High Performance Skimmer for SPS

[ReeferMonkey]

My friend is a former DAS employee and now reps their products. He's a top-notch guy who has always gone the extra mile for me and the people in our local club. If anyone is interested, shoot me an email and I'll pass along his contact info.

nellio1 AT lsu DOT edu

 

[Denadai]

Decided to invest on an AP702 Deltec skimmer and what a difference........ it is true that it is a very expensive skimmer, but the difference in production was "huge". I even stopped dosing ozone in my tank because with this skimmer, now my ORP is always a little bit above 400 (and it used to be 300....).

The other nice thing about recirculating skimmers is that you plug them, make them run and you can almost forget about them. If you want to skim wet.... just open the air valves or even take them out. You ant to skim dry an put the aire valces in the 2 o'clock position.

I would never go back to a beckett type skimmer.

That is what IÃ"šÃ‚´m looking for.....I realy donÃ"šÃ‚´t care to pay 2000,00 in a Deltec skimmer if he does the job and if he is realy superior to my becket skimmer

This thread is being very useful to me

Thank you guys

 

[JerseyReef]

Here's a pic of my dual beckett, tall chamber skimmer that was made by a friend of mine for me. Now, only if I can get it hooked up

 

[Wiskey]

That is a VERY cool skimmer. You should put spotlights on it when you get it hooked up :lol:

Whiskey

 

[JerseyReef]

Thanks for the comment. I guess contact time wouldn't be an issue with this one, would it?

 

[Leopardshark]

But doesnÃ"šÃ‚´t the contact chamber is the black box? I think it is the one that should be bigger if the bubble chamber is taller.

 

[jackson6745]

I have seen becketts produce small bubbles, but there has always been inconsistnet larger bubbles thrown in the mix. But this is only personal observation from my own MRC becketts that I have played with. [/B]

Travis I noticed the same thing with my MRC until I upgraded my dual beckett MR-2 with genxpcx 55, to a Panworld 200ps. The bubbles are tiny and consistant (double the wattage though)

Anyway, waiting for my DAS BX-3 to come so I can get rid of the beckett

 

[Fatboy]

I agree with a lot of people that the quality of the MRC skimmers is great, but for me the most important thing in a skimmer is that it actually works as is intended to do.

The beckett skimmers can move a lot of water, but according to my experience and after running several brands, they can't produce as much as a recirculating one.

When I had my MR-2 skimmer, I was "always" tweaking the air valve in order to try to get the best performance out of the skimmer, but it still didn't produced as expected. For a long time I thought my skimmer didn't produce any more because my water was clean and there was nothing else to take out, but I was wrong......

This is a picture with the result of the last 24 hours of operation of the MR-2 (with a lot of tweaking....)



After installing the AP702 (I know it is a big skimmer and it can't be compared to the MR-2 in size......), the skimmer went crazy and for three months the skimmer was going crazy producing.

This is a picture with the production of the first 24 hours of operation of the AP702 (I cleaned my skimmer before installing it and it only took three hours to the skimmer to start producing...)



As i said earlier, for almost three months my skimmer was producing some really nasty stuff but now the production have come down a lot.

Results with the AP702 ?

- Now I can feed "heavily" and still my nitrates are in 1 (measured with Tunze kit that is very precise...)
- My phosphates never go over 0.10 (measured with Hanna Colorimeter and Deltec test...)
- My water has never been so clear in the past
- I was able to stop ozone injection because now my Redox is always over 400 (in the past I was having problems even to reach 350 with ozone)
- I have been able to add more fish to my tank

I have been able to do all of this because the AP702 its a real monster.... but I have seen some other people in my country changing from becketts to some smaller Deltec skimmers (like the APF600 and AP701), and they also say that they would never go back.

 

[kimoyo]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7193707#post7193707 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Travis
I have heard great things about the Barr but am still doubtful that it will pull better than a BK. I have gotten to the part in that thread where cali reef has posted comparisons between his skimmers but this has only been after a short time. I will have to wait and read more to see his long term results.

Not only did the $750 barr pull darker and more skimmate than the BK300, he added a deltec 701 and it pulled darker and more skimmate than both combined. It was very interesting to see but I have a lot of reading to this weekend to understand it.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7212400#post7212400 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Fatboy
The beckett skimmers can move a lot of water, but according to my experience and after running several brands, they can't produce as much as a recirculating one.

What skimmers did you use?

 

[Wiskey]

Fatboy, what pump did you drive your MR-2 with?

Thanks,
Whiskey

 

[Fatboy]

Wiskey...... I was using the recommended Iwaki 55 pump.

Maybe an Iwaki 70 would be a much better pump for that type of skimmer (and with a double beckett....), but then the energy consumption goes way up and you are heating the water of your tank (345 watts the 70 against 185 of the 55). The other problem is that the Iwaki 70 is not very efficient when you measure GPH/Watt. The 55 has an index of 5.97 and the 70 an index of 4.45.

That's another thing I have noticed with the Deltec skimmer...... When I was running the Iwaki 55 pump, keeping the temperature in my tank was much more difficult. After taking the Iwaki off line and even that the AP702 has two pumps, the temperature of the tank has gone down a little bit.

And regarding noise levels ? Let me tell you that I'm not missing the HUMMMM..... that the Iwaki 55 used to produce. The Eheim pumps are very quiet in comparison.

 

[Wiskey]

I am supprized by your results, but I am glad you found something that works for you.

Btw, nice bike

Whiskey

 

[Travis]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7212665#post7212665 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Fatboy
Maybe an Iwaki 70 would be a much better pump for that type of skimmer (and with a double beckett....)

I ran that same skimmer for a couple years and I can tell you the Iwaki 70 would not make a difference, on a single injector anyways. I ran it with a Mag 18, an Iwaki 55, and an Iwaki 70. I had the same results with the 55 and the 70. I think the performance of a single injector reaches its peak level at what an Iwaki 55 pushes through it. Any more than that and it seems that extra watts are consumed just for the same performance.

 

[Fliger]

I've had a lot of nice NW skimmers and every time I leave my buddy's house (sidewinder770) who has a big Barr, I always wonder. On my next large set-up, if I have

- a fish room
- no electricity concerns
- no noise concerns
- a little more time to watch my skimmer

It would be a hard decision. I like NW skimmers for a lot of reasons, but its hard to imagine any hobbyist pump beating Scott's Barr. It is unreal. Also all Becketts are not created equal just like all NW are not created equal. A BK/H&S/Deltec will beat the average Beckett, and a Barr will beat the average NW. NW skimmers do an incredible job with in a very small space, they were designed that way - one person familiar with the industry told me its because most European households are small, everything has to fit underneath the tank, and most tanks are narrow. 24" wide tanks are very uncommon. Same reason why Americans like bigger DE spread and frown on Giesemann reflectors, they were designed for a narrower tank. Also European households don't have the luxury of having huge dedicated 20 amp breakers, so its not just a cost issue, its a load issue.

JMVHO!

 

[Fliger]

This is his skimmer with dual injectors. Hope ya don't mind Scott.

I'd put money on it beating out every skimmer I've ever run (includes BK, H&S, Deltec and ER recirc NW's) - however it is huge. It is, however, probably half the price of most German NW skimmers, even with the huge pump that is driving it.

 

[sidewinder770]

Awe man- is that the best picture you could find? That was like the first 15 minutes of the "wet test" . Guess I need a better pic of it huh? I'm still tweaking it and might even be replacing the Hammerhead pump on it with a smaller pump- we'll see. Here is a pic of the skimmate bucket a few hours later-

 

[Fliger]

Those tubes are so white they look like PVC. I love the built in Dwyer meters, if I remember right, each one is pulling in a crapload of air.

Also on the subject, IMO, a Barr might "beat" a NW, but most of us oversize our skimmers by so much it doesn't matter anyway. Beckett vs NW ... H&S vs Deltec ... Barr vs BK ... doesn't really matter if your skimmer is big enough to take out what you put in. There is no realized improvement. I went from a 2x1260 to a 3x1260 skimmer on a 340 gallon and there was no difference because the 2x1260 was ahead of what I put in. If that makes any sense.

 

[JerseyReef]

So when I set my skimmer up, do you think it would it compete with a NW, DAS or a Barr? The riser tubes on this are really long and the contact time has got to be really long as well

 

[Leopardshark]

Fatboy,
How are ya man!!!
That skimmate is really thick!
Good luck.

 

[shred5]

Dollar for dollar a deltec will perform as good as a bubble king...

Bubble king is great if you have money to waste.. H&S is damn good too...

Dave