Royal-Exclusiv / Vertex Cone Skimmer Club

[bayoupr]

Follow up on my Alpha 170 pulsing problem. I took the pump out of my Mini 180, swapped the volutte, shaft and pinwheel with the alpha's, turned the nozzle three turns out from closed and ran like a charm. Got to be a weak pump.

 

[asmodeus]

Follow up on my Alpha 170 pulsing problem. I took the pump out of my Mini 180, swapped the volutte, shaft and pinwheel with the alpha's, turned the nozzle three turns out from closed and ran like a charm. Got to be a weak pump.

Bingo, I personally believe that the 1000 RD is not a great size to put in the 170.
I couldn't get it to skim on my 150 with a huge bio load and SPS. the 170 should be stocked with the 1500 RD

 

[bayoupr]

I can tell you the 1500 would be to big. One day cleaning it I ran the skimmer with an askoll/laguna 1500 skimmer pump, way too much for the body. I was pulling 70scfh and it couldn"t the air. I ran the skimmer at 7" level in a my test sump, had the pump lower because of the difference if configuration. But the body couldn't handle it, micro bubbles galore and constant flooding problems. If you took the pinwheel out of the Mini 180 and use it the Alpha you would get a little more air flow, that's the only difference between the two pumps other than the voluttes having different exits one top and the side exit.

 

[vdubfiend]

the 200 should come with a white or red adjustable volute that screws into the in take of the pump. what you need to do is turn it until its completely tighten. then take a permanent marker and mark the 12:00 position on the volute.

then you are going to turn it 2 complete revolutions and that is the best air :water ratio

and then run the skimmer in 8-9" of water or even 10" of water and then turn the red stock pipe until you see the water level raise. You want to have the skimmer running super dry for about 2-3 days.
Then have the water level just under t he neck where you take off the collection cup


Buzz I hope this helps you out

mike

I just got a 200. I was running the ati bm200 with purple pinwheel and was impressed with its performance over the last 2 years.

Anyway I opened up the 200 last night and was amazed at the build quality of the skimmer.. It is huge and the craftsmanship is flawless.

I washed it out last night, dropped it in the sump and its skimming 12 hours later.

its in 9-3/4" water, wedge pipe approx 40% open and 1 turn out on the pump inlet. at 2 turns out it overflows so i guess ill leave it at 1 turn from fully closed.

the bubbles are breaking at the bottom of the collection cup

This thing is a beast.

 

[bayoupr]

I see the Alpha 200 red dragon pump pulls up to 1400lh air draw which is not as much as an askoll/laguna 1500. Wonder why they don't put that setup on the 170. I know 1800 to 2000 lh is to much for the 170 but 1400lh air draw? I see what you mean asmodeus on this issue.

 

[Jeremy B.]

The Alpha 200 pump pulls anywhere from 1800-2000lph, maybe slightly more or slightly less depending on the setup parameters.

The Alpha 170 pump is perfect with the modified pump head and pinwheel. I've had one running for many months now, as well as quite a few others out there with great success. I think your block was weak, which is why it really took off when you switched that out.

 

[bayoupr]

Yes it was weak. When I pulled my mini180 out and swapped volutte and pinwheel with the Alpha's it was like night and day. I have sent it in for a replacement.

 

[Enjoy]

Hi Jeremy.
Are there any upgrades for the Alpha 200 skimmer? I read about the adjustable venturi but can't find much ordering info online. Does this really help to dial these skimmers in? Is there any other upgrades, or accessories I should know about? Should I be replacing anything for normal maintenance? seals/hose/pinwheels/etc....

Thanks in Advance!

 

[Jeremy B.]

The only upgrade for the Alpha 200 was the adjustable venturi. You might need a replacement front end o-ring for the pump over time, as well as the o-ring being replaced on the collection cup over time. I doubt you would need to replace any of these items yet though.

For maintenance I would recommend cleaning the pump every couple of months to keep calcium carbonate from building up. Other than that just standard maintenance here would apply.

 

[Eel-byte]

Ok, I have an alpha 170, i posted probably 4 or 5 months ago when i first got this skimmer. I had the surging issues that i really never i got rid of. No matter where I had the nozzle is still had the surging. In fact I've gotten so frustrated I'm on the verge of selling it. I could never really get it fine tuned becuase of the small sump it was in, no room to get the hand in. I ran this skimmer in 8.5" of water. Now onto the move, I'm upgrading from my 58g to a 120g in a few weeks (i know the skimmer is way to much for the 58g but I got a deal on it). I pulled the skimmer from the 58g because is was nothing more then a sludge maker in the neck. I cleaned it and put it in its new home, nice large extreme octopus sump. I started my leak testing today, of course with the skimmer in the sump I fired it up to keep the water moving, tons of bubble in the sump. I'm assuming that will go away once it is slimmed up again. But I started playing with the volute. I closed it completely, made a mark at the 12 o' clock position. I then backed it out 2 1/2 turns (seems to be the common consensus that 2 turns out would get me in the ball park). I could hear the surging, it wasn't a lot, but enough to notice, plus the water in the body was moving up and down a little. I moved that volute from totally screwed in to almost completely out, still got surging. It would slow down so you could barely notice to it was so rapid it was a surge a second. So completely frustrated I pulled the volute all the way out, the surging went away and the amount of bubbles were insane. The water level in the skimmer body is about 2" below where the collection cup screws in. I must still have some vinegar left on the skimmer body. The volute has a number on it, #74 written in marker. I'm at a complete loss on what to do.

IN the skimmer body you can see where the water level is, and the gate valve is all the way open.

Any help on this?

 

[Jeremy B.]

The skimmer is reacting to something in the water of the new system. Did you use any epoxy to put the rock structure together, or any other form of glue / adhesives? I would give it a few days to break-in and settle down, then set the water level to the desired spot inside the skimmer and let it slime up for a week or so. HTH!

 

[robthorn]

The drain hose appears to be dumping in the sump. I hope I am wrong.

 

[Jeremy B.]

I'm assuming he was doing that because the cup keeps overflowing right now?

 

[robthorn]

The only way to stop it is to remove the issue. Collect and dump and repeat. New sock filters that haven't been washed cause this a lot. You do have to collect it to remove it. Dumping it back in will not make things better.

 

[GT_Jacket]

+1 on the new sock filters. I get a slight "surge" from old washed ones as well, but new unwashed one make most skimmers go crazy -

 

[Eel-byte]

This is a new system with fresh water, just leak testing the plumbing, and tank since it was used. My question I guess really was the surging issues. I recently removed the skimmer from my other system where it really didn't do anything. It either collected all the junk it was skimming and deposit it in the neck or if I adjusted it to get the froth to collect in the cup, I would wake up the next morning and the collection cup would be overflowing. Trust me these were very small adjustments. Now while I have easy access to the skimmer pump I wanted to adjust the nozzle to find its sweet spot. I know it will react different in salt rather than fresh water. But no matter where I had the nozzle adjusted i would get surging, I completely removed the nozzle, no surging.

 

[robthorn]

Freshwater and saltwater are very different and nothing should be expected to act the same. I can't believe your getting froth at all. Lots of times you get just huge bubbles gulping out.
I would forget about any skimmer issues until you have saltwater in there. Did you have an osmolator on the other system it overflowed in?

 

[Jeremy B.]

I agree with your rob, I'm shocked he's getting anything at all in freshwater.

 

[Eel-byte]

I'm guessing from a little vinegar left on the skimmer body plus a brand new sump, the tank was used but cleaned, i'm sure there something in there that caused it to skim like that. It is no longer doing that by the way, it has settle down, and yes the drain tube was put back into the sump because of the crazy bubbling. I'm going to drain the tank, re-rinse everything off, finish a couple of minor things left to do, and hopefully have saltwater in the tank in a few weeks and let you know how its going.

 

[larryfl1]

What is the best/proper way to clean the red dragon pumps? Mine has been running for a year and I did a short vinegar bath but it looks like it needs a better cleaning based on the skimmers performance