The Bubble-Magus Club

[rtparty]

I have a 9" baffle in my sump. How does the BM NAC6 perform in 9" of water?

It will do great. I have had mine anywhere between 8 and 10 inches and it has run great.

 

[boehm742]

Recieved my NAC7 from Nuocean yesterday. Very impressed.

 

[TonyV]

Bummer - my brand new NAC6A just got put in my new sump and I went to plug it in and nothing. Is there a switch or something on the pump?

 

[TonyV]

All is better now. I took it back to my LFS and they swapped out the pump. It's back in the sump and working just fine.

 

[celano]

Hey guys. Finally deciding to go with bubble magus for my skimmer. Just another NOOB question before I click the purchase button in the next few days. There is an option of voltage and the selections are 110 and 220v for the BM NAC6a. Is it a different electric outlet than our household outlets (just concerned because it says the product is export europe version NAC6a not NAC6). I know its a silly question and maybe its been asked before but please help. Thanks again in advance and hopefully soon I will be part of the Bubble magus club!

You need to order the 110 version not the 220.

 

[reeftivo]

Well I have had my first hiccup with this skimmer. The pump will not restart for me. I took the skimmer out to clean it and when I put it back together, no go. So I took it apart again and made sure I lined everything up and then tested the pump before it went back into the skimmer. The pump worked just fine. Put it all back together and then plug it in, no go again!

At that point I lost my patience and said to the hell with it. Not a good night for my skimmer to stop working. Planning a wedding and all is enough on my plate let alone trying to fix my pump.

I contacted Marine Solutions and Rob is going to help me more tomorrow. I will probably give the skimmer a little vinegar bath and try again. I just lost patience tonight with it.

It was running for 6 weeks without a single issue. It would restart every time and was pulling some good gunk out.

Now don't go and think that the pump is crappy and won't last. At this point I am attributing the restart issue to user error. It seems to me that when I put the impeller back in and lock it in with the nut it becomes too tight and the magnet won't spin. I will look into it more tomorrow when I have the chance.

Tivo, any thoughts?

Sorry Rt,

I've been out of commision for a while. Great to hear that you didn't have to replace the pump. I would have suggested to re-seat & check the mesh on the impeller but you figured it out! In my humble opinion, the BM skimmers are the best value out there if you looking for an affordable true performing skimmer with a small footprint. The Atman pumps work very well with the NAC units but are unpredictable. I still believe that even with that said, I would buy another one based on the performance I've experienced. My expectations were that it would perform good but the bubble box is too small and with my experience with atman pumps, I wasn't expecting anything great. I was pleasantly surprised!

Note: If one is thinking of IN Vertex, keep in mind that they use chinese Resun pumps and have much bigger footprints.

 

[dallascowboys2]

can any one tell me how long it takes a bubble magus skimmer to brake in

 

[Twistedteq]

Add me to the club. I was a little skeptical at first because of what I read on other forums but I ended picking up the NAC7 for my 75g and i must say for the price this skimmer really is well made and does a heck of a job. This is what im getting out after two days of skimming:

 

[new2r1]

can any one tell me how long it takes a bubble magus skimmer to brake in

depends on what you mean by brake in? If you are asking when the skimmer starts to skim out the dark stuff then it depends on your water conditions...but mine started skimming out dark brown stuff within a couple of days. Hope it helps

 

[hoffy02]

The "extra" acrylic ring is a stand in case the skimmer needs to be raised in the sump.. I believe the bottom has an indention where the ring fits beautifully... I was to join the club yesterday but I got home and saw the "we missed you" note.. They normally leave packages at my door... anyway I will pick it up today!! cant wait!!

 

[sammy113]

Hi guys, i wanted to say that yesterday I took out my NAC7 for maintenance and decided to do something with the bubble diffuser plate. I was going to make a new one with a new bigger acrylic tube and a new plate with more holes. Unfortunately I've been crazy busy with college and didn't had time to go to my parent's and work with my tools over there.

So basically I enlarged the outside holes which were smaller and counter sink all of them. Turned back on and the performance has improved a little. Not gonna say is a HUGE difference but it helped. I know it will perform even better with the bigger bubble diffuser.

 

[reeftivo]

Add me to the club. I was a little skeptical at first because of what I read on other forums but I ended picking up the NAC7 for my 75g and i must say for the price this skimmer really is well made and does a heck of a job. This is what im getting out after two days of skimming:

Very Nice!

Regarding break in; Mine was run in RO/vinegar for a day and placed directly in the sump after that. I didn't get a foam head to build until day three and then it went berzerk and was fine after that. So 2 to 3 days depending on water perams is a good estimate.

I would leave these wide open for the first 48 hours and don't get frustrated if all you get is clean popping bubbles at that point. Give these skimmer some time and they will all of a sudden kick in once coated. After the foam head starts forming then "slowly" raise the foam head (few hours between adjustments) until the desired wet or dry foam is acheived. If you tinker too much with adjusting these skimmers you will only frustrate yourself-go slow!

Tivo

 

[TonyV]

My second pump has failed after two days. I am going to try rtpartys trick to get it to re-start. Basically it ran fine, turned it off for maintenance, and then it failed to restart. I bump it and it re-fires but that's kind of a pain.

rtparty - sell the fixture yet? I'd take it if I could figure out how to use it without hanging it.

 

[rtparty]

My second pump has failed after two days. I am going to try rtpartys trick to get it to re-start. Basically it ran fine, turned it off for maintenance, and then it failed to restart. I bump it and it re-fires but that's kind of a pain.

rtparty - sell the fixture yet? I'd take it if I could figure out how to use it without hanging it.

No not yet. They are actually easy to use without having to hang. If you go to wal mart and buy the acrylic towel holders you can set it on top of those just fine and they don't block much light if any. I saw a guy doing that here on my local forum and went and checked it out.

You can also build a hanging kit out of some conduit piping and attach them to the stand. That is what I will be doing for mine.

PM me and I will give you a nice deal on the fixture. Call it a Bubble Magus Club discount! LOL

Anyways for the pump try a few things. One is to cut some of the extra mesh off the mesh wheel. Then make sure the black end caps are properly seated. Those two things fixed my issues.

 

[Lyfey]

rt, which light fixture? Dont you have an ATI?

 

[reeftivo]

My second pump has failed after two days. I am going to try rtpartys trick to get it to re-start. Basically it ran fine, turned it off for maintenance, and then it failed to restart. I bump it and it re-fires but that's kind of a pain.

rtparty - sell the fixture yet? I'd take it if I could figure out how to use it without hanging it.

stick a piece of airline tubing onto the silencer and blow! Mine did the same thing and it was loose strands of the mesh that needed to be trimmed (like rtparty mentioned). I'd try that first if you want a quick fix. If tha doesn't work then take out the impeller and inspect the bushings and trim the mesh outside the impeller cage.

Tivo

 

[rtparty]

rt, which light fixture? Dont you have an ATI?

I got an ATI Sunpower for my 40 and when I got it, I had measured wrong. It is too wide because of my overflow. I built the overflow too big and it has made it so the first and last bulbs are useless on the tank. Total mistake on my part. What is the old saying? Measure twice and cut once. I measured once and then cut myself in the process! DOH:hmm4:

So now I need to sell it for the 4 bulb fixture. My LFS won't take it back because it was a "special item" order. I guess spending over $2k with them wasn't enough. They lost a loyal customer in the process and I no longer recommend people to their shop.

 

[TonyV]

stick a piece of airline tubing onto the silencer and blow! Mine did the same thing and it was loose strands of the mesh that needed to be trimmed (like rtparty mentioned). I'd try that first if you want a quick fix. If tha doesn't work then take out the impeller and inspect the bushings and trim the mesh outside the impeller cage.

Tivo

This worked perfectly. Next time I take it apart, I'll check the impeller.

 

[rtparty]

This worked perfectly. Next time I take it apart, I'll check the impeller.

Glad to hear it!

 

[hoffy02]

Official member!! WOOOHOOO! I had my BMNAC6 together and running at 10pm last night, got up for work this morning at 4am... Had a 1/2" of jet black skimmate in the cup !! 6 hours run time!!! Cant wait to see what this thing can do once broke in!!

Just to reiterate... JET BLACK SKIMMATE on six hours run time.... The darkest skimmate I have ever seen... I will post pics tonight... later