pmrossetti
Active member
Here is a shot from this morning. The skimmer is kicking butt!
That thing still working?
jk
My 500 + gallon system. Last 13 years to now. Build, Aquascaping & more. Lots of pics
- Thread starter slief
- Start date
That thing still working?
jk
slief
RC Sponsor
That thing still working?
jk
Cup was nearly half full this evening so I drained it. It's accumulating all over again. It's still kicking a$$! :beer:
slief
RC Sponsor
So true!! I'm really really impressed with this thing, especially given that it's not even completely broken in. I had to drain the cup yesterday as it was 2/3 full after only 48 hours of operation and in 12 hours time since draining it, the cup already has over an inch of nasty skimmate in it.
These skimmers are so efficient. I always said my Alpha was the best skimmer I've ever owned.. Now I can't say that anymore although I think my Alpha was a bit oversized for my bio load. It would skim great until is quickly reduced my dissolved solids and then kind of idle for a bit until they built back up enough to start producing again. It worked great but this thing is so much easier to adjust and I think it's smaller neck size really helps for my setup. It won't be as sensitive when my solids are low. Still it's hard looking at my monstrous Alpha sitting on the table and then looking at the new skimmer and seeing something smaller. "Sometimes less is more" is proving to be a true statement but I have a bit of a Napoleon complex and always felt bigger was better.
This is 12 hours after draining the cup completely. A little over an inch in the cup so far.
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ERivera65
Member
LOL Napoleon complex. I have always been a firm believer in the less is more concept and in this case it seems worthy of the saying. I think you made a wise choice Scott, you dont want to strip all the organics from your water with such a huge skimmer. I have a skimmer that's double the size of my water volume and at times i shut off my skimmer over night because I have read and heard that corals need some organics to consume and they can bleach or die off with extremely low nutrients. I believe it was Leng Sy that did an experiment, he's the guy that found Ecosystems Miracle Mud. It was based upon four different tanks with different setups and his most successful system was the one with a refugium and skimmer, but the skimmer was on a timer only ran for 6 hours a day. Leng believes that a skimmer is a great thing but it can remove a lot of beneficial things in the water coulmn. You also have Julian Sprung that doesn't even run a skimmer on his big system. He uses his display refugium with great success. Bottom line is, everyone's system is different, I believe you just need to find out what works for you. I think you've made a great choice Scott. Good luck and enjoy!
slief
RC Sponsor
I tend to agree for the most part. I'm not too worried about stripping nutrients from my tank as my heavy daily feedings add enough back into the system to keep my corals happy. I am however a firm believer in running a skimmer 24/7 and would never consider shutting it off. A skimmer is beneficial in many ways beyond it's ability to remove waste. The gas exchange and dissolved O2 that it adds in very important for a heavily stocked tank like mine. Also, shutting the skimmer off tends to impede it's performance as the down time effects the slime coat. Skimmers in my opinion are designed to run 24/7 for best operation.
I've spoken with Leng or Len extensively in the past and while he is a very bright guy and has some valid points, I think he is somewhat biased due to the fact that much of his studies are slanted at promoting his miracle mud. I had strongly considered his miracle mud when I set up my new sump and refugium 4 years ago. In the end, for cost and other reasons I went with natural Fiji mud that came from the bottom of live Fiji rock holding tanks.
That said, I've never had an issue removing too much of my nutrients with a skimmer. Not with my Alpha or my previous dual beckett skimmer or even with my 5' tall Klaes skimmer While some corals like xenia may be more sensitive to that, I tend to feed a lot so for me thats never been an issue. In my case, the slightly smaller more efficient Supermarin 250 skimmer will result in more consistency which is really what I was after. I skim wet and want to see the results daily every day of the week and not experience the lumbering that I saw with the Alpha when it reduced the nutrients enough that it's output was compromised due to the large neck diameter. It would always build back up as the nutrients accumulated but I just assume the levels stay consistently low in my tank so as to keep things healthy and nuisance algae free.
In the end, I think my nutrient levels will be lower more consistently with the new skimmer allowing me to worry less about my heavy feeding. If my bio load was higher, the Alpha would have been fine for me but with all my biological filtration and chaeto among other things, it being oversized relative to my dissolved organics ultimately compromised its performance. Something I don't anticipate with the new skimmer.
ERivera65
Member
Awesome, thanks for sharing that input. I see what you mean with the skimmer running 24/7. I see your point about Leng. I see that with this skimmer also that consistency will be key and once again, the saying comes to my mind. "Consistency is key in this hobby." Sounds like this skimmer will be better and I'm excited to see what happens in the future.
slief
RC Sponsor
Got a new addition today. A beautiful large Atlantic Blue Tang. I got him from forum member o2manyfish. You may have seen his tank thread here in the large tank section. He's local to me and has a beautiful tank with tons of thriving corals and over 100 fish in his display alone. He even has a couple hundred gallon tank growing corals outside in his backyard which is plumbed to his main system. It a very nice setup and his corals and their health are amazing.
Here is a link to his thread.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2293079
Thank you very much Dave. I promise to give him a good home!
Here are some photos of the new addition after I got him acclimated. Pictures don't do him justice! His dark blue color makes him particularly difficult to get a good shot.
Here is a link to his thread.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2293079
Thank you very much Dave. I promise to give him a good home!
Here are some photos of the new addition after I got him acclimated. Pictures don't do him justice! His dark blue color makes him particularly difficult to get a good shot.
pmrossetti
Active member
That's a beautiful fish Scott. Congratulations.
Thanks for the pics.
Thanks for the pics.
slief
RC Sponsor
Glad to share the updates! Thanks for following along!
That new tang is a happy one. It's already grazing in the tank, eating lots of pellets and sea weed. I've got some mysis thawing right now as well so it's going to get a good feeding. I'm really surprised and very pleased with how well this tang has adjusted in just a few hours. It's surprisingly social already and will follow me around the tank with the rest of the fish. He acts like he's been here for years and doesn't seem stressed at all. Now I just need to get it to eat seaweed from hand like the rest of the big fish do.
I just shot a video covering the whole tank and the display fuge. It's uploading to youtube now. I will post it in a bit. There are some good shots of the new tang as well as most of the other fish.
pmrossetti
Active member
I'm guessing from your enthusiasm that the resident fish accepted him well?
slief
RC Sponsor
Here's a video walk around of the tank taken today. The new tang as well as many of the fish can be seen and I also briefly covered the display fuge.
The video finished uploading but still processing so it will likely be a little while before it's visible at high resolution.
<iframe width="1280" height="720" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/XBUFVb9N0to" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The video finished uploading but still processing so it will likely be a little while before it's visible at high resolution.
<iframe width="1280" height="720" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/XBUFVb9N0to" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
pmrossetti
Active member
That's just breathtaking Scott!!
The fish and corals look magnificent.
And that new Tang is off the charts.
thank you
The fish and corals look magnificent.
And that new Tang is off the charts.
thank you
pmrossetti
Active member
How did the previous owner manage to catch him?
slief
RC Sponsor
It was in his huge outdoor frag tank. He removed a couple egg crate shelfs from the tank and took a couple swings and misses at it with his net. He went in the house to grab a second net so we could corner it together. When he went inside to grab the second net, the fish went to a corner of the tank with a stand pipe in it. I grabbed the first net and placed it in front of the fish and then coaxed the fish into the net with my free hand from the other side of the stand pipe. It was almost funny because I got it first shot. He came back out with the net in hand but I already had the bucket sealed shut with the fish inside.
pmrossetti
Active member
That's a great story. Good that he was in the frag tank and not the main tank.
Looks like you're the "fish whisperer". :lmao:
Looks like you're the "fish whisperer". :lmao:
Achilles Torben
Member
Hello
I'm from Germany and live in the area of Royal Exclusive. I know the owner and I visit the factory already. In Germany some people start with cheap stuff and after a few time they buy everything new from RE. In Germany RE is high end product. This is nothing new for me. New is that somebody from CA know and buy RE. You will have long time fun with this equipment. I have a very old skimmer and it is still work.
Greetings
I'm from Germany and live in the area of Royal Exclusive. I know the owner and I visit the factory already. In Germany some people start with cheap stuff and after a few time they buy everything new from RE. In Germany RE is high end product. This is nothing new for me. New is that somebody from CA know and buy RE. You will have long time fun with this equipment. I have a very old skimmer and it is still work.
Greetings
slief
RC Sponsor
Thanks for chiming in! You are lucky to live so close and not have to deal with Euro to Dollar conversion and the additional freight across the pond. Between the shipping and the weak dollar to Euro rates, BK quality is hard to afford for many of us here in the US. That said, I don't cut corners when it comes to my tank and Bubble King is about as good as it gets when it comes to these skimmers. Nothing like fine German quality! My Alpha 300 was made by BK/RE and it too was a very fine piece of equipment. By far the best quality cone skimmer I have ever seen. Klause makes some of the best quality aquarium parts on the market. It will be very nice when they get their US office fully running. Hopefully then they will be able to get Bubble King into many more tanks across the US because their quality is second to none!
