Skimmer Q&A Thread

Xpilot said:
I'm looking for a little help on purchasing a new skimmer. I am planning on building a refugium for my 150g (eventually to be reef). I would like the skimmer to sit in the refugium and I'd like the refugium to be as deep as possible. It needs to fit under the tank stand and I currently have a door that is 24" high and inside the stand is 29" high. I'm planning on losing .5" with the bottom of the new refugium. Looking at the SRO2000 how much clearance would I need? It says it is 22" tall and needs to sit in 6" of water, so can I use a 5.5" stand, giving me about 1" of clearance or will I have to have more? Is there another skimmer that can work in deeper water that may be better? I won't build the refugium until I have the skimmer to do exact measurements, just want to buy the one that will fit my needs and the SRO2000 is about all my budget can take. Thanks for the help!
Click to expand...

The SRO 's are good but a little shallower water is a must. I would suggest the Octo XS series with the newer sicce pump. These can run deeper around 8 to 10 inches. Or even the Aquamaxx skimmers. These will run well around 9 to 10 inches too.


Mojo~
 
mojo~ said:
Bubble blaster 2000, Tunze 9420 Hydrofoamer, Sedra 7000. The body can handle a good amount of water but the neck cant handle huge amounts of air. The three pumps mentioned would all work. But all are a little small for a 250 g tank.
Click to expand...
How many g would two Tunze 9420 handle?
 
Mojo-

Just wanted to thank you for a replacement pump recommendation you did for me a month or so back. I ended up finally getting a hydrofoamer 9410 to replace the sedra 3500 on my old ER CS6-1, and it is a world of difference. Previously, I had to have my waterline break just between the union and collection cup to get good skimmate, and I was never overly impressed with the amount it produced. With the Tunze"¦ I modified the input to inject ~1-1/2" lower in the body, my water now breaks right at the base of the neck, and it is a skimming machine!!! This is what I always thought it should have been. (I had tried the new style ER impellers when they came out, meshmod's"¦ they didn't make as big of a change as the hydrofoamer.)

One last question"¦ if you had to pick a skimmer body that best matched the 9410, what would you get? (I've toyed with the idea of modding my 6-1 further"¦ redo the discharge, add a bubble plate, and inject a little lower on the body)

Anyways"¦ thanks again, your advice was very much appreciated.
 
Chatouille said:
Mojo-

Just wanted to thank you for a replacement pump recommendation you did for me a month or so back. I ended up finally getting a hydrofoamer 9410 to replace the sedra 3500 on my old ER CS6-1, and it is a world of difference. Previously, I had to have my waterline break just between the union and collection cup to get good skimmate, and I was never overly impressed with the amount it produced. With the Tunze"¦ I modified the input to inject ~1-1/2" lower in the body, my water now breaks right at the base of the neck, and it is a skimming machine!!! This is what I always thought it should have been. (I had tried the new style ER impellers when they came out, meshmod's"¦ they didn't make as big of a change as the hydrofoamer.)

One last question"¦ if you had to pick a skimmer body that best matched the 9410, what would you get? (I've toyed with the idea of modding my 6-1 further"¦ redo the discharge, add a bubble plate, and inject a little lower on the body)

Anyways"¦ thanks again, your advice was very much appreciated.
Click to expand...

The AVAST cone or Pegleg Cone would be great matches to the Tunze and easy on the pocket book
 
mojo~ said:
WEll one thing you can do is open the drain all the way open. LEt the skimmer run, and then run it as deep as you can without it overflowing. Then knock it down about 2 inches. That would be about the max setting. This will give you some room as it breaks in and some adjustment. Most skimmers have a 2 inch sweet spot. Anything too low and you will get micro bubbles and enough head pressure to reduce performance of the pump. IT does take some playing around with a skimmer to find this spot. But if you do a little leg work it has great rewards.

Mojo~
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info Mojo,
Will try this out.
 
One other question concerning Super Reef Octopus,
Which one would you go with on a 400G display tank with a 130 Gallon sump:
Super reef octopus Internal, External, internal Cone or external cone?
I'm guessing any of those should be good enough however any advantages to any of them over the others?
System might include an additional large fuge in a fishroom in a later stage as well as a small frag tank inline so should those be added to the total system volume or would you just consider the display size? Medium/Heavy fish load.
Thanks for your help
 
One other question concerning Super Reef Octopus,
Which one would you go with on a 400G display tank with a 130 Gallon sump:
Super reef octopus Internal, External, internal Cone or external cone?
I'm guessing any of those should be good enough however any advantages to any of them over the others?
System might include an additional large fuge in a fishroom in a later stage as well as a small frag tank inline so should those be added to the total system volume or would you just consider the display size? Medium/Heavy fish load.
Thanks for your help
 
maroun.c said:
One other question concerning Super Reef Octopus,
Which one would you go with on a 400G display tank with a 130 Gallon sump:
Super reef octopus Internal, External, internal Cone or external cone?
I'm guessing any of those should be good enough however any advantages to any of them over the others?
System might include an additional large fuge in a fishroom in a later stage as well as a small frag tank inline so should those be added to the total system volume or would you just consider the display size? Medium/Heavy fish load.
Thanks for your help
Click to expand...

I would look at the xp 5000 or the int.
 
OK I must be doomed or getting some sort of voodoo curse on skimmers for my new setup.

I have a 215 heavy stocked reef, 120 fowlr, and plan on adding a frag tank in the future.

My prior tank used a lifereef vs3-30 and it worked great. I purchased a Octopus DDNW-250 from here but ups smashed it. So I quickly purchased a H&S 150 2000/1, in error. I thought it was the larger model.

To get buy I hooked up the lifereef and H&S. Which is working ok but I saved up some money and thought it would be nice to get one skimmer to maintain and sell the other two.

I purchased a Octopus extreme 250 and hooked it up last night. I could only get one of the two sicce 2500 pumps running. Well today I got both of them running and let the skimmer run in tub with 7" of water containing 2 cups full of nasty skimmate from the other skimmers. Well after a few hours I noticed the bubbles were huge and only on the half of the skimmer away from the pumps. I adjusted everything I could think of and still the bubbles are at least 4-6mm across.

What am I doing wrong with this skimmer? Is this normal breakin?

I am thinking it needs one or two new pumps. I would like to reduce electricity draw so one large pump would be ideal. Any pump suggestions to max out the skimmer.

Thanks Mike
 
mth1993 said:
OK I must be doomed or getting some sort of voodoo curse on skimmers for my new setup.

I have a 215 heavy stocked reef, 120 fowlr, and plan on adding a frag tank in the future.

My prior tank used a lifereef vs3-30 and it worked great. I purchased a Octopus DDNW-250 from here but ups smashed it. So I quickly purchased a H&S 150 2000/1, in error. I thought it was the larger model.

To get buy I hooked up the lifereef and H&S. Which is working ok but I saved up some money and thought it would be nice to get one skimmer to maintain and sell the other two.

I purchased a Octopus extreme 250 and hooked it up last night. I could only get one of the two sicce 2500 pumps running. Well today I got both of them running and let the skimmer run in tub with 7" of water containing 2 cups full of nasty skimmate from the other skimmers. Well after a few hours I noticed the bubbles were huge and only on the half of the skimmer away from the pumps. I adjusted everything I could think of and still the bubbles are at least 4-6mm across.

What am I doing wrong with this skimmer? Is this normal breakin?

I am thinking it needs one or two new pumps. I would like to reduce electricity draw so one large pump would be ideal. Any pump suggestions to max out the skimmer.

Thanks Mike
Click to expand...

The pumps will have to break in. The sicce psk 2500 pumps are a little finicky but once broken in usually run pretty well. The volutes are directional and not myfirst choice. WHat pinwheels are you running and did you get them new or used.

Tunze hydrofoamer 9410's and 9420s would work well bet you would be better off buying a new skimmer. a SRO 5000
 
On a bubblemaster 250 with 2 x psk 2500's what is the best replacement pumps? I have the red demon pinwheels already on the spk 2500's, but just do not like the noise level. I am not having startup issues. With the skimmer in about 8 1/2 to 9 inches of water, I have to keep the gatevalve almost all the way open or I will fill the cup very fast. I am cautious about getting anything more powerful since these seem almost boarderline too powerful at times. If I run the sump deep at 10 inches, just one pump can get foam to the top with the gatevalve closed most of the way. So I do not have an issue with the gph the pumps are moving or the foam I am getting. It is just really the noise. I do wonder if I could run the skimmer off one more powerful pump also. I know the psk2500 are rated at 660 gph, and it would be easy enough to block up one of the pump ports, then run just one larger pump.
 
My brand new atb 840 v2 just arrived. I finally took the plunge and hope this skimmer performs well. It has the new psk 1000 pump. What is the ideal depth for this skimmer? Reef specialty lists 7-9" which seems like a pretty big range to me, Mojo what do you think?
 
octopus skimmer question

octopus skimmer question

Hey Mojo, just a quick question for you. I have a SUPER REEF OCTOPUS XP 2000 protien skimmer. I bought this skimmer brand new about a year ago. I have been having some problems with it, and was hoping you could help me out. I have had to replace the pump on the unit three times now. They seem to stop pumping efficiently after about six months. The flow from the pump starts fluctuating from strong to weak, and stops being a consistant flow. I will set the skimmer to its sweet spot and it will run great for a few days, but then starts to overflow into the cup. When I reset the skimmer after the overflow it seems to be fine for a day, then the bubbles will be very low in the body, and the exhaust makes a gurgling sound. I have my skimmer sitting in about 6 to 7 inches of water. Not sure what else I should do or try at this point. Any advice you could give me I would greatly appreciate. Thanks so much.
 
Last edited:
Mojo, I have a thread started asking advice re switching pumps from the psk2500's to ? on an ATB840 and an ATIbubblemaster250. I am told you are the guy to ask, can you tell me which pump you would replace these with that would not reduce the performance of these skimmers and would not have start/stop issues? Thank You
 
rob020880 said:
My brand new atb 840 v2 just arrived. I finally took the plunge and hope this skimmer performs well. It has the new psk 1000 pump. What is the ideal depth for this skimmer? Reef specialty lists 7-9" which seems like a pretty big range to me, Mojo what do you think?
Click to expand...

how deep is your sump level ? if you can run it without making a stand then that would be great. But i always had better luck around 7 to 8 on the ATB skimmers
 
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