DAS skimmer club

do you guys think an ex-1 would be overkill for a 40 gal frag tank? i have a ex-1 on my 90 and love it but that tank is stocked.

the frag tank will have a very light fish load and no sump, so i have been looking at externals. any other suggestions below $300?

also is petorama still the only reseller?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13633563#post13633563 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by coseal
do you guys think an ex-1 would be overkill for a 40 gal frag tank? i have a ex-1 on my 90 and love it but that tank is stocked.

the frag tank will have a very light fish load and no sump, so i have been looking at externals. any other suggestions below $300?

also is petorama still the only reseller?
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No, it should be fine. It will probably be idle quite a bit of the time, or atleast more than it is on a larger tank like your 90 but it would work great for a smaller tank IMO. What I mean by idle is that there will be more periods or longer periods where it isnt skimming because it wont have any problem keeping up with the 40 gallon tank. So it will skim out whatever there is to skim out and then it may stop skimming for a while because it got everything out that there was to skim out of the tank. Im sure you notice times when your skimmer on your 90 skims alot and other times when it skims less. On the 40 gallon there will just be more times or longer periods when it isnt skimming much or at all because it will have no problem keeping up with the load.

Anyway, the EX-1 would work fine on a 40. It may be more skimmer than you need but it isnt overkill.

I think Orca Systems still can order them but they get them from DAS / PetOrama so if they are out of stock then Orca wont be able to get them either. I dont think they stock them.
 
Just to add ... DAS/Pet-O-Rama has been good in the past at shipping the skimmers out quickly. The only issue was stock. If they are in stock, you will get one quickly.

I would suggest emailing Pet-o-Rama and asking if the skimmer is in stock. If you dont get an email reply, a call to one of the Pet-O-Rama retail outlets in Texas is worth making. They can tell you if the skimmers are in stock. I believe that the Phone numbers to the retail stores are listed on the website that Painkiller linked above.
 
Maybe someone else that owns an ex1 can chime in and help you out, but I was under the assumption that it would overflow if the air is all the way on. So this means the only real adjustment on a ex1 is the water level.

Have you tried putting hot ro/di water down your air lines to clean them out?
I try to do this at least once a month.
 
The skimmer shouldnt overflow if the air is wide open. You just need to lower the water level by reducing the amount of low into the skimmer. or, if you did the gate valve mod for the output, just open the valve a little.
The 2 skims most effectively with the air valved down a little from my experience with it, but the water level can be lowered if the valves are opened up so that it shouldnt overflow.

The 1, as far as I know, shouldnt need a Venturi mod. You can get it to overflow if you want by increasing the flow into the skimmer but being able to get the skimmer to overflow or not isnt a measure of whether the recirc pump needs a mod.

I think there have been some owners who have mesh modded the pump but I havent heard of and venturi mods for these pumps. The really dont need a mod to perform well. Personally, I wouldnt touch the venturi. If I were to do anything it would be experiment with mesh mod. But again, they dont need a mod to perform very well.

I would recommend adding a gate valve on the return since it can be done in a way that the skimmer can be returned 100% back to stock. This just adds some flexibility in flow rate through the skimmer. But I dont think they need a pump mod to perform.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13661262#post13661262 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rekk
Do anyone ever order replacement impeller from Petorama?
I broken my ceramic shaft collar during cleaning. I don't know if they just sell replacement collar only. If I buy the replacement impeller as linked below. Do you know if it comes with collars?

http://stores.petorama.net/Detail.bok?no=99&sfs=7af2a4ae
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I dont know but the damn impellar is 1/3 the price of the entire pump. How much can it cost to make that impellar ...

Proprietary parts and the skimmers that require them can be a P.I.T.A.

I know that doesnt answer your question. Sorry. You can try emailing DAS/Pet-O-Rama or calling one of the retail stores in TX.
 
I used the advice from people on the board and kept the water level right at the bottom of the neck and adjusted the air accordingly. Is it better to reduce the flow below the recommended amount and fully open the air?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13661828#post13661828 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DarG
I dont know but the damn impellar is 1/3 the price of the entire pump. How much can it cost to make that impellar ...

Proprietary parts and the skimmers that require them can be a P.I.T.A.

I know that doesnt answer your question. Sorry. You can try emailing DAS/Pet-O-Rama or calling one of the retail stores in TX.
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The problem is even more compounded by the fact they have two different designs of impeller and shaft for the exact same pump. Since I had one each on the same skimmer I have no idea if one design is newer than the other or how to tell which the replacement part is for. More questions but no help for you, sorry.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13672509#post13672509 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Bud's Reef
The problem is even more compounded by the fact they have two different designs of impeller and shaft for the exact same pump. Since I had one each on the same skimmer I have no idea if one design is newer than the other or how to tell which the replacement part is for. More questions but no help for you, sorry.
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Thats true. But I wonder if the replacement would actually fit either type. I doubt that the volute / impellar housing is different on the pumps so the impellar they sell may replace either type. The Impellar in the picture looks like it has the collars / inserts on the ends of shaft so it may just replace those in both types. Further compunding the issue is that you basically have nobody to call at DAS/Pet-O-Rama for support. Emails may or may not be answered. The staff at one of the retail outlets may or may not know the answer. The only 100% safe bet for rekk is to buy an entire replacement pump for 140 bucks and that just is ridiculous. Then again, it wouldnt hurt to have a replacement pump in case of future problems with one of the pumps. But that is an expensive way to go for solving the impellar issue.

I really like my DAS and think it is a real good skimmer. Ive owned a lot of skimmers over the years and the DAS was the best performer to this point. No doubt that they are designed well and very effective. The Aquabee pumps are FAR better than alot of the pumps used on many of the chinese needlwheel / needlwheel recirc. skimmers on the market. They are also still a good value, relative to many of the needlewheel / recirc. skimmers on the market. But the idea of proprietary pumps has never stopped bothering me. I havent had any issues at all with the DAS EX-2 but the potential is there. I really hate the thought of a proprietary pump or part breaking and then dealing with the downtime, often inflated expense of parts/pumps and possible availability issues. I just recently took the DAS out of service and replaced it with an old tech, "obsolete" venturi skimmer. It's great to know that if the pump goes out, a quick trip to the LFS gets the skimmer back up and running. Nothing against the DAS skimmers at all. My EX-2 performed very well. Just a personal choice I think.

And once again, no help for rekk
s problem. Sorry rekk. I hope somebody can sort it out for you.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13672378#post13672378 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by md fishes
I used the advice from people on the board and kept the water level right at the bottom of the neck and adjusted the air accordingly. Is it better to reduce the flow below the recommended amount and fully open the air?
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I'm pretty sure that if you open the air valves all the way up and adjust the water level in it that it wont skim very well. It has been covered way back in this thread somewhere.
But then again if you look at the new msx/oct with the sicce pump they have there air all the way open and use the water level to adjust the skimmer. So maybe just maybe it can be done with our skimmers??
I'll try it sometime and post the results even though I'm overskimming in most standards. If you try it post the results, I'm curious.
 
Ive tried it. It still skims but I think performance is best with the air just a bit restricted. It could be different with the EX-1 though, I used the EX-2.
 
I've been researching skimmers lately. I have owed 2 Deltec skimmers in the past. The Turbo 1250 and the APF600. I loved them both- although I think the T1250 was rated way too high (125g capacity, should be more like 75 gallons).

Anyway, I have been comparing Deltec to DAS. Sometimes the differences are obvious. Sometimes not. Take for example the T1250 and the BX-1. The DAS is almost 3" shorter. That leads me to the conclusion that the Deltec pump really is stronger. I would buy another Turbo in a second if I knew the performance was as good as the Deltec (and if Petorama would return my e-mails). Build quality has to be reasonable, but performance is a must.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13703717#post13703717 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by my2girls
I've been researching skimmers lately. I have owed 2 Deltec skimmers in the past. The Turbo 1250 and the APF600. I loved them both- although I think the T1250 was rated way too high (125g capacity, should be more like 75 gallons).

Anyway, I have been comparing Deltec to DAS. Sometimes the differences are obvious. Sometimes not. Take for example the T1250 and the BX-1. The DAS is almost 3" shorter. That leads me to the conclusion that the Deltec pump really is stronger. I would buy another Turbo in a second if I knew the performance was as good as the Deltec (and if Petorama would return my e-mails). Build quality has to be reasonable, but performance is a must.
Click to expand...

Which DAS do you have? As far as I know they are the same pumps as Deltec. They have always returned my emails.
 
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