Skimmer Help????

[latino277]

Need some help here... I am looking for a stand alone skimmer for my heavy stocked 125g. I am adding a 55 g sump/fuge and would like to leave more space for the fuge and return sections. For the most part, the only stand alone skimmer I have found are the bekket style skimmer's ( looking into MRC) but I have heard that they can be very load. I just wanted to get your idea's... Is there other skimmers out there that I have not looked into... any input would be great. thx in advance

 

[Avi]

If you mean plumbed outside of the sump, I did it that way with my Aqua-C ev-180:

The stand it's on is DIY and there's the resevoir canister that I got in front of it.

 

[mg426]

Avi that looks like a sweet setup How do you like it ? How good does it function ???

 

[Avi]

I'm very happy with this skimmer. It constantly produces a very dark "skimmate" and I don't use RO/DI water at all so I guess those two factors speak for themselve on its efficiency. If you're going to very heavily stock your reef with fish....I don't heavily stock...only moderate...though not "light"....you could even go up one on Aqua-C's EV line of skimmers, though I don't know that it'd be necessary for you.

 

[virginiabreeze6]

I converted from ASM G$ to the Deltec 702, couldn't be happier. I have a 220 with a lot of anthias so the tank gets fed often. They are a lot of money, but I feel well worth the investment

Good Luck with your decision.

 

[Avi]

Virginia, is that Deltec of yours plumbed in or out of your sump?..It doesn't seem clear from your photo.

 

[virginiabreeze6]

out, we built a shelf in the back to hold my equipment

 

[virginiabreeze6]

This shot may give u a little better idea of the set up

 

[latino277]

Thanks for the Idea's... that deltec is really nice but i can fork out te 1700 for that. I was hoping to get one about $500???

Avi: How do you like the aqua-c? what size tank do you have it on? If you don't user RI/DI, what do you use?

has anyone setup a euroreef/asm as a stand alone... (know HOB and outside of the sump?

thanks again for all you help.

 

[Avi]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7189373#post7189373 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by latino277
Avi: How do you like the aqua-c? what size tank do you have it on? If you don't user RI/DI, what do you use?

When I was chosing a protein skimmer for my 120-gallon reef (there are a couple of photos in my gallery) I wanted a good one. I had it down to two...Euroreef and Aqua-C (I hadn't even heard of Deltec at the time.) I decided to get the Aqua-C because I called them about a question and quite honestly I didn't like the way they approached the question and also Aqua-C offered a skimmate overflow container that I wanted for when I go on vacations. I have since heard that Euroreef's support isn't the greatest but I don't know that of my own experience so look into that when you consider a Euroreef which are said to be excellent skimmers.

But anyway, I don't know if I made the right or wrong decision other than to say that I'm very happy with the Aqua-C. It churns out skimmate and I'm happy with the skimmer after over two years now. Support from the manufacturer has been excellent on the few occasions when I called them.

I use regular tap water. I tested the tap water many times and it shows the slightest traces of nitrates and phosphates and I just deal with that with a refugium, water, changes, a Phosban reactor, etc.

I've heard excellent things about Deltecs and I'm converting a freshwater tank of mine to marine in some weeks and I'm thinking about getting one of those. Though, I do wonder if the prices of them are worth it in comparison to the Aqua-C, or others like Euroreef. We'll see. But anyway, you can see the photo of virginia's collection cup up above and compare to my Aqua-C's but I don't know if the comparison helps in the decision:

 

[latino277]

Avi, Thx for all the info your giving me... your tank looks very nice.
Another question, are there any bluming WOWs with this skimmer? In reading, I noticed that this skimmer has to be in, no more than, 9" of water. whould I have to put this thing on a stand or can I plum the return over the side of the sump?

Anyone else have any opinions/options on this topic?

 

[frank2926]

You can get a smaller deltec. the ap600 is like 600 bucks. and you wont have to buy a big pump to run it either gravity feed it or a small power head to feed it. Aqua c is very sensitive. I am not knocking it but I have owned one . if you feed every day the aqua c may not be the right skimmer for you as it does shut down for a few hours after feeding.

 

[Avi]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7191348#post7191348 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by latino277
are there any bluming WOWs with this skimmer? In reading, I noticed that this skimmer has to be in, no more than, 9" of water. whould I have to put this thing on a stand or can I plum the return over the side of the sump?

Well, I have my skimmer raised on that stand and the return come into the stand over the side of the sump. Here's a photo that I had that shows it more or less:

By the way, since this photo was taken, I modified my sump to accomodate a refugium and the water level is a good six of seven inches higher than it appears in that photo.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7191370#post7191370 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by frank2926
Aqua c is very sensitive. I am not knocking it but I have owned one . if you feed every day the aqua c may not be the right skimmer for you as it does shut down for a few hours after feeding.

frankââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s pretty much right about that. Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢ve never had another skimmer so I donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t know how they behave under similar circumstances, but a heavy feeding like chopped mysis will cause the Aqua-C to stop fractionating for about two hours. I do that once or twice a week. A smaller, more normal feeding, like flake of some freeze-dried brineshrimp caused the foaming to stop for about a half-hour. I never found this to pose a problem but it is a matter of fact.

Hey, I donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t want to be misunderstood. Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢m not trying to convince you that Aqua-Cââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s are the best skimmers and thatââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s the one you ought to get. Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢m just saying that you had a particular configuration in mind and I wanted to let you know that the Aqua-C will work very well with that configuration. I still believe that and again, I do think that the skimmer is a good one. I guess there are a lot of others that would also do this for you and Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢m learning that, too.

 

[latino277]

AVI, thx for all the info. I understand were your comming from and am very thankful. At the moment I'm just doing my research. At the moment I'm looking at 3 skimmers AquaC EV 180/240 (guess 4 skimmers 3 company's...) MRC - MR-2 dual beckett (they can be load), and deltec ap600 (very Pricy....) (not sure if this can be plummed out side the skimmer?)

I would love to get some feed back on euro/asm skimmers but I do not think they would fit my config.

sooo... the AquaC shuts down when feeding... y is that? I have purple and green sea weed sheets in the tank 24/7 and I feed once a week now but will be feeding more. This may become and issue...

 

[latino277]

Does anyone have any input about life reef skimmers?

 

[latino277]

^

 

[Avi]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7192379#post7192379 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by latino277
the AquaC shuts down when feeding... y is that? I have purple and green sea weed sheets in the tank 24/7 and I feed once a week now but will be feeding more. This may become and issue...

I don't believe that having the sea weed in the tank 24/4 would be a problem. I tried an experiment of putting a fair amount of dried sea weed in the sump and after the skimmer stopped foaming for about only about 15 minutes it returned to full foaming. So, I would have to say that it's pretty clear that sea weed in the water all the time would have no consequence at all.

Aqua-Cââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s explanation for this ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œphenomenonââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ in the manual for the EV-180 is that their skimmers are:

"highly influenced by oils, fats and chemicals dissolved in the aquarium water or air source. You will notice a drastic but temporary reduction in foam production after fish feedings or other events that introduce chemicals into the water. Foam production should resume within several minutes to a few hours, depending on the nature of the chemical disturbance. This should not be any cause of concern since your high performance skimmer will rapidly make up for any time lost due to the disturbance."

 

[latino277]

wow.... I like this line "This should not be any cause of concern since your "high performance skimmer will rapidly make up for any time lost due to the disturbance."

Avi, thanks for taking the time to answer my silly questions.

Does it shut down when you drip Kalk or add buffer/calc?

any one else.... PLEASE chim in!!!!! thx:smokin:

 

[Avi]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7193531#post7193531 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by latino277
wow.... I like this line "This should not be any cause of concern since your "high performance skimmer will rapidly make up for any time lost due to the disturbance."

Does it shut down when you drip Kalk or add buffer/calc?

I don't drip kalk so I can't say, but when I add calcium I do it with topping off the sump with water. When I do that, there is a small amount of time...maybe 15 minutes or so when the foaming stops and then it restarts again. The only time that the foaming stops for any appreciable amount of time is when I do the once or two-time per week target feedings of the coral in the tank, mostly of chopped mysis....and then it is for some hours.

 

[latino277]

Thanks again AVI, this has be alot of help.

Can anyone help out with this?

Has anyone ever heard of lifereef skimmers?