So I'm in the market to 'downsize' my skimmer. The story is, I originally purchased a Bubble King Double Cone 200 w/ RD3 DC pump for my 67 gallon tank. Even with the sump, I was at around 90 gallon max water vol, and thats generous.
However, under the advice of a LFS here in my country, I was told to just 'get the biggest' since I was getting one with a DC pump, I can tune it down for now and still be futureproof'ed.
I gave that a try and the skimmer works great... for maybe a few hours a week, when I'm sitting right in front of the tank tweaking it all the time. Its so inconsistent that I asked Royal Exclusiv for advice. To see if there are any 'settings' with the outlet and pump power that I can play with to make this experience more bearable.
Well, they basically gave me zero advice except the fact that "It´s very simple the skimmer do not have to work enough. There not enough skimmate to flow over the standpipe, your skimmer is died of starvation." I then asked if I could just purchase the body of their smaller Double Cone 180, since most of the cost is from the Red Dragon pump anyway, and the two models share the same pump. They flatly rejected me and, adding insult to injury, their final sentence to me read, and I quote: "The main problem is, which is not our fault, your garage is to small for our car!"
I'm not looking for sympathy with the story. In fact, I swallowed my pride and was minutes away from ordering a brand new Double Cone 180. This is how great I though Royal Exclusiv's craftsmanship was.
At the time I was about to check out my cart with the new Double Cone, the cavalry arrived. I was on email with Pacific Sun about sending me the LED ballast that they forgot to include in my shipment for their new Pandora Hyperion S X8. I then realized that they've posted a few pics of their new Crux skimmer on their Facebook page and so the inquiry started.
I end up purchasing their IS-200 model. They currently have 2 models on the market, the IS-200, and his bigger brother, the IS-400. As the skimmers are not shown on their website yet, I've asked for the spec:
Internal skimmer CruX IS-200 technical data:
DC controller (20 levels output power) and feed time
DC pump: flow - up to 4000l/h , air flow - up to 1600l/h
- aquarium size high stocking: 900 Liter aquarium size normal stocking: 1400 Liter
Footprint: 290mm x 290mm height: 540mm
water level: min 180mm - max 250mm
power consumption: 30Watt
Remote skimmer cup drain, silencer, silicon anti-shake rubers in skimmer stand
As you can see, the skimmer's specifications are very similar to that of the BK Double Cone 200. So one may ask.... why am I buying another oversized skimmer again? Haven't I learned my lesson?
Well, Pacific Sun showed me some pics and a video of their skimmer in action... on a tank sized similarly to mine. Furthermore, the neck of the skimmer is narrower than that of the Double Cone 200, which means it should be easier to 'feed' the skimmer. Plus, my experience with their customer service has always been great. They're a top notch team of people, very pleasant and easy to deal with. They even replied multiple times to my problems over the Easter long weekend to help me figure out why the ballast was missing from my hybrid lamp's shipment and a promise to send me the missing bits the day they get back to work following the holiday (and they did live up to that promise).
As owner of their Kore 5th doser and the hybrid lamp, their products' finishes are great, paying attention to every detail. R&D wise, one could argue that their method of using bluetooth over wifi/hard wiring is not the industry norm, and I will admit I'm as frustrated as the next guy over their choice of connectivity and how their software operates, but again, one could see that they design their product from a customer's perspective and needs. Finally, since they were shipping missing parts to me, most of the shipping cost for the skimmer was absorbed by Pacific Sun. Add that to the fact that this is a brand new product on the market and I could be one of the first to own it, how could I not resist the temptation?! :lol:
Enough talk, here are some pictures of the un-boxing: :dance:
Bear in mind that this thread will be about my experience with the skimmer. This is not a comparison between the BK and Crux. Nor do I want to this a 'review'. It is simply 'user experience' from my view on a new product which not a lot of people know about yet, so that my fellow members can have one more skimmer to keep in mind when they need to make a decision on their next purchase.
You can see more pictures of their skimmer here on this Polish website:
http://www.reefshop.pl/eshoper/pl/p...S-200-z-regulacja-wydajnosci/4718#prettyPhoto
However, under the advice of a LFS here in my country, I was told to just 'get the biggest' since I was getting one with a DC pump, I can tune it down for now and still be futureproof'ed.
I gave that a try and the skimmer works great... for maybe a few hours a week, when I'm sitting right in front of the tank tweaking it all the time. Its so inconsistent that I asked Royal Exclusiv for advice. To see if there are any 'settings' with the outlet and pump power that I can play with to make this experience more bearable.
Well, they basically gave me zero advice except the fact that "It´s very simple the skimmer do not have to work enough. There not enough skimmate to flow over the standpipe, your skimmer is died of starvation." I then asked if I could just purchase the body of their smaller Double Cone 180, since most of the cost is from the Red Dragon pump anyway, and the two models share the same pump. They flatly rejected me and, adding insult to injury, their final sentence to me read, and I quote: "The main problem is, which is not our fault, your garage is to small for our car!"
I'm not looking for sympathy with the story. In fact, I swallowed my pride and was minutes away from ordering a brand new Double Cone 180. This is how great I though Royal Exclusiv's craftsmanship was.
At the time I was about to check out my cart with the new Double Cone, the cavalry arrived. I was on email with Pacific Sun about sending me the LED ballast that they forgot to include in my shipment for their new Pandora Hyperion S X8. I then realized that they've posted a few pics of their new Crux skimmer on their Facebook page and so the inquiry started.
I end up purchasing their IS-200 model. They currently have 2 models on the market, the IS-200, and his bigger brother, the IS-400. As the skimmers are not shown on their website yet, I've asked for the spec:
Internal skimmer CruX IS-200 technical data:
DC controller (20 levels output power) and feed time
DC pump: flow - up to 4000l/h , air flow - up to 1600l/h
- aquarium size high stocking: 900 Liter aquarium size normal stocking: 1400 Liter
Footprint: 290mm x 290mm height: 540mm
water level: min 180mm - max 250mm
power consumption: 30Watt
Remote skimmer cup drain, silencer, silicon anti-shake rubers in skimmer stand
As you can see, the skimmer's specifications are very similar to that of the BK Double Cone 200. So one may ask.... why am I buying another oversized skimmer again? Haven't I learned my lesson?
Well, Pacific Sun showed me some pics and a video of their skimmer in action... on a tank sized similarly to mine. Furthermore, the neck of the skimmer is narrower than that of the Double Cone 200, which means it should be easier to 'feed' the skimmer. Plus, my experience with their customer service has always been great. They're a top notch team of people, very pleasant and easy to deal with. They even replied multiple times to my problems over the Easter long weekend to help me figure out why the ballast was missing from my hybrid lamp's shipment and a promise to send me the missing bits the day they get back to work following the holiday (and they did live up to that promise).
As owner of their Kore 5th doser and the hybrid lamp, their products' finishes are great, paying attention to every detail. R&D wise, one could argue that their method of using bluetooth over wifi/hard wiring is not the industry norm, and I will admit I'm as frustrated as the next guy over their choice of connectivity and how their software operates, but again, one could see that they design their product from a customer's perspective and needs. Finally, since they were shipping missing parts to me, most of the shipping cost for the skimmer was absorbed by Pacific Sun. Add that to the fact that this is a brand new product on the market and I could be one of the first to own it, how could I not resist the temptation?! :lol:
Enough talk, here are some pictures of the un-boxing: :dance:
Bear in mind that this thread will be about my experience with the skimmer. This is not a comparison between the BK and Crux. Nor do I want to this a 'review'. It is simply 'user experience' from my view on a new product which not a lot of people know about yet, so that my fellow members can have one more skimmer to keep in mind when they need to make a decision on their next purchase.
You can see more pictures of their skimmer here on this Polish website:
http://www.reefshop.pl/eshoper/pl/p...S-200-z-regulacja-wydajnosci/4718#prettyPhoto
