Royal-Exclusiv / Vertex Cone Skimmer Club

[funkyman]

I've had to replace my RD in my Alpha 200 with the Laguna 1350 and it worked great for the first couple of weeks until I had to turn it off to clean the tank.

For the past few weeks I have had serious overflow issues. So much so I had to reduce the depth by 4" or more. I also get a ton of micro bubbles out of the output. At this level I can get a really wet ski mate but it fills up fast as if all of a sudden it wants to overflow about once a day.

I've got the air inlet wide open. What could be the issue. I've taken it out and cleaned a few times. Maybe the gasket on the inside of the pump needs replacing? I can't think of anything else.

Any help is appreciated.

I'm having the exact same problems with the exact same skimmer.

Saturday: When I first moved it into my new sump, the water level was set at 10" by the sump baffle. With the wedge pipe wide open, it was overflowing non-stop with a thick foam. It was late, so I shut it off until the next day.

Sunday: I jacked it up to be in 8" of water. The overflowing foam problem went away, and I set the bubble level to be at the bottom of the collection cup (wedge pipe wide open). The output water from the skimmer was also void of bubbles.

Monday: Came home from work to find the collection cup full of weak skimmate, and the water percolating since it had been overflowing for a while.

Tuesday: Lowered the skimmer to be in 9" of water (wedge pipe still wide open). Foam was coming half way up the neck of the collection cup. There are also a "ton" of bubbles coming out of the skimmer output.

I have nothing to adjust air volume with (volute accessory on the newer pumps), and I'm really getting frustrated trying to get this thing tuned in.

 

[mgood]

I have a alpha 170, on a 130 gallon tank. I bought a Bubble King® Double Cone 200 + RD3 Speedy adjustable pump. Anyone know what would be the best depth and watts to run this setup? I was having problems with the stock red dragon pump that came with it I thought I would try the dc pump. I know it is probably too big for my system but plan to upgrade later.Thanks in advance.

 

[aravindk]

I have a royal exclusiv alpha 200 and have a total water volume of almost 350 gallons. I may be pushing the skimmer to the max and might look to replace it soon. I see there is another outlet at the bottom. Can I add another motor block to improve its efficiency?

 

[slief]

I have a royal exclusiv alpha 200 and have a total water volume of almost 350 gallons. I may be pushing the skimmer to the max and might look to replace it soon. I see there is another outlet at the bottom. Can I add another motor block to improve its efficiency?

No, that outlet is to relocate the pump to a different orientation depending on the sump configuration. That said, the Alpha 200 is just fine for your volume. They tend to starve for load and can be inconsistent. Royal Exclusiv designed the Alpha many years back but never released them and instead built them for Vertex until that relationship ended a couple years back.

If you are looking to upgrade, I'd probably suggest a Royal Exclusiv Bubble King skimmer. Having run an Alpha 300 for a number of years, I upgraded to a Supermarin 250 and there was no looking back. The BK's are much more consistent than the Alpha's. A Double Cone 200, Double Cone 250 or Supermarin 200 would be well suited for your tank depending on the display size and would run circles around that Alpha.

If you have questions about the Bubble Kings, check out the Royal Exclusiv forum here on Reef Central.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=745