Reef Dynamics Skimmer
- Thread starter hkgar
- Start date
wildman926
Active member
I like the standard body design. My only concern is the foot print. Rather large for the bio load. I would add a gate valve, air silencer, and tubing to put the output over my return pump like I have on my SRO skimmers. You can get that from Reef Dynamics upon request. They are more expensive than the SRO's, and with the gate valve, silencer, and output tubing, it would drive the cost up even more.
mcarroll
Member
Reef Dynamics are very well designed, domestically made, reasonably priced skimmers - I don't think you'd be disappointed. Especially if you're not happy with the requirements that the EV120 is placing on you. The Reef Dynamics will be much more "fire and forget". It's only real requirement will be the depth of water it's sitting in. Tuning is extremely straightforward after that.
That said, your EV120 could be a monster of a little skimmer if you have the correct drain setup and patience to (correctly) tune it. I'm running a (much older) EV90 super-charged with a 700gph pump* and tuned to skim fairly wet (usually like tea) - it's pretty impressive to watch. ;-)
-Matt
* It's probably worth noting that for the same amount of watts I could run a Reef Dynamics INS180! That's with a Quiet One pump. When I ran a Mag 7, I could have exchanged its watts for an INS300 and still saved 10 watts!
That said, your EV120 could be a monster of a little skimmer if you have the correct drain setup and patience to (correctly) tune it. I'm running a (much older) EV90 super-charged with a 700gph pump* and tuned to skim fairly wet (usually like tea) - it's pretty impressive to watch. ;-)
-Matt
* It's probably worth noting that for the same amount of watts I could run a Reef Dynamics INS180! That's with a Quiet One pump. When I ran a Mag 7, I could have exchanged its watts for an INS300 and still saved 10 watts!
moondoggy4
Team RC
What size tank?and what size skimmer are you looking for?
mcarroll
Member
Not much to be done about the footprint without impacting other factors like the skimmer's capacity and height. In other words, the skimmer you have in mind with a smaller footprint is likely to actually be a smaller skimmer or perhaps taller than the Reef Dynamics. Or it may not actually be a comparable unit.
The way I'd think about it is that Reef Dynamics' skimmers are optimized for height and capacity before footprint. While not "compact", the INS100 only has an 8.5"x10" footprint - not that big. And it's only 20" tall. They are well designed skimmers.
If footprint is your #1 criteria and your space is extremely limited, I'd contact Reef Dynamics to see if they could design something a little more custom, but I'd also consider installing a different sump that has a "normal" amount of space available. The latter is probably the better way to spend the money IMO. YMMV.
-Matt
Richocet83
New member
I have the INS100 on my 75 and love it. Pulling out about 1/2" of dark nasty skimmate every 2-3 days... fairly low/moderate bioload in my tank (4 fish, LPS and softies). Mine is also "as is", no gate valve, tubing, etc (they all have an air silencer built in... you put the open end of the air intake hose onto a port on one of the pipes and it's very quiet)
I just purchased an INS350E. Can't comment on performance yet 'cause the tank isn't set up yet but Jeff spoke to me for about an hour and I learned a few things. I also watched his videos on Youtube. He is the owner and he is the person that answers the phone when you call. There are newer designs, there are cheaper skimmers, but his design is tried and true. Couple that with the feeling that someone cares enough to give that kind of attention to my purchase.... I'm sold. You should at least do yourself a favor and give him a call
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