Royal-Exclusiv / Vertex Cone Skimmer Club
- Thread starter JohnL
- Start date
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My 250 is spewing a lot of micro bubbles lately. It is one of the earlier versions to ship. Any known issues as to why this may be happening? Also, I have a lot of water pouring out from where the hose enters the "noise suppressor". Is that a problem?
I am running it in between 9 and 10 inches of water in the sump.
Any help would be appreciated.
Herb
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My 250 is spewing a lot of micro bubbles lately. It is one of the earlier versions to ship. Any known issues as to why this may be happening? Also, I have a lot of water pouring out from where the hose enters the "noise suppressor". Is that a problem?
I am running it in between 9 and 10 inches of water in the sump.
Any help would be appreciated.
Herb
Hi Herb,
Pull the front cover off of the pump and inspect the impeller. It sounds like it might have some bits and pieces of shell, substarte, or something else in it. If it's completely clean, then check the venturi line, at the connection point at the pump, as well as the inside of the silencer, as it's most likely clogged. HTH!
Pull the front cover off of the pump and inspect the impeller. It sounds like it might have some bits and pieces of shell, substarte, or something else in it. If it's completely clean, then check the venturi line, at the connection point at the pump, as well as the inside of the silencer, as it's most likely clogged. HTH!
rogerwilco357
Active member
question just hooked up my 170 and it works awesome just one day and no breakin period so it seems . my question is how open or closed should the flute be i have mine 3/4 of the way closed and it is running perfect but as it breaks in will i need to open it more? the water depth is about 8 inches . what should it be at or does it really matter with the adjustments you can make.? so far it is kicking butt and my ev180 is retired to the QT tank I really thought that skimmer was great but compared to this well guess not..
thanks in advance for any help you guys can give me wish someone had a video to watch on these things u-tube has very little at all maybe i will make one.
Rogerwilco out
thanks in advance for any help you guys can give me wish someone had a video to watch on these things u-tube has very little at all maybe i will make one.
Rogerwilco out
Adjust the wedge pipe as needed during break-in. There really is no right or wrong answer here. Being in 8" of sump depth, I'm guessing you're going to have run the wedge pipe pretty far towards the closed position. The deeper you go with the skimmer in the sump, the more you will open the wedge pipe. HTH!
Mike de Leon
New member
Hello,
SO what's the consensus on the 170? I know there were problems in the past. Are they now reliable? Would you recommend this over the 200 on a lightly stocked 160?
Lastly, what does one do to lengthen the life of the RD pumps? Thanks in advance.
SO what's the consensus on the 170? I know there were problems in the past. Are they now reliable? Would you recommend this over the 200 on a lightly stocked 160?
Lastly, what does one do to lengthen the life of the RD pumps? Thanks in advance.
rogerwilco357
Active member
so the more water in the sump the better if I have the wedge almost closed so for more play maybe 9-10 inches of water would suffice? as for the skimmer so far so great I love the skimmate i set it to get more dry than wet skim darker is better imo.
The 170's have been rock solid ever since the revision, which happened just about a month after they were released a year and a half or so ago. Personally, I would use the Alpha 170 up to about 180g, and then the Alpha 200 over that. My thinking on skimmers has reverted back to being more conservative with them, and getting consistent performance all of the time, rather than oversizing and getting inconsistent performance. HTH!
Mike de Leon
New member
Thank you. This definitely helps. This is the answer I am looking for. There seems to be no skimmer out there that does not need any kind of tweeking. Every brand, much as the user says they work great there are always issues. I see there's a lot of 170 for sale on RC.
Is the reliability on the 170 comparable to the BK now? say mini 180?
Lastly, I could not find any online store in the USA that offered Christmas discount on these, why is that? Thanks again..
Is the reliability on the 170 comparable to the BK now? say mini 180?
Lastly, I could not find any online store in the USA that offered Christmas discount on these, why is that? Thanks again..
The 170 and 180 use the exact same motorblock, same materials, etc., just two different skimmer designs. I wouldn't say that either is less reliable than the other. The 170 is probably going to give just a little more performance due to the larger rise in the body = more reaction time, but other than that they would be close to each other. I usually tell people that the 170 falls inbetween the Mini 180 and Mini 200 in terms of performance.
Mike de Leon
New member
Thank you Jeremy. All the best for the New Year!
Hi guys,
I have an Alpha 200 and my skimmer decided all of a sudden to stop generating microbubbles. All I'm getting is large bubbles being fed into the skimmer body.
I removed the pump and cleaned it thoroughly. There were no obstructions or buildups. I checked the air line and its clear.
It was running fine on my tank for over a year until this.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
I have an Alpha 200 and my skimmer decided all of a sudden to stop generating microbubbles. All I'm getting is large bubbles being fed into the skimmer body.
I removed the pump and cleaned it thoroughly. There were no obstructions or buildups. I checked the air line and its clear.
It was running fine on my tank for over a year until this.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Hi Jeremy,
My Alpha 200 just started to pulse today after working great for three months. I have a light bioload so dont know if that has anything to do with it.
Tank Volume 200 Gallons
water heigh 8.5 at 2 turns. If I turn it up to 3 turns it starts to work and no pulsing.
Do i need to clean the pump or the red air tube? How do you take apart the red air tube to clean?
My Alpha 200 just started to pulse today after working great for three months. I have a light bioload so dont know if that has anything to do with it.
Tank Volume 200 Gallons
water heigh 8.5 at 2 turns. If I turn it up to 3 turns it starts to work and no pulsing.
Do i need to clean the pump or the red air tube? How do you take apart the red air tube to clean?
gambitcobra
New member
Im waiting to see what the response is to both your problems, I am in the same boat! no more micro bubbles all the sudden and I checked everything. my only guess is the pump is about to break down
jeremy any thoughts?
jeremy any thoughts?
@JoeMamma - Pull the front cover off the pump. While it's off put the pump down in your sink and plug it in. See if the impeller is spinning freely or not. Pull the impeller assembly as well and make sure of the following...
1. The end bearing is not stuck to the shaft. If it is, then it's calcified on and most likely damaging the motorblock.
2. The shaft, impeller head, and magnet are all turning together as one piece. The magnet should not rotate around the shaft.
@SuperNemo - Check a couple of things.....
1. Make sure the venturi is indeed still two full turns out. I have seen some venturi's work there way either more open or more closed from the original start point on their own. Check to make sure you are indeed 2 full turns out still.
2. If you are 2 full turns out, and you open up to 3 full turns and the pulsing stops, then something along your airpath has clogged due to salt creep. I would recommend pulling the entire air path apart from the point of entry into the silencer all the way down to the pump cover and cleaning thoroughly. While you have the silencer completely open pull out the foam that is in there and throw it away. This might yield in just a little more noise coming from the silencer during operation, however you will not have to worry about salt creep / dust buildup inside of it anymore.
1. The end bearing is not stuck to the shaft. If it is, then it's calcified on and most likely damaging the motorblock.
2. The shaft, impeller head, and magnet are all turning together as one piece. The magnet should not rotate around the shaft.
@SuperNemo - Check a couple of things.....
1. Make sure the venturi is indeed still two full turns out. I have seen some venturi's work there way either more open or more closed from the original start point on their own. Check to make sure you are indeed 2 full turns out still.
2. If you are 2 full turns out, and you open up to 3 full turns and the pulsing stops, then something along your airpath has clogged due to salt creep. I would recommend pulling the entire air path apart from the point of entry into the silencer all the way down to the pump cover and cleaning thoroughly. While you have the silencer completely open pull out the foam that is in there and throw it away. This might yield in just a little more noise coming from the silencer during operation, however you will not have to worry about salt creep / dust buildup inside of it anymore.
Mike de Leon
New member
Finally picked one up! It started giving me skim mate on day one... I did not believe the stink (no pun intended!) until I experienced it myself. After three days the darn thing stunk!
Awesome skimmer...
Thanks for the advice Jeremy. I checked the skimmer again and cleaned the entire body. I cleaned the airline tube as well. Plugged it back in and its making microbubbles as it should.
I went over the user manual that someone uploaded here many pages back and I think one (or the main) factor causing my issues was that I recently used reef epoxy in the tank. Skimmer was working fine before and now after I cleaned it its working fine again.
I went over the user manual that someone uploaded here many pages back and I think one (or the main) factor causing my issues was that I recently used reef epoxy in the tank. Skimmer was working fine before and now after I cleaned it its working fine again.
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