I have a 75 gallon tank, heavily stocked, with a reef devil running. At first I was really disappointed. The Catalina (spelling an issue here) pump that was included, just wasn't performing for me.
So, about two months ago, I installed a Velocity T4 pump (I purchased this pump for a closed loop, but it wasn't powerful enough!) and this woke the skimmer up.
The T4 pumps I think 1225 GPH at 0' of head pressure which causes drips of water around the intake of the skimmer, but even so, I fill the skimmer cup with nasty skimmate about every four days! To cure the leakage from the intake, I just drilled a hole in a Tupperware plastic pan, sat the foot of the skimmer in that pan, and placed some air line tubing that runs from the pan to my sump.
Grant it, for the price of the ETSS, you would think they would include a pressure pump from the get go.
The Reef Devil is rated for a 700 GPH pump, and ETSS recommends using a Mag Drive 7, which I tried, and a little Giant rated for around the same, with little to no results.
Let me warn you about the T4 pump, however, it adds about two degrees to your tank temp., so maybe another pump, would be better.
To stop my rambling, what I'm saying is: A bigger pump that what ETSS recommends will give you awesome results.
Sorry if I typed too much, and I really hope I helped. If need be, I'll send some pics of my set up!
--izzy
So, about two months ago, I installed a Velocity T4 pump (I purchased this pump for a closed loop, but it wasn't powerful enough!) and this woke the skimmer up.
The T4 pumps I think 1225 GPH at 0' of head pressure which causes drips of water around the intake of the skimmer, but even so, I fill the skimmer cup with nasty skimmate about every four days! To cure the leakage from the intake, I just drilled a hole in a Tupperware plastic pan, sat the foot of the skimmer in that pan, and placed some air line tubing that runs from the pan to my sump.
Grant it, for the price of the ETSS, you would think they would include a pressure pump from the get go.
The Reef Devil is rated for a 700 GPH pump, and ETSS recommends using a Mag Drive 7, which I tried, and a little Giant rated for around the same, with little to no results.
Let me warn you about the T4 pump, however, it adds about two degrees to your tank temp., so maybe another pump, would be better.
To stop my rambling, what I'm saying is: A bigger pump that what ETSS recommends will give you awesome results.
Sorry if I typed too much, and I really hope I helped. If need be, I'll send some pics of my set up!
--izzy
