother is from Thailand so it doesn't show too much. ;-) And I love German beer. Munchen is in my Top 5 favorite cities in the world, I took my wife there last year and she LOVED it. We even spent some time hiking through the Bavarian Alps, we hiked up to the top and of course had too much beer up there and had to take the funicular down.

Regards,

David

 

[Klaus Jansen]

@Fliger,
thats correct... when you change the waterflow, the air achievement is always alike. It is not possible to reduce the air achievement. Only with a ball valve it is possible to reduce the air achievement. One should not do that however.

Next week we drive to bavarian alps......

best regards.... Klaus

and.. welcome in Cologne..

 

[Beenalongtime79]

Hey Chuck,

I agree w/ you for the most part, but I have many things to think about before I take the plunge on the career. I'm afraid I'm not a purist like you, I've got many factors other than Love of the field to consider before I drop all my efforts in that direction. I know that this is probably not PC, but I want to get fairly reimbursed for my 80 hr work weeks, and honestly for some fields and areas, you just don't get that fair reimbursement. In the end, I really hope I do love what I'm doing, but I guess the great thing about medicine is that you've got so many outs, if you do decide that you don't like what you are doing, to pursue other fields or even a different type of career in medicine.

Of course I was kidding about the reeftank. Hehe. What w/ 80 hr work weeks, that doesn't leave much time for a reeftank.

Peace,
John H.

 

[Bishop]

The red dragon pump is not a brushless DC pump correct? Then what sets it apart from other centrifugal pumps?

 

[moonpod]

Bishop I would tell you that it is by far the best mag drive pump I've ever used. Absolutely silent. Fantastic electrical consumption numbers. Amazingly low heat transfer even when used submersed. BUT it definitely follows the axiom that you pay 2x+ for the last 10% of performance.

 

[Adobo]

BUT it definitely follows the axiom that you pay 2x+ for the last 10% of performance.

In fact, that is the mind set I was hoping for when I asked if RE was going to offer more affordable skimmers. Presumably, with the current skimmer offered, they spared no expense in building the best components. The net result are skimmers that start at about $1700. But what if they decided to offer about 90% of what you get with today's bubble king skimmers? Would they be able to build it so that retail it would go for around $1000? If they did, people who would normally shop for a deltec ap851 would also be looking at bubble king skimmers.

There are some shops that want to stay specialty shops and don't care to get into the mainstream. I respect that. But at the same time, the only way to find out is to ask.

Ted

 

[RGibson]

Moonpod what i would like to have is a Iwaki MD55RLT pump with a DC motor,i have a spare Iwaki pump now i only need a DC motor to go with it. DC power saves 30% on the ele cost.

 

[Klaus Jansen]

Moonpod what i would like to have is a Iwaki MD55RLT pump with a DC motor,i have a spare Iwaki pump now i only need a DC motor to go with it. DC power saves 30% on the ele cost.

@RGibson....
Iwaki builds good magnet-coupled pumps. With a DC motor it would be even a very good pump. DC - motor is not expensive, the electronic regulation is the most expensive at so an motor. A control is twice as expensive, like the motor. The energy conservation is actually 30-50 %, depending upon efficiency of the motor.

 

[RGibson]

Klaus were can i fine a dc motor for a iwaki MD55RLT ?

 

[Versus]

IMO the plate is to reduce turbulance in the chamber and is needed. If it's making the bubbles larger I don't see it from this pic.

SteveU

hahaha looks like snow

 

[Beenalongtime79]

RGibson,

It doesn't exist... you can't retrofit one, you might as well try to build one from scratch.

Peace,
John H.