MTC MVX Skimmer Review

gregr

gregr

New member
I've had this MVX-26 about 6 weeks now- time for a review!
mtcskimmer5.jpg

It came pretty much completely assembled so all I had to do was cut some hose and connect it to the Mag12 MTC recommends. It's extremely quiet (quieter than the Reef Octopus it replaced), a surpise since the pump is very powerful and the skimmer is built like a tank-- truly it one solid piece of equipment. They use 1/4" acryllic for the body and a schedule 80 gate valve comes stock- makes it super easy to fine tune the water level. A 3/4" Mazzei injector fills the skimmer with dense fine bubbles and it also has a 90 degree effluent drain [barbed] nozzle that easily connected to the waste bucket I have set up with a float switch to kill the skimmer pump when it gets full. The skimmer output swivels 120 degrees to help fit in tight-ish spaces. It replaced a Reef Octopus XS225 space saver model no prob.
It took about 9 days to break in and even during the break in there were no micro bubbles leaking into the return section of my sump. Once the break in was over it started producing really dense foam and it's never stopped. I thought the RO skimmer was pretty good but now I know differently, and it's embarassing that I went years with totally mediocre skimming... Now, in only 6 weeks, I can see a difference in the water quality. Aside from lower nutrient levels my filter socks didn't clog in a month (wow). With the old skimmer I was lucky to get 7-10 days before they started overflowing. A while back I experimented with turning my skimmer off at night but had to stop because algae started to grow. Now it's time to revisit that idea.
mtcskimmer7b.jpg
 
Nice looking kit.
What's the blue ball valve for?
Where does the black tube from the venturi go to?
The only thing that looks like it might be a little annoying is undoing all those thumbscrews to remove the cup lid?
 
I just cleaned it yesterday- the thumbscrews only require a twist so the whole process is pretty quick and easy- maybe 15 seconds. An important thing about this design is that if the lid isn't sealed and the skimmer overflows it overflows out the top of the lid... onto the floor if it's external, into the sump if not. With this design the overflow goes into my waste bucket and if/when it reaches the float valve the pump is powered down. Safe. That reminds me- the skimmer can be used internally or externally.
The blue shut-off valve is just a convenience to make cleaning the venturi valve painless. Turn the valve and the valve gets flushed. You can very easily clean it by adding water to the airline too.
The black tube is just the airline- the one included is long enough to route out of the way of potential saltcreep.
 
Cool. sounds nice.
They should route the airline to the top of the skimmer cup like Life Reef does, to draw humid air into the venturi. Keeps it from clogging with salt and needing to be clean.

Would love to hear how things are going in 6 months or so.
Please report back! :)
 
They should route the airline to the top of the skimmer cup like Life Reef does, to draw humid air into the venturi. Keeps it from clogging with salt and needing to be clean.
Click to expand...
What MTC did is give you the option of routing the air intake whereever you want and then giving you a simple way to clean it. That doesn't imply that it's going to need cleaning more than any other skimmer with a similar design, just that they included the easy-clean option for their customers. Regarding the 6 month check-in: will do, though I expect it will be the same in 6 years, 6 decades, 6 generations :D
 
gregr said:
What MTC did is give you the option of routing the air intake whereever you want and then giving you a simple way to clean it. That doesn't imply that it's going to need cleaning more than any other skimmer with a similar design, just that they included the easy-clean option for their customers. Regarding the 6 month check-in: will do, though I expect it will be the same in 6 years, 6 decades, 6 generations :D
Click to expand...

Yeah, i could route the hose outside or anywhere else I wanted, but routing it to the cup has proven to be a pretty good idea. Usually when a feature is added, there is good reason for it, so I would assume that if you are pulling dry air, at some point you will need to flush the venturi. The included valve is a nice touch. Personally though, I'd probably route the tube to the cup after having long term experience with that kind of setup with no venturi maintenance needed. Yet, anyway. :D But that's just me.

Anyhoo, didn't mean to imply one skimmer was better than the other. Quite the contrary, actually. I'm excited to see other venturi skimmers still being made. You never know when I might decide I want to either replace mine or buy another one for another tank, which is why i'm interested in further reviews. It's great to have multiple options. I've seen their HSA skimmers before but for some reason I missed the MVX.

Thanks!
 
gregr said:
I just cleaned it yesterday- the thumbscrews only require a twist so the whole process is pretty quick and easy- maybe 15 seconds.
Click to expand...

Isn't the grey part at the base of the neck a union making fiddling with the thumbscrews unnecessary? I have their dual-mazzei skimmer and find the screws a bit of a pain. I use a neck cleaner so removal of the head piece is infrequent. BTW, if you do decide to use the blue-handled ball valve as a way to force clean the venturi, make sure the end of the airline is routed into the sump - otherwise it makes a mess! These venturis do clog fairly easily, so a regular cleaning is a good idea.
 
lol- I tried so hard to not sound defensive... fail. Anyways- I had no idea about the airline in the cup being a new and good thing. If I ever start to get clogs I'll remember this. It's only been 6 weeks but no clogs yet.
The MVX only just came out- you didn't miss it 'cause it wasn't there! I believe I got one out of the very first batch they made.
Yep- that's a quick release union so cleaning the neck is real easy but if you want to clean the parts you can't reach from the bottom of the collection cup you need to take the top off. I just keep them finger tight so removing them is easy enough that it hasn't bothered me.
 
Thanks for the review, this skimmer has got me intrigued looks like a good match for my 120 tank. I will run it internally for now.
 
venturi air line

venturi air line

It's up to the individual whether they want the air line inside the cup or not but keep in mind the ph of the humid air inside the cup is lower than outside your cup. I personally have used little sponges on my air intakes outside the cup to minimize dust and other debris from creeping into the venturi's suction side. Happy reefing !
 
The Mag 12 draws 110 watts but that is not what it's running at. it is being restricted by the venturi therefore you will be running much lower in wattage. You may be at anywhere from 60-70 watts
 
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