Reeflo Orca 250

Pics of the mesh mod? Sorry I am going to leave it be for now. I am so happy and dont want to take it apart again for pics. I was pleasantly surprised. Mike Leonard can you give me a good deal on that extension ..... again. It still doesnt seem to need it if you run it below 90 SCFH, but at 100 the bubbles shoot up to the top of the riser neck. At about 90 the water level is right at the taper, at 100 the water level moves down a quarter inch. Its been a "Eureka" moment for me. My other thought was to cut down the "T" which is setting my water level a little high now with all valves wide open. Not sure if the higher riser neck would be a better benefit. Kind of funny that I have to restrict it to 90 now...
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12620124#post12620124 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cweder
Pics of the mesh mod? Sorry I am going to leave it be for now. I am so happy and dont want to take it apart again for pics. I was pleasantly surprised. Mike Leonard can you give me a good deal on that extension ..... again. It still doesnt seem to need it if you run it below 90 SCFH, but at 100 the bubbles shoot up to the top of the riser neck. At about 90 the water level is right at the taper, at 100 the water level moves down a quarter inch. Its been a "Eureka" moment for me. My other thought was to cut down the "T" which is setting my water level a little high now with all valves wide open. Not sure if the higher riser neck would be a better benefit. Kind of funny that I have to restrict it to 90 now...
Click to expand...

What is the wattage now that you have mesh modded the impeller? I have noticed that if not placed correctly that you increase wattage dramatically, which put a strain on the motor. I keep my killawatt hooked up to my skimmer at all times when running mesh. Mesh is a great way to increase performance but requires attention and maintance.

FYI I have seen the upgrade cup increase performance on many local reefers that have them on their Reeflo 250s with both Ao smith and baldor motors stock. Now if you increase air output the cup becomes some what of a necessity.
 
Well the pump was sounding a bit noisy compared to what it usually sounds like. So I did hook it up to a watt meter. Wide open at 100 SCFH it was around 160 watts and I dont think my mesh was completely even. The foam at 100 SCFH really wasnt impressing me either, I think it was too much for the neck to handle. So I redid the mesh again tonight, actually just took some off because it seemed to be drawing in too much water, not just air. Surprisingly it is still pulling 90 SCFH, doesnt seem to be pulling in nearly as much water through the recirc and the foam is much better. The neck seems to handle 90 pretty well. The watts are now 150 and the pump seems happier. I'll leave it here for now.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12630037#post12630037 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by danthemanj
Premium Aquatics has the following:

Enkamat PF4 Mesh Wheel Material - approx 13" x 12"
Code:ENK-PF4C
Price: $4.95
Click to expand...

Thanks.
 
Buy the flat back mesh, not the PF4! The flat back is stronger and more durable. I have about two layers on now. It is only about an inch wide, it does not hang over the needle wheel at all. I left the center of the needle wheel completely open, just as it is with the needle wheel. So it has kind of a "donut hole" of about an inch in the center.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12631096#post12631096 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cweder
Buy the flat back mesh, not the PF4! The flat back is stronger and more durable. I have about two layers on now. It is only about an inch wide, it does not hang over the needle wheel at all. I left the center of the needle wheel completely open, just as it is with the needle wheel. So it has kind of a "donut hole" of about an inch in the center.
Click to expand...

Is this what you are talking about. link

do you put it on top of the needles or do you work it in between the needs?
 
Yes, thats the right stuff. Since you are buying new mat. You can cut it out as one solid piece. This will help keep it balanced better, which the pump will appreciate. I cut out my pieces, then put them over the target area and press it down so the needles will keep it in place. The needles will be coming up and thru the gaps in the mesh. To make sure it does not fly off I secured it with some fishing line.
 
If you dont mind gutting a $50 needle wheel you can cut off the needles and just use the mesh and needle wheel disc as the platform to attach the mesh. This should help the pump run at less wattage since it has less mass to spin it can run easier and more efficient.

Another big advantage to running more air is you can now run your water level lower. I even lowered my T last night by an inch and a half. This way when the power goes out unexpectedly you shouldnt have a major overflow to come home to and a empty sump with possibly much more damage. Lowering the T, along with the lower water level, will help the skimmer drain quicker and equalize better when the power does come back on and your not home. I am using a gate valve to control water height down the line from the skimmer. I'll do some testing tonight to confirm this. There are other ways around this, but I think this is a good one.
 
Went ahead and did my simulated power failure. Starting with just turning the pump off and then back on. It wet skimmed just a little, like maybe a couple tablespoons of skimmate bubbles and settled back down to normal. Second test was power off of feed pump and Orca Gold and then turning both on at same time. It went completely smooth and no overflow at all.....very nice.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12634823#post12634823 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cweder
Went ahead and did my simulated power failure. Starting with just turning the pump off and then back on. It wet skimmed just a little, like maybe a couple tablespoons of skimmate bubbles and settled back down to normal. Second test was power off of feed pump and Orca Gold and then turning both on at same time. It went completely smooth and no overflow at all.....very nice.
Click to expand...

It seems like you have done quite a bit of research and put some thought into this. If you can post some pics of your modifications to the 'T', etc. it will help us fix some of the quirks we have been running into with the Orca 250 skimmer.

twinreef - if you can post detailed pics of the modifications you will be doing to your pump impeller/skimmer, we will have a fully documented approach to working on ours.

Thanks.
 
There has been a few interest in mesh modding the Reeflo skimmers. Mike at Reef Specialty has been working with Chris at Reeflo testing mesh wheels on the Reeflo line of skimmers for some time now. They have been testing many different wheels, mesh sizes and layers, volute modifications, etc., etc. All I can say are the results are impressive and there are still lots of tweaking going on. Mike is not going to release any info on his findings till he feels the results hit the perfect marker for the skimmer and runs safely on the pump. The findings will then be sent to Chris @ Reeflo for further testing. Upon verification of pump safety the information will be released on the mesh wheel for the Reeflo skimmers on these forums. Any modification to the original Reeflo NW pump or wheel will not be covered under Reeflo/Sequence warranty.
 
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Did more testing this weekend. My pump is running at 145 watts with the standard needle wheel. This is while using a larger diameter air-hose adapter and larger diameter air hose and not using the air silencer muffler. The standard air hose adapter, hose and muffler all add air resistance and increase the pumps wattage by about 3 to 5 watts. So using the standard needle wheel, air adapter, hose and silencer you should be running around 150 watts.

The nice thing about the mesh is I can dial in air from standard 60-65 SCFH to 90 SCFH and everywhere in between by only increasing the watts used by 4-6. Which puts me at 150 watts or the same as the standard setup. I bet the taller riser extension adds another 4-5 watts. The point being that I think adding some mesh is very unlikely to harm the motor the way I am using it. I am currently testing mine with only a single 3/4 inch wide strip of mesh around the perimeter of the needle wheel and getting 80 SCFH or 2280 liter per hour of air and only adding 4 watts, so the the pump is running at 149 to 150 watts and the pump is running quieter than standard.

I see the Bubble Kings are now coming out with air adjustable pumps. This way you can dial in the air that best suits your tank and bioload, a great idea. They are also switching to Carbon pin wheels, which should be lighter and easier on the motor. Reeflo could do the same by making available different needle wheels that could be easily switched on or off to give more or less air draw to better suit a wider customer base.
 
If the NW is correctly installed on the Reeflo 250 it should run at 142 watts with the upgrade cup pulling 65scfh. They have discovered that if you add mesh to the NW disc that you run the chance of lessening the life of the motor. FWIW
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12670279#post12670279 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cweder
I am running the Orca Gold and have done nothing to the NW. It was factory installed.
Click to expand...

It can't be factory installed if you placed mesh on it.
 
This is running without mesh and standard cup. You dont have to take off the NW to put on or take off mesh.
 
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