need help for final decision for 9010 skimmer

[easye123]

i just read a post that said " if your gonna get something for your tank now, get the best so you never have to uprgrade. Researching for about 3 months now i concluded that i need a 9010 on my 90g setup up. i will be keeping sps and lps and have about 8 or 9 fish..

i will have a 30g long or 29g or 55g for sump/ refug

as ive heard the tunze is the best most reliable long last skimmer available. I want to step up and buy it but i need some good comments about it soo i can just buy it .. lol im 19 soo you can tell this will be a big purchase for me with my hard earned 12 50 and hour wage.

any infomration wat so ever will be helpful

i mainly want these four things.

well 1st obviously that it will skim very well
2nd i can just plug and play it without a lot of messin around with it.
3rd i hope its very quiet due to my tank being in my bed room

4th that its easy to clean.

thanx so much

Evan

 

[lorinton]

1) I hear that it does skim very well. I'm still working on getting mine to do so after several months. I finally found set up recommendations on WetWebMedia that work much better than those in the manual for me.

2) No, its not plug and play but it isn't complicated to set up. It is extremely sensitive to water level whether or not you use the stand pipe. After adding a wavebox to my tank I had to add a second skimmer box in my sump. The overflow surge from the wave creates an 1/8" or less fluctuation in water height in the skimmer chamber at the wave frequency. This causes the skimmer to stop producing bubbles in the reaction chamber. Once you have it in a constant height chamber (a bucket in the sump for me) it should work consistently.

I've been wondering for months why my skimmer production was so inconsistent. I now understand that every change I made that affected water level upset the skimmer. Simple things like adding or removing live rock, tweaking the aspirator to quiet the overflow, or doing a water change cause a brief change in the sump water level. I've been doing these things multiple times a week. I find the skimmer takes about 24 hours to produce foam after it stops so I was effectively preventing the skimmer from operating. The bucket in the sump appears to isolate the skimmer from these actions.

The set up method that I'm using now differs from the manual. The water level is adjusted by raising or lowering the skimmer to adjust to the desired foam dryness leaving the air intake full open.

3) I find my 9010 very quiet.

4) Cleaning is time consuming but not difficult. Although I've pulled it apart to clean several times in the course of discovering the critical nature of water level I haven't found it actually necessary to clean in six months of use. I wouldn't rate this highly as a factor in making your decision.

 

[easye123]

but overall is it better than an asm or euro reef?

ive just heard nothin but good but that post u made made it sound kinda iffy now.

 

[kenneth31400]

I have been using the 9010 in tank for about 6 months now.
The noise level improves tremendously over time.
All it makes now is a pleasant sea breeze whizz.

 

[easye123]

have u had any other skimmers? if soo hows there loudness compared to the tunze

 

[kenneth31400]

Oh yeah, for years I have tried to rid myself of my fetish
for skimmers. So I have used skimmers made by other
brands. It is not appropriate to mention names in a forum
and it is also difficult to accurately compare noise levels of skimmers of similar wattage as there are so many other variable parameters.
But in my opinion this makes the least noise.
Initially I was not impressed as it made quite a lot of noise
but it has 'aged' well over the past few months. This is also
true of my Riverpack which is almost noiseless now.

 

[crumbletop]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8159965#post8159965 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lorinton
It is extremely sensitive to water level whether or not you use the stand pipe.

I take it that you are using this in a section of the sump, or in the display tank without a sump that has a variable water level. I'm looking into this skimmer, and I'd be placing mine in sump with a constant water level (no variability). How do you think it would work if the water level stayed constant?

 

[kenneth31400]

I mean variables like the method used to generate foam i.e. venturi, needle wheel, downdraft,etc. 2 skimmers of similar wattage from different brands may use different technology. I use the 9010 in the display tank and the water level is constant as I also use an osmolator.
Noise is just one advantage of 9010. Small footprint, ease of maintainence, reasonable skimming power, aesthetics, low heat issues are the other qualities which won me over. I live on top of the equator and I do not use a chiller.
I think Tunze skimmers work best when they are used as recommended in their catalogue as a complete filter plant e.g. Reefpack 500 and the other various combinations with bioreactors, Ca reactors, osmolators etc. You will enjoy the hobby more as maintenance is kept to a minimum with these filterplants and only minor adjustments and tweaking are needed.

 

[Robertcode]

Is it so silent that you could sleep in the same room as your tank?

 

[lorinton]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8169486#post8169486 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by crumbletop
I take it that you are using this in a section of the sump, or in the display tank without a sump that has a variable water level. I'm looking into this skimmer, and I'd be placing mine in sump with a constant water level (no variability). How do you think it would work if the water level stayed constant?

I have it in a baffled compartment of the sump. Water level in the compartment still varies slightly with rapid changes in water flow to the sump. Perhaps more baffles would solve this.

With the additional isolation I've added, the skimmer has been been producing foam consistently for several days now. Including going from a 1.5" single wave to a <0.75" double wave and a small increase in display tank water level. This is the only skimmer I've used and I don't have enough experience with it working properly to comment on performance. I'm relying on positive comments from those that do have that experience.

 

[easye123]

i will have it in a different setion in my sumpp/refuge

i hope it will rock my 90g