TheReefKeeper
Aquaholic
They shipped? Nice I have two orders in with you and only one tracking so I don't know if that's the first or second Order Oh well Friday is my delivery.
Royal-Exclusiv Bubble King Double Cone 150 - PreOrder Now!
- Thread starter Jeremy B.
- Start date
Woo Hoo! Christmas was today for me! What a beauty! I don't even want to get it wet its so nice
I can't believe it came in a nice bag!
Its breaking in as we speak. We'll see what kind of skimmate it starts producing, hopefully later today. My sump water level is a bit high (close to 9"), which is above the recommended range. So, I might have to put it on some sort of a stand if I can't get it dialed in where I want it.
I can't believe it came in a nice bag!
Its breaking in as we speak. We'll see what kind of skimmate it starts producing, hopefully later today. My sump water level is a bit high (close to 9"), which is above the recommended range. So, I might have to put it on some sort of a stand if I can't get it dialed in where I want it.
Woo Hoo! Christmas was today for me! What a beauty! I don't even want to get it wet its so nice
Its breaking in as we speak. We'll see what kind of skimmate it starts producing, hopefully later today. My sump water level is a bit high (close to 9"), which is above the recommended range. So, I might have to put it on some sort of a stand if I can't get it dialed in where I want it.
Put it in the sump and start it up so you can get the breakin process started and make the stand in the meantime. You probably won't be able to get a good indication of the performance if the water level is too high.
Ken
I had thought the same thing. What I did was to buy a piece of acrylic at Home Depot and then cut 4 pieces of PVC pipe for the feet and glued it to the acrylic.
I used 1" PVC diameter so it was sturdy. Cut the pieces taking into account the thickness of the acrylic and the water depth you have now and where you want to end up.
For instance, say your water height is 9" and you want to end up at 7" for argument sake.
You need a 2" high stand. If the acrylic is 1/4" thick, cut the legs so that that they are 1 3/4" long. Glue it together with aquarium sealant or another glue, and your done.
Cut the acrylic so that it is a little bigger than the skimmer and pump footprint. It doesn't have to be pretty. No one will see it.
One more thing. Drill some holes into the acrylic so that it sinks and doesn't try to float.
The beauty of this is that you can keep cutting and changing "legs" if you want to experiment with different water heights.
Ken
I used 1" PVC diameter so it was sturdy. Cut the pieces taking into account the thickness of the acrylic and the water depth you have now and where you want to end up.
For instance, say your water height is 9" and you want to end up at 7" for argument sake.
You need a 2" high stand. If the acrylic is 1/4" thick, cut the legs so that that they are 1 3/4" long. Glue it together with aquarium sealant or another glue, and your done.
Cut the acrylic so that it is a little bigger than the skimmer and pump footprint. It doesn't have to be pretty. No one will see it.
One more thing. Drill some holes into the acrylic so that it sinks and doesn't try to float.
The beauty of this is that you can keep cutting and changing "legs" if you want to experiment with different water heights.
Ken
Hi Jeremy,
I got the skimmer. I put it in a tub with vinegar and water and cannot get the pinwheel to turn. I put my finger on it and I can feel it wants to but it doesn't.
By the way, the grey PVC piece that goes into the volute goes in with great difficulty. When I do get it in, it can pop out rather easily. I think the tolerance is too tight.
In the picture below, the white piece that screws into the grey piece mentioned above, is this an adjustment? If so where should I start with?
In the second picture, do I leave the black cap on the top of where the red tubing goes into the bottom of it?
Ken
I got the skimmer. I put it in a tub with vinegar and water and cannot get the pinwheel to turn. I put my finger on it and I can feel it wants to but it doesn't.
By the way, the grey PVC piece that goes into the volute goes in with great difficulty. When I do get it in, it can pop out rather easily. I think the tolerance is too tight.
In the picture below, the white piece that screws into the grey piece mentioned above, is this an adjustment? If so where should I start with?
In the second picture, do I leave the black cap on the top of where the red tubing goes into the bottom of it?
Ken
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Jeremy,
I disconnected the pump to the skimmer, plugged it in again and moved the needle wheel with my finger. After a couple of tries, it started. I unplugged it and attached to the skimmer and plugged in again. Didn't work again.
Also as mentioned above, the white piece will pop out of the grey piece if I accidentally hit the silicone tube.
So with that said, I am sending back the pump. Please send me another even if it is from another Double Cone 150 and I will send back this pump. I have BK-160 mini, BK-180 mini and never have this type of issue. I'm not going to attempt to make this work. Bubble King should come from the factory as exactly as advertised; top notch quality with the corresponding price tag.
Thanks,
Ken
I disconnected the pump to the skimmer, plugged it in again and moved the needle wheel with my finger. After a couple of tries, it started. I unplugged it and attached to the skimmer and plugged in again. Didn't work again.
Also as mentioned above, the white piece will pop out of the grey piece if I accidentally hit the silicone tube.
So with that said, I am sending back the pump. Please send me another even if it is from another Double Cone 150 and I will send back this pump. I have BK-160 mini, BK-180 mini and never have this type of issue. I'm not going to attempt to make this work. Bubble King should come from the factory as exactly as advertised; top notch quality with the corresponding price tag.
Thanks,
Ken
LittleBurger
Member
Hi, great to see someone owning a double cone. I took the jump when it was launched a year back.Hi Jeremy,
I got the skimmer. I put it in a tub with vinegar and water and cannot get the pinwheel to turn. I put my finger on it and I can feel it wants to but it doesn't.
By the way, the grey PVC piece that goes into the volute goes in with great difficulty. When I do get it in, it can pop out rather easily. I think the tolerance is too tight.
In the picture below, the white piece that screws into the grey piece mentioned above, is this an adjustment? If so where should I start with?
In the second picture, do I leave the black cap on the top of where the red tubing goes into the bottom of it?
Ken
The black cap is where the ozone goes in. I've tried upcap n cap and doesn't seem to make a diff. I took out the white screw Knob. I see tat by doing tat, the water inside the reaction chamber is more turbulence. If not wrong, by unscrewing the wnite knob and it moving outwards, gets more air into the reaction chamber. But if u take out the knob, I suppose water n air will be max.
So I took out the white knob, there will be small bubbles exiting from the outlet. But as my return is farther away from my skimmer, I dun have bubbles going to my display tank. I find tat skim mate accumulation is more too. Supposingly following recommendation by Royal, u sort of screw in fully then unscrew 2full turns. Anyway I tried various ways and find tat for my tank, I dun install the white knob.
I tune the red color outlet pipe to control the water level in the reaction chamber at somewhere where the cup and skimmer body meets.
Another way to look at it is the white structure where yr black cap, silencer are. Your water level in the reaction chamber should be adjusted to in line with the white structure, but either top or bottom of structure I just play by ear.
Another thing I read is someone feed ozone into the black cap inlet and the insert disintegrated. So advice is to get a separate ozone reactor.
Lastly, the red and grey inserts at the volute came installed for my case. Basically the whole pump u just Need to connect the opaque silicon(air intake) and red PVC hose(ozone) to the skimmer.
Why do u need to insert the grey piece thingy? Also the hole of the red insert on the volute looks like drill too big?
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I had the same issue with the grey PVC piece that goes into the pump as well. Its not easy to get in, but once you get it in it does stay put. The white piece that screws into the grey piece should initially be screwed all the way in, then un-screw it by 2 turns. That's what they say in the instructions. I don't know what kind of a difference it would make to adjust it.
Sucks to hear your pump wouldn't run. Mine started running the first try, so I definitely think there must be something wrong with that one pump. If I were you I would probably follow the instructions and try taking it apart first as if you were going to clean it to see if that would fix the problem. My guess is that there may be a little piece of debris in it or something? But, I don't blame you for wanting to just send it back and get a new one.
My skimmer is now making a nice dry foam with the settings mentioned above. I made a stand to adjust my water level to the desired range. I really have to crank the red stand pipe to keep the water level inside the skimmer high enough to produce skimmate though. SO, I suppose I still have some fine tuning to do, but it is skimming now. My tank has nothing in it right now since its new so there's not much bioload. I started with dry rock from BRS and seeded it with about 5 pounds of LR from Premium. I guess I'll wait and see how it goes over the next couple of weeks. I'm adding a clean up crew next week so we'll see if this changes the bio-load of the tank enough to make a difference in skimmate production.
My thinking on taking it apart to try to get it to run is that I shouldn't have to do that. That's not my job on something new out of the box, especially on a BK.
The grey piece will only stay if I don't touch it. Once I put it on and then put it in the sump and try to move it correctly on the stand etc, it will come off. It is not easy to get my hands back in the sump and do all of this and so it would be a PITA. Again, the big selling point of a BK and the cost of a BK is the quality. The is definitely a manufacturing tolerance issue.
What water level do you have your skimmer in? This could be one reason you have the water level "issue" in the skimmer. You might have to go deeper. Jeremy could help with this.
Ken
The grey piece will only stay if I don't touch it. Once I put it on and then put it in the sump and try to move it correctly on the stand etc, it will come off. It is not easy to get my hands back in the sump and do all of this and so it would be a PITA. Again, the big selling point of a BK and the cost of a BK is the quality. The is definitely a manufacturing tolerance issue.
What water level do you have your skimmer in? This could be one reason you have the water level "issue" in the skimmer. You might have to go deeper. Jeremy could help with this.
Ken
Hey Ken, in all of the years I have sold Bubble King skimmers I have never had a single one arrive dead out of the box, I am very sorry. I am going to Next Day Air you a new pump for Saturday delivery so you can get up and running. I'll include a prepaid return label to get the defective one back. Please shoot me an email to jeremy@premiumaquatics.com as to which address this should be sent to.
As to the nozzle itself, that is how it should fit. All of the adjustable nozzle pumps have this same fit, such as the entire Alpha line when it was being produced, and all of the other Double Cone skimmers with Red Dragon 1 pumps on them.
I suggest starting the adjustable nozzle at 2 total turns out from closed (closed is all the way turned in to the clockwise direction).
As to the nozzle itself, that is how it should fit. All of the adjustable nozzle pumps have this same fit, such as the entire Alpha line when it was being produced, and all of the other Double Cone skimmers with Red Dragon 1 pumps on them.
I suggest starting the adjustable nozzle at 2 total turns out from closed (closed is all the way turned in to the clockwise direction).
Hi Jeremy,
I did get it to fit once I took off the volute. I was able to press down hard and more leverage on the counter with it off the pump. It is fine now. It won't come out.
I'm surprised about the pump too. This is my third BK and never had an issue before. Honestly I thought it was going to work after I took it apart. I can get it to work if I get it started with my finger pushing the pinwheel, but once I unplug it and then plug it back in, it doesn't work again.
Thanks for the great service. Sorry for my annoying posts earlier. :deadhorse1:
Ken
I did get it to fit once I took off the volute. I was able to press down hard and more leverage on the counter with it off the pump. It is fine now. It won't come out.
I'm surprised about the pump too. This is my third BK and never had an issue before. Honestly I thought it was going to work after I took it apart. I can get it to work if I get it started with my finger pushing the pinwheel, but once I unplug it and then plug it back in, it doesn't work again.
Thanks for the great service. Sorry for my annoying posts earlier. :deadhorse1:
Ken
It does move but is stumbly out of water. Not smooth. My two BK's will run in fresh/vinegar water though.
Ken
