Building a new skimmer, recirculate with a reeflo hammerhead?

[Piper27]

I am having a custom skimmer built and would like opinions on what pump to use.

The skimmer is a 5' tall 10" wide, mazzei injected recirculating external. 4" neck with a 8" tall cone at the top before the 4" wide and 12" tall neck. I am going to try the 1.5" mazzei injector first since the exit of most pumps is 1.5".

I was thinking about using a reeflo gold hammerhead hybrid, hoping that it would be quiet enough to keep in an occupied area we are in most of the time. Which has all of our equipment in it already so it doesn't have to be dead silent. But I have had great experiences with my marlin and darts. Very quiet and great pumps. But I have not tried a hammerhead before. I don't want to use to much power, that's another plus of the hybrid, I can use the barracuda impeller if it runs the mazzei to cut down on power. Then upgrade impellors when I move and add the 2' extension.

Is there any pump that would be equal to the hammerhead in that its a high pressure quiet external pump? Given it should be able to run the skimmer with the mazzei injector.

Any experiences with the hammerhead gold hybrid, good or bad, would be appreciated.

What is the best way to seal these pumps? I would like to not worry about leaks even though I have not had issues before with reeflo pumps. If using a special gasket or silicone will help I will use it.

I keep seeing all kinds of different models of hammerheads, different colored volutes and different shapes and such. Which is the newest or best one to buy?

Any advice would be great, I want to make sure this thing runs well.

 

[Piper27]

No one? If this was a DC pump thread I would probably in get feed back

 

[russeko8]

hammerhead pump

hammerhead pump

I currently use the standard hammerhead and I can imagine the gold is much different. It is fairly quiet though I am not picky about noise. So far it has been a great pump for its size it is quiet though when restricted heavily it does get a little noisy. I have been running it for 4 years continuously almost never off and the shaft is still clean no leaks. How big is your system? Ive seen your posts in the lifereef sections because I have been looking for a new skimmer myself. Please don shoot me for asking but have you considered doing an air fed needle wheel? Would save you a bit on electricity. Im hopefully going to be trying out my 72"tall 8" diameter 3.5" neck with a bubble blaster 10000 and an air pump today should only be about 165watts total and almost silent aside for the air pump. Hope this helps out a bit.

 

[Piper27]

I haven't thought about an air fed needle wheel. I thought about using some dart needle wheels but would need two and would rather keep the mazzei. Do you have any good links on air fed needle wheel applications?

I am not worried about wattage as long as I get the results. But if I can get the same results with less wattage and a different method I am all ears!

Unfortunately I couldn't go with another lifereef skimmer. His build time of 6-8 months was way to long. The guy building me his skimmer is doing it with better material and better pipe attachment methods for much cheaper and is getting it done in two weeks . Although it will basically be the same thing as a lifereef just upgraded with better material, pipe connections, and a cone.

 

[russeko8]

needle wheel

needle wheel

Aquarium engineering is the first I can think of but there are a lot of mods using this set up especially to upgrade the RK2 skimmers. Most modern skimmers go with needle wheels for the efficiency, consistency, and super small bubbles. When you start to get into tall skimmers though they need alittle help due to the head pressure thats why you see most of the skimmers are short for this reason and the reason of sales most people want something that will fit in a cabinet. Anyhow Im not trying to sell you a needle wheel just been using them for a long time myself. If mine dont work out the way I want I may try a venturi any idea which one I would want for a skimmer of my size the display tank is 450gallons with another 120 gallon display heavily stocked.

 

[slief]

The only issue I see is the flow requirement for the Mezzei. The Hammerhead is rated to 5000 gph. What is the flow requirement of the Mezzei injector you are using? I've run mezzei injected skimmers before and learned that the injectors perform best when the pump is matched to the injectors flow rating.

 

[Piper27]

I saw an old thread where Justin from avast was making needle wheel mods for the hammerhead pumps. I may have to pm him.

I have got great results using a mazzei injector though and feeding air into a dart doesn't sound like something I want to play with. I need this thing to run from the start and don't want to tinker.

 

[Piper27]

The only issue I see is the flow requirement for the Mezzei. The Hammerhead is rated to 5000 gph. What is the flow requirement of the Mezzei injector you are using? I've run mezzei injected skimmers before and learned that the injectors perform best when the pump is matched to the injectors flow rating.

I can not find any info on which size and models handle which flow rating... the injector selector thing didn't work when I tried to sign up and I got frustrated and quit trying.

 

[slief]

I would give Mezzei a call if you haven't already and ask them what gph they suggest. They have a few diffferent 1" injectors. I would also verify the pressure rating in psi with Reeflo prior to contacting Mezzei.

 

[slief]

When I switched a 5' Top Fathom skimmer over to dual Mezzei's, the Mezzei techs were very helpful in choosing the correct injector for my pump and skimmer thread size. If you are going through with the expense to to build a custom skimmer with Mezzei injectors, you really need to talk to Mezzei to get it right the first time. There isn't anybody here who could give you proper information on the best pump for those injectors without first knowing what the injector is rated for and even with that info, Mezzei is going to be your best source for what to look for in an ideal pump rating.

 

[slief]

FWIW, I've run Hammerhead Golds for years, they are about the most quiet pump in their class that you will find. They also have the least amount of heat transfer for their size. Personally, I love that pump. They are absolute beasts and very very efficient given their rating.

 

[Piper27]

FWIW, I've run Hammerhead Golds for years, they are about the most quiet pump in their class that you will find. They also have the least amount of heat transfer for their size. Personally, I love that pump. They are absolute beasts and very very efficient given their rating.

Thats the main thing I needed to know, thanks! I will give reeflo and mazzei a call tomorrow and update with what info I get.

 

[ca1ore]

Never used a reeflo, are they rated for pressure? Seems to me the companies that make mazzei injector skimmers use either Iwaki or PanWorld pressure pumps.

 

[Piper27]

They make both, the hammerhead is a pressure pump.

Another option I am thinking about is getting one of the nw impellors for the hammerhead. I wasn't aware anyone made them. But apparently they can be made. I will probably get both and see which runs best.

 

[ksed]

That would be an interesting comparison.

They make both, the hammerhead is a pressure pump.

Another option I am thinking about is getting one of the nw impellors for the hammerhead. I wasn't aware anyone made them. But apparently they can be made. I will probably get both and see which runs best.

 

[biecacka]

I didn't know the hammerhead was a pressure rated pump.

Corey

 

[Piper27]

Maybe its not? It was suggested to me to use it, I figured it would work fine since the head pressure it can handle is fairly high. Maybe I was misled?

 

[Piper27]

I thought hammerheads were used often on Beckett skimmers a few years back with great success, another reason I was considering one. I need to do a lot more research... I don't want a loud iwaki running in my ear that's for sure.