Royal-Exclusiv / Vertex Cone Skimmer Club

[Green_Lionfish]

Hello everyone,

I am joining the club. I have Vertex 170 and is sitting about 9 inches of water. After a few months, I finally realized that "turning the wedge pipe" is somewhat critical. It is pulling stuff much better now. However, I am still trying to get the best position of the wedge pipe.

I have a question regarding the water/foam/bubble inside of the skimmer. I have read the Manual, and it says: "It is recommended to set the foam head so that it crests at the midpoint of the neck within the collection cup."

From what I see in my skimmer, the very fine tiny bubbles are at the bottom, up to 4" from the top. Then it's all foam. Is this too far? It's been a few days, but not much pulling. My tank is 180g.

Thank you

 

[Jeremy B.]

I'd probably close the wedge pipe just a little more to raise the foam head just a bit higher up into the neck.

 

[d2mini]

I've got my Alpha 250 in a new skimmer box with adjustable water level.
The water level is now at max height of 11.2"!!!
The standpipe is closed down to around 75% and the volute on the red dragon pump is at 2 turns out if I remember correctly... if not it's at 2.5 turns. But i think I had turned it down to 2. Anyway, with these settings, my skim is REAL dark.

Thoughts? I'm surprised I had to go over 11" to get the foam head to break halfway up the neck of the cup. At 10" it was breaking in the middle of the neck below the cup and i got zero skim in the cup, although the neck cleaner was getting some thick paste on it.
The skimmer is a little big for my system which is a 200g display with another 100+ gallons in sump/fuge/frag tank.

 

[elder luis]

Hey people

I need a Red Dragon BK Vertex 1500 impeller!!! Where Can I buy it for a good price? It´s urgent!

 

[Sazerac81]

Holy smoke, my post count got reset to 21! I had I think close to 4000. I don't want to be a newbie again.

 

[Jeremy B.]

Hey people

I need a Red Dragon BK Vertex 1500 impeller!!! Where Can I buy it for a good price? It´s urgent!

We will hopefully have some back in stock in the very near future.

 

[afernandez]

Im also Having some issues .. With my vertex 170 I just pluged it In to try it it seem like there's water coming up the air intake?? Making it "pulse"

It's sitting in about 8.5" water.

Note: The system is brand new its cycling now I just wanted to try it out.

 

[Jeremy B.]

I'm assuming the system does have saltwater in it already, correct? If so, no worries, just turn the venturi in all the way to the right (closed), then back it out 3 turns and just let the skimmer go. It will break in and be just fine. Having said that, it's probably not going to produce anything and have a hard time making a foam head since the system is brand new and there's really no bioload (nothing for the skimmer to pull out).

 

[Lubecky]

I just plugged in a brand new alpha 170 2 days ago on a brand new setup. It's not producing any foam yet. I have the Venturi set a 3 turns I think. As far as the wedge pipe where should that be? Water level inside is right below the collection cup bottom. I know the system is new but there is a lot of crud from the live sand that I'm surprised that the skimmer hasn't done anything. I hope that its just breaking in.


Also another concern is I don't think it's getting enough air. I have no idea how to pull the air tube from the silencer??? I have pulled on it really hard and it doesn't move and now I'm afraid I may have damaged it? How do you take the wedge apart or at least the air tube from the wedge ?? I have blown in the silencer from the top and no that it is still getting air but was just curious. I've read that some ppl take out the styrofoam to help get more air and wondering if I should or maybe mine hasn't broken in yet???? Water level outside the skimmer is 9.5"


I can tell you I was very frustrated that it wasn't doing anything and its the most expensive piece of equipment I have right now and it's not performing! Hopefully it will

<a href="http://s1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh542/lubecky1/?action=view&current=DE4C4BA0-C8A6-42BC-BA80-A108982ADCA3-7839-00000CE284E5FBC3_zps4679ca2e.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh542/lubecky1/DE4C4BA0-C8A6-42BC-BA80-A108982ADCA3-7839-00000CE284E5FBC3_zps4679ca2e.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos" /></a>
<a href="http://s1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh542/lubecky1/?action=view&current=A687120C-8F32-454E-8A86-A34C6CF7D2AD-7839-00000CE275AA4666_zps4811b7a2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh542/lubecky1/A687120C-8F32-454E-8A86-A34C6CF7D2AD-7839-00000CE275AA4666_zps4811b7a2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos" /></a>

 

[Jeremy B.]

It's getting enough air and is just breaking in, just leave it be and don't make any changes with it yet. How old is this system that you have it on?

 

[thelostrican]

You need to give it time, it needs to break in...be patient...it's a good skimmer, back in the day when I had one, I had it in about 9 inches of water...

 

[Lubecky]

The system is only 3 days old. How do you remove the air tube from the wedge?

 

[Lubecky]

Also there are still a lot of micro bubbles coming out of the stand pipe. Any remedy for that now or do I still just wait?

 

[Jeremy B.]

Just wait it out, it will be fine. This is a brand new system, so it's not really going to do much until you start stockig it, don't expect it to really pull anything out at all now.

Pull the silencer off of the top of the wedge pipe. Then once it's off you can detach the tube from the bottom of the silencer, then pull the tube out if needed.

 

[Lubecky]

Thank you

 

[DigitalWeight]

New Alpha 170 - Looking for Advice

New Alpha 170 - Looking for Advice

I have just set up my new Alpha 170 and have some shots of how it looks so far. I know there is a break-in period which is barely just getting going. However, here are some details:

Sitting in 9 inches of water
Wedgepipe open all the way
Intake (white twisty thing on pump) is open about 3 turns





Thoughts?

 

[Lubecky]

Great news. I woke up this morning and found my skimmer producing lots of foam. It looks like it has officially broken in. Can anyone see how I can fine tune it for maximum use? The water inside is about 2" below the bottom of the collection cup. As you can see the foam is just barely cresting the top. Perhaps this is optimal? Doubt it but we will see.

This made my day.

<a href="http://s1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh542/lubecky1/?action=view&current=F805744E-D4BE-4A64-84A4-6D02DB0F97CB-9747-0000115739DA0E7D_zpsfbe25da8.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh542/lubecky1/F805744E-D4BE-4A64-84A4-6D02DB0F97CB-9747-0000115739DA0E7D_zpsfbe25da8.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos" /></a>

 

[Tethered_Limbs]

love this thing, no complaints at all. i took my mini red dragon 1000 apart last night to clean it and noticed the gasket around the impeller has a pretty good nick in it. is this normal? if not where can i get a new one? still performs fine, good nog on a 75 gallon with the alpha 170

 

[Jeremy B.]

For those needing a maintenance guide on pump cleaning:

http://royalexclusiv.net/images/con...eng/mrd_skimmer_operating_maintenance_eng.pdf

Note that the model numbers do not match up, but it's essentially the exact same pump.

 

[jellygeee]

Hi Jeremy,

Sorry if this question has been asked. I noticed some Vertex Alpha 200 had the gray colored nozzle on the red dragon pump while some had the white color but slightly smaller tip. Does the pump come with the interchangeable tip? Or is this the difference between older and newer skimmer? Is there a difference?

Thanks,
Rudy