Bluefish9
New member
I haven't run water through it yet but I love the layout and design. There is really a lot of room for equipment. The 36xl is a beast... Mine is the regular 36.
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Ice Cap K2 Skimmers
- Thread starter DemonicReefer
- Start date
I haven't run water through it yet but I love the layout and design. There is really a lot of room for equipment. The 36xl is a beast... Mine is the regular 36.
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adam87
New member
Thank you, I will get it from premium aquatics. Its in stock now.
Bluefish9
New member
Ice Cap K2 Skimmers
Thats where I got mine! Great cust svc. I have the UPS man from hell on my route and my first sump was broken when he "dropped" it off. I called PA and they were awesome about handling it.
My UPS broke my BRS dual reactors just today actually... 4th package in a month with broken contents, courtesy of brown.
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Thats where I got mine! Great cust svc. I have the UPS man from hell on my route and my first sump was broken when he "dropped" it off. I called PA and they were awesome about handling it.
My UPS broke my BRS dual reactors just today actually... 4th package in a month with broken contents, courtesy of brown.
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sleepydoc
Team RC
So I've had my skimmer for a few weeks now and overall I'm very happy with it.
It's not quite as quiet as I had hoped. Several people had posted that it was virtually silent, and while it is definitely quiet, I wouldn't call it silent. I got a sound meter for my iPhone and it puts the sound level at 50-52 dB about a foot away from the skimmer. Compare that with 48-50dB for my Waveline DC 10000II pump and 60-65dB for my old Reef Octopus XS200 skimmer. The noise is a combination of a soft hum from the pump and a slight hiss from the air intake. Either way, it's a clear improvement over my last skimmer, and with the doors closed to the stand you can barely hear it, so it's quiet enough for me.
As others have commented, the construction is very good. It has a nice small footprint in the sump and definitely saves space over my last skimmer. (I attached a picture of it next to my old Reef Octopus skimmer below for comparison.) The skimmer cup has a silicone o-ring that gives a nice tight fit into the neck ring on the body. This is personal preference, but I prefer this to the screw-on attachment of the Vertex; if you have a hose draining the cup to a separate waste container, simply lifting off the cup is a lot easer than unscrewing it. It comes with a ½"(?) John Guest elbow attached for external collection as well as a piece of silicone tubing should you wish to use a separate collection container.
I ran it for 24 hrs in some vinegar water and then put it in my sump. The instructions say to wait a couple weeks before adjusting it, but it started making skimmate almost immediately for me. Currently it's making about a cup and a half of dark-tea colored skimmate a day. I haven't tried adjusting it to get thicker skimmate; perhaps someone else can comment on that. I've also found it to be much more consistent than my last skimmer. My old skimmer was rather touchy and would go out of adjustment pretty easily. This one has been rock solid.
It uses a Sicce PSK 600 that draws about 40W of power. It has a stock impeller, so replacement parts should be reasonably easy to get.
One of the things I wanted to do was to attach a float switch to the lid. There's about ⅞" between the outer wall of the cup and the deflector ring on the lid, so it's still too narrow to attach a regular float switch (~1" diameter float.) I haven't looked to see if I can find a smaller float, but I'll probably just use an external container anyway.
Overall, I'm very impressed with it and would definitely recommend it.
It's not quite as quiet as I had hoped. Several people had posted that it was virtually silent, and while it is definitely quiet, I wouldn't call it silent. I got a sound meter for my iPhone and it puts the sound level at 50-52 dB about a foot away from the skimmer. Compare that with 48-50dB for my Waveline DC 10000II pump and 60-65dB for my old Reef Octopus XS200 skimmer. The noise is a combination of a soft hum from the pump and a slight hiss from the air intake. Either way, it's a clear improvement over my last skimmer, and with the doors closed to the stand you can barely hear it, so it's quiet enough for me.
As others have commented, the construction is very good. It has a nice small footprint in the sump and definitely saves space over my last skimmer. (I attached a picture of it next to my old Reef Octopus skimmer below for comparison.) The skimmer cup has a silicone o-ring that gives a nice tight fit into the neck ring on the body. This is personal preference, but I prefer this to the screw-on attachment of the Vertex; if you have a hose draining the cup to a separate waste container, simply lifting off the cup is a lot easer than unscrewing it. It comes with a ½"(?) John Guest elbow attached for external collection as well as a piece of silicone tubing should you wish to use a separate collection container.
I ran it for 24 hrs in some vinegar water and then put it in my sump. The instructions say to wait a couple weeks before adjusting it, but it started making skimmate almost immediately for me. Currently it's making about a cup and a half of dark-tea colored skimmate a day. I haven't tried adjusting it to get thicker skimmate; perhaps someone else can comment on that. I've also found it to be much more consistent than my last skimmer. My old skimmer was rather touchy and would go out of adjustment pretty easily. This one has been rock solid.
It uses a Sicce PSK 600 that draws about 40W of power. It has a stock impeller, so replacement parts should be reasonably easy to get.
One of the things I wanted to do was to attach a float switch to the lid. There's about ⅞" between the outer wall of the cup and the deflector ring on the lid, so it's still too narrow to attach a regular float switch (~1" diameter float.) I haven't looked to see if I can find a smaller float, but I'll probably just use an external container anyway.
Overall, I'm very impressed with it and would definitely recommend it.
Sorry to hear it's a bit noisy for you. I cannot hear the pump on the 120, nor a humm from the pump at all, only a slight hiss from the intake (which cannot be heard when the sump doors are closed). Has to probably come down to some variance in the pumps themselves?
Right now I'm having a terrible time trying to find a reactor pump that is quiet, as the Neptune PMUP is absolutely awful for sound and resonance, and this Cobalt MJ900 I'm currently trying is throwing off a wicked humm, yet other people have said they're quiet, etc.
I haven't fiddled with mine much aside from the initial install, but I notice it does take about half a day or so to recover from a shut down / emptying back to 100% goo removal.
Right now I'm having a terrible time trying to find a reactor pump that is quiet, as the Neptune PMUP is absolutely awful for sound and resonance, and this Cobalt MJ900 I'm currently trying is throwing off a wicked humm, yet other people have said they're quiet, etc.
I haven't fiddled with mine much aside from the initial install, but I notice it does take about half a day or so to recover from a shut down / emptying back to 100% goo removal.
Bluefish9
New member
Ice Cap K2 Skimmers
The sicce 1.0 is a good choice. One of the smaller DC jebao's would be a great idea as they are VERY quiet and you could really dial in the correct flow. Could even double as a back up return pump if you ever had a failure.
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The sicce 1.0 is a good choice. One of the smaller DC jebao's would be a great idea as they are VERY quiet and you could really dial in the correct flow. Could even double as a back up return pump if you ever had a failure.
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Won't hijack the thread anymore, but thanks for the ideas.
sleepydoc
Team RC
Yeah, noise is kind of a tricky subject. Beyond the physical wave amplitude, different frequencies and different types of noises are perceived differently and what one person barely notices can be totally irritating to another. (that's part of the reason I posted the dB, just to try and give a somewhat accurate level.)
The K2-120 uses the SK-200 pump, so it very well may be quiet than the PSK-600, and like you said, there can be some variance from pump to pump. Like I said, it's about the same or less noise than my return pump, and definitely a big improvement over my old skimmer, so I can't complain.
Hope you find a reactor pump that works for you.
sleepydoc
Team RC
Hmm - I just looked at marine depot and they say 29w, Coralvue's site says 40w for the pump alone and 15w on the skimmer page. I calculated 40w from the rated current draw of .33A, but the actual power consumption could be less, so 29w is possible. My guess is that the 15w is a typo
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I bought the K2-50. Very well built product. Thick walls. I do have 2 complaints. One is the air line. It fits horribly on the pump. The other is the hole where the pump fits into the bottom. The only thing that holds it is a cut piece if rubber hose that the pump output slides into. Terrible design. Its like the pump was an after thought.
How did they update it?
I agree it is a terrible design. The pump pulls the rubber through the mounting hole eventually and then starts to rattle.
I had to glue and silicone it in place and put a small silicone mat under it to hold the pump up.
Don't look at what is posted on the pump. The 40W listed on the pump is with the regular impeller. Same with amps.
Chris Abbott
New member
My PS200 arrived today, thanks to Premium Aquatics for super fast shipping. So far, I am pleased with my purchase. My only concern is the fact that the water level in my sump is only 7.25 inches. Build quality is great, and it is quiet imo.
Bluefish9
New member
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