ETSS Skimmer Club!

[ostrow]

I'm considering an ETSS 900. But I can't for practical reasons run 2 pumps. I was thinking of getting an oversized pressure-rated pump, like the new Reeflo Blackfin, and run the 900 off my manifold.

Does ANYONE here run their ETSS off a manifold. There was someone a few pages back with a 900 who didn't post what pump he uses. If you see this, I'd love to hear.

Thanks all.

 

[Faisal1976us]

Reef devil deluxe start breakin (video)

Reef devil deluxe start breakin (video)

Hi ,,,

My reef devil deluxe start breakin after four days ,,,,,,,,,,,,,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzB7LpI-6xY

 

[diverdick]

An update on my etss 800. For the last year and half I have been running it I liked is sooooo much. Never needs more than a mud wipe right? Today I took the air inlet fittings off to have a look see and sure enough, they crusted up with salt creep. The salt build-up was enough to reduce the diameter about 50%. Once cleaned, shazam, the production tripled! I was sleeping a the wheel for sure.

Has anyone else had this finding?

best regards,

--Rich

 

[mojo~]

try running 3 to 4 mini in your sb 40. The more balls you use the less air it will pull. I found the 3 mini balls worked best for me.

 

[shleprock30]

Thanks Mojo, I have read where you suggest that. I went ahead and shot some video of how I currently have it running, what do you think will happen if I remove 4 balls. (running total of 8 now)

Rick

 

[montepora]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14070787#post14070787 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ostrow
I'm considering an ETSS 900. But I can't for practical reasons run 2 pumps. I was thinking of getting an oversized pressure-rated pump, like the new Reeflo Blackfin, and run the 900 off my manifold.

Does ANYONE here run their ETSS off a manifold. There was someone a few pages back with a 900 who didn't post what pump he uses. If you see this, I'd love to hear.

Thanks all.

My ETSS 1000 is feed off Reeflo Hammerhead that is also supplying return and other equipments I have. I am thinking about getting a higher neck from the 1500 model so I can process more water. Currently, my pump is throttle back a lot.

HTH.

 

[ostrow]

Montepora ... thanks. What sort of head pressure does your Hammerhead face? I'm for some reason not getting a lot of flow out of it with the pump wide open, but my previous Hammerhead gave a lot more. Just wondering. I pump upstairs and have close to 20'.

 

[txfatcat]

well I recieved a ETSS 800( older model) that had been barely used. I recieved two heads for it. A tall and a short. I currently run the tall.


I have it in a 150g sump for a 265 gallon tank. I power it with a mag 12 and it runs great. It didnt have a gate valve on it and I put a ball valve on it instead(gate valve will be here this week). I have yet To adjust it and it works great so far. I have been adding live rock and it seems to produce the most skimmate after I add rock or it goes through a mini cycle. I have no bioload at the moment. I am so glad I found this thread. I have been looking for it for a while. I have recently changed the hard pipe inlet to a soft flexible duct that alow the pump to be mor e comfortable and the intake tubes to be inline and perfect unlike the pictures. I also had to create a catch container out of a cranberry juice bottle becase the size of my stand. It wont allow me to fit the factory container in and out. It will also stop the flow of skimmate when full. Its cheap to make and will produce pictures here tomorrow. Sorry for the large pictures. figured it would thumbnail them as to not jack up the thread.

here are some picks of my setup(a work in progress)

a>

 

[montepora]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14149993#post14149993 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ostrow
Montepora ... thanks. What sort of head pressure does your Hammerhead face? I'm for some reason not getting a lot of flow out of it with the pump wide open, but my previous Hammerhead gave a lot more. Just wondering. I pump upstairs and have close to 20'.

Mine is about the same, the basement is about 12' and then another 7' to the tank. Check and make sure that nothing is stuck at the strainer, that actually happened to me where algae and other stuff cover the strainer which affected the pump's output that I failed to notice. Another thing is to see the distance between the pump outlet to the first elbow/T of your manifold. I was told that they need at least 2' to work properly.

Oh, I am using the Hammerhead Gold which has less output then the original HH.

 

[ostrow]

Finally figured the pump issue.

So, does anyone have photos/description/links that show the difference between the original 1000 and the current one? I'm having no luck searching out the description of the changes.

Also, can the skimmer outlet be submerged? Meaning, can one sit the 1000 in the sump?

 

[txfatcat]

I am almost sure the outlet can be submerged. If you look at mine, you will see its underwater with a 90 to turn it down. I have changed this to a gate valve with no 90 as of now. It still works great. One thing that I did in the planning stage of from my understanding in the manual was to cut the skimmer stand so that the black bottom section of the skimmer is right at the water line. The top of the black bottom section sits about 1/8-1/4" above the water line.

I have not seen any outstanding issues that would be out of the norm with this setup. Now that I have a gate on mine, things should be more consistant.

please keep in mind I have a 800 so I am not sure if this applies to the 1000. I dont know or understand why it wouldnt be the same. I would call AETech to double check.

here is the number that I have found.
Contact us
845-838-9044

 

[ShootMe]

Though I would join in if not in a complete active role in the club yet. I picked up the ETSS 800 from ReefEnabler today at a steal. I am very impressed with the build quality of the skimmer, feels like this thing will last forever. Right now I am in the process of completing the build of my 40 breeder , as you would guess my tank is extremely under sized for the skimmer at hand. I will have a big enough tank one day, 3-4 years from now plus the price was just too good. Now I am convinced to get an AEtech skimmer on my tank and will decide on the Reef Devil or the Sump Buddy 40. Unless you guys think I can put an 800 on a 40breeder. :crazy1:

 

[ReefEnabler]

Thanks for picking it up!

I didn't realize you were going to try this on a 40

If you're concerned with overskimming, remember that you can restrict the output of the iwaki 55 pump with the ball valve, and then restrict the drain on the skimmer slightly to compensate. This will actually reduce the power consumption of the pump because less work is being done. The pump is designed for pressure so it won't harm the pump.



Would you still be using the iwaki 55 if you go with a reef devil for now?

if you are going to plumb that iwaki, then you might as well try the 800, especially during live rock curing when the water will get really gunky.

Remember it can take some time for it to kick in, so don't over restrict the drain pipe valve, make only small adjustments and wait a day whenever you make adjustments before restricting further. often over restricting these can make them overflow easily, filling the waste collector with sump water, which could drop the waterlevel in the sump too low.

I will check out your build thread.

 

[montepora]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14179224#post14179224 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ostrow
Finally figured the pump issue.

So, does anyone have photos/description/links that show the difference between the original 1000 and the current one? I'm having no luck searching out the description of the changes.

Also, can the skimmer outlet be submerged? Meaning, can one sit the 1000 in the sump?

I have the old model with small holes drilled on top of the water inlet, unlike the current ETSS, air intake is built on the side of the mixing tower.

So what was the issue for you pump?

 

[ostrow]

Ok, someone has to explain to me this whole external collection cup thing. How, exactly, does it shut off the skimmer when it fills? I see the ball that closes off air escaping at the top. But that air is independent of the skimmer air intake.

If I don't want to use an external collection bucket, then I close a valve on that drain on the bottom of the cup. No air escapes. The skimmer has to still work though. If it didn't, they'd have to sell it with the external collection cup and the standard one would not serve any purpose.

So, how exactly does that external cup shut the skimmer off?

 

[txfatcat]

It uses the ball. I dont understand how it works without an external either. I have an external but cant see that if I ran without one how it would work?????

The way that I have built my external(cranberry juice bottle) is that the "outake" air tube is stopped and lower than the intake (water/fluid) tube. This way when it fills to the top, it stops the flow of air and stops skimming


Any engineers have some insight that can help us all to understand??????

 

[shleprock30]

I think it is all due to back pressure. Without holes in the lid to let the air escape the back pressure will kill the foam head. That is what happens when the outlet tubing, run into your collection device ie. milk jug or whatever else, gets covered with skimate.

Just take the tubing and stick it into a glass of water and see what happens to the foam head, also works to stop floods if the skimmer goes a little nuts.

If you want the cup to work as a collection cup without the external collection device, then you would probably just need to drill holes in the lid to allow the air to escape.

Rick

 

[cnaegler]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14188026#post14188026 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by shleprock30
I think it is all due to back pressure. Without holes in the lid to let the air escape the back pressure will kill the foam head. That is what happens when the outlet tubing, run into your collection device ie. milk jug or whatever else, gets covered with skimate.

Just take the tubing and stick it into a glass of water and see what happens to the foam head, also works to stop floods if the skimmer goes a little nuts.

If you want the cup to work as a collection cup without the external collection device, then you would probably just need to drill holes in the lid to allow the air to escape.

Rick

That's pretty much how an external collection cup works and, yep, you'd have to drill air holes in the lid. Otherwise, no foam head.

 

[montepora]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14181175#post14181175 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ShootMe
Though I would join in if not in a complete active role in the club yet. I picked up the ETSS 800 from ReefEnabler today at a steal. I am very impressed with the build quality of the skimmer, feels like this thing will last forever. Right now I am in the process of completing the build of my 40 breeder , as you would guess my tank is extremely under sized for the skimmer at hand. I will have a big enough tank one day, 3-4 years from now plus the price was just too good. Now I am convinced to get an AEtech skimmer on my tank and will decide on the Reef Devil or the Sump Buddy 40. Unless you guys think I can put an 800 on a 40breeder. :crazy1:

I think you can definitely plug in the ETSS 800 for your 40g as long as you have a big enough sump with baffles. Also, don't be alarm when your fish come down with ich briefly. That would be due to the high saturation of oxygen. I do not believe overskimming and I think you will get crystal clear water~

I could be crazy but I really think this is doable.

 

[ShootMe]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14190471#post14190471 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by montepora
I think you can definitely plug in the ETSS 800 for your 40g as long as you have a big enough sump with baffles. Also, don't be alarm when your fish come down with ich briefly. That would be due to the high saturation of oxygen. I do not believe overskimming and I think you will get crystal clear water~

I could be crazy but I really think this is doable.

Thank you for the advice. At the moment there is nothing in the tank beside rock and salt. I’m not going to add the clean up crew until nitrates are at 0 and the first fish would be a few weeks after that. I have a few options on how to install the skimmer and pump. Due to space limitations the skimmer will likely have to be internal. Currently I am using a 20 gallon high tank as the sump with three baffles; I can replace this with a 20 long and drill the long side for the iwaki 55 pump, plumb it into the skimmer then have the waste collection cup behind my stand. Or I can use the 20 high with a mag 12, in that case both the mag pump and the skimmer would be internal.

First a couple of questions. The water level in the skimmer should be 1” above the top of the black base correct? What should the depth of the water be that the skimmer is going to sit in and/or does it really matter? Second how many micro bubbles should I expect to come out of the skimmer? Third, how much space should be between the skimmer outlet and the baffle wall? This might determine if I can go with the 20 high or 20 long.

Thank you for the advice ReefEnabler