My Coral Box D500 finally arrived

[fed.gallardo]

Just got my skimmer, very nice construction for sure. I cant believe how tiny the pump is. would you say 7.5" is the sweet spot? i am probably gonna install it this weekend, but i have to build a stand. From what point of the skimmer neck should the water line be?
Thanks

 

[Webmanny]

The waterline mark is on the adjustment knob. I haven't measured it, but I think it is about 8". As far as the water line inside the skimmer, that is something that you will have to play with.

It depends on where you set the pump and the flow valve.

Good luck, I know you will love this skimmer.

 

[Lilmatty5dimes]

are you still using the d500 skimmer? how do you think it would do on a 65g with 40b sump. thanks

 

[Webmanny]

I still have it and think your setup would actually be perfect for this skimmer. I feel my tank is to small for my skimmer. Therefore, I only turn it on a few hours every day, but for your setup you might be able to run it constantly.

Good luck!

 

[Lilmatty5dimes]

I still have it and think your setup would actually be perfect for this skimmer. I feel my tank is to small for my skimmer. Therefore, I only turn it on a few hours every day, but for your setup you might be able to run it constantly.

Good luck!

Awesome. Thanks for the reply. Plan is heavy bioload and thinking sps Dom since I'll be running MH/vho for lighting. Thanks again.

 

[grandp10]

The thing I don't understand is why would someone not run the pump full blast all the time and just open the valve more on the outflow to adjust the water height inside the skimmer? Is there a time where it is better to run the pump at a lower speed? I know they say if you have a smaller tank turn the pump down but why? I always thought to get better performance people always wanted more out of their pumps? Please help me understand, I just got this for my 75 gal.

 

[Webmanny]

I'll share my experience. When I first installed mine, I ran it at full blast, but it was a bit unstable. It would overflow everything I changed my filter socks and it ran to wet, even with the gate opened at 100%.

I now run mine at about 50% to 70% and it behaves much better. I no longer have overflow issue or anything like that.

This is just my personal experience.

 

[Jade5051]

My Coral Box D500 finally arrived

If the skimmer is oversized and running full blast it will not skim full time. It will sit at idle. In that case you could turn the pump down. Webmanny turns his skimmer off for part of the day because the skimmer is oversized. He could turn the pump down and process less water this would allow him to run the skimmer 100% of the time which leads to more aeration and not have to turn it off. It also reduces energy consumption to turn the skimmer down. Reduces noise output. And when the skimmer is being temperamental it gives the user one more way to adjust the skimmer making it easier to find the sweet spot instead of just adjusting the output valve.

 

[grandp10]

Ok, thank you very much, both of you!!

 

[milsaltnewbie07]

Just got this skimmer. Whats seems to be the optimal water depth for dry skimming?

 

[Webmanny]

I think the trick with this skimmer is not water depth, but rather the pump and flow gate being properly setup. I would stick to the mark on the skimmer itself for the water level and then play with the gate and the pump to find the skimmate consistency you want.

I have mine on 8" of water, the pump is at 60% to 70% and the flow gate is about 50% open. I run mine wet because I run biopellets now.

This is like getting a new adjustable mattress. You have to play with the settings for a few days until you find the right setting for you.

I found a few videos of others with this same skimmer where they show the water depth and their personal experience. Maybe this will help. I will also try to take some pictures when I get home to see if that helps you some more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiZGC2dAt54

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7YJYXDFkDA

This is a video on general skimmer tuning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6_t5ziZ3vU

Good luck!

 

[milsaltnewbie07]

Thanks man. Right now i have the gate fully opened, And pump at 5. Im getting some big bubbles at the neck. Guess i will have to tune it to get thinner bubbles at the neck. Would you mind taking a pick of the size of the bubbles at the neck your getting.

 

[Webmanny]

Thanks man. Right now i have the gate fully opened, And pump at 5. Im getting some big bubbles at the neck. Guess i will have to tune it to get thinner bubbles at the neck. Would you mind taking a pick of the size of the bubbles at the neck your getting.

I will certainly try. I will post something later tonight when I get home.

 

[robthorn]

Milsaltnewbie , have you tried increasing your sump depth? Or lowering?

 

[Webmanny]

I completely forgot about this. Here is the video I promised. I hope it helps.

http://webmanny.com/post/141269140643/slow-motion-video-of-bubbles-in-my-skimmer

 

[milsaltnewbie07]

Thanks Manny.

 

[Felixc]

Does anyone know what the max air output is for the D500 and D300 skimmer? It doesn't seem to be posted anywhere on the web.

 

[Webmanny]

You got me there. I wasn't even aware of such a measurement for skimmers. I can say that this thing generates a lot of bubbles.

 

[o0jmadr0x0o]

this is off fishstreets site for the d300.
cant attest to accuracy but..

" from 30% to 100%, around 15cm to 30cm. "

 

[o0jmadr0x0o]

Wait a second, nevermind....brainfart....I think?

Either way I love my d300, best skimmer for the footprint in my experience (of skimmers that fit a proflex model 1 sump). might be a little skewed because my previous skimmer was cadlights horrible excuse for a protein skimmer:facepalm: