Vertex Skimmer club

[flipsideleo]

Well, since having my IN-250 the pump has just stopped twice: once in the vinegar bath, and once on the system. It's almost been skimming for 24 hours now, and to be honest with you, it's sufficient, but not fantastic. If I were to rate it on a scale from 1 to 10, it's a 7. The pump is what really ruins the rating, and most of us know that the pump is probably the most important item on any skimmer. The skimmer body, cup, neck transition, adjustability, and just general layout is very well-built/done. In my opinion, that alone is worth the $300 I spent on it. The Resun pump is, for lack of better words, a POS. I'm going to give it a few more chances... if it keeps hanging up, it's outta' there!

I have the skimmer in 9" of water. It works just fine like this. It's a bit more finicky when you get closer to the "full closed" position, but that's relative to water depth, I think. Truth be told, I have always run my skimmers a bit deeper than the mfg's recommend. Typically an inch to two deeper.

Cool thing is my Laguna/Askoll 1500 will fit on it, with no modifications to my current, DIY volute. I'm giving my DIY skimmer a well-deserved vinegar bath overnight, and will redo the mesh before I try it on the Vertex. Right now, I may have to mod the pump with less mesh and a narrower venturi tube as to not draw as much air as it did before. I don't think the Vertex can handle this pump, as is. If I can't make this pump work, I'll go the Bubble Blaster route.

Oh, and once I put the skimmer in my sump and shut the doors, it's virtual unnoticeable, noise-wise. I can still hear my television, so I'm happy with that.

 

[mojo~]

the 250 is the worst one of the group the skimmers are good but the 250 model is just too tall and has a ton of head pressure.

 

[poolkeeper1]

Agreed, But with the BB It's doing better then expected. Actually I can't tell the difference between the cone XP and the vertex with BB pump added. JMHO
Bill

 

[geno7]

Agreed, But with the BB It's doing better then expected. Actually I can't tell the difference between the cone XP and the vertex with BB pump added. JMHO
Bill

How difficult is it to mod the bubble blaster and get it working with the vertex. I have a IN-100 and was considering the bb or a sicce later.

 

[poolkeeper1]

How difficult is it to mod the bubble blaster and get it working with the vertex. I have a IN-100 and was considering the bb or a sicce later.

 

[poolkeeper1]

It was a straight swap pretty much on the IN 250, The 100 I have no Idea as I don't have one. Well worth the Money, And I have not had the problems Mojo talked about with my 250/BB It Is skimming very well Indeed. I will post a seven day photo at the end of next week. Seeing Is believing As I forgot to take photos when I cleaned It the other day.
Bill

 

[geno7]

It was a straight swap pretty much on the IN 250, The 100 I have no Idea as I don't have one. Well worth the Money, And I have not had the problems Mojo talked about with my 250/BB It Is skimming very well Indeed. I will post a seven day photo at the end of next week. Seeing Is believing As I forgot to take photos when I cleaned It the other day.
Bill

Bill, I'm looking forward to the photos.

Anyone have any idea if the BB1000 would be suitable for the IN-100 or would I be better off with the sicce?

 

[flipsideleo]

Just wanted to report that my pump stalled on me again last night. It was right after the above post, too. LOL! I massaged the pinwheel again, and it fired back up. Now, I finally got 24 hours of run time from it. We'll see if it's still running when I get home.

Wish I had and answer for you, Geno... All this kind of stuff is trial-n-error unless you find someone that has actually done the swap... ya' know?

 

[Ward1]

Does anyone have an in280 with pump problems? how did you resolve?

 

[poolkeeper1]

280

280

Does anyone have an in280 with pump problems? how did you resolve?

I think the 280 has the same pump as the 250 does, They just shortened the body of the 250 and wala the 280 Is born. But most people just replace the pumps with a better one. In my case I used a Bubble Blaster 3000 on my 250 and now have a great skimmer. There are many choices you can choose from so do some research and go for It.:hammer:
Bill:dance:

 

[flipsideleo]

Okay... I'm not sure if I found the culprit or not, but I think I have this thing licked ::knocking on head::

In this chamber, I have the IN-250 and my drain. The drain always produces "mega" bubbles. I have never run a sock before, so I figured, "maybe the extra bubbles are getting sucked up in the pump and causing it to stall like that." You know... to much bubble turbulance going into the intake of the pump, for lack of better words. So, I "socked" it.

Here's what turned out 24 hours later (I cleaned the cup last night):

Not too bad!

So far, the skimmer has been running for 48 hours, continuously. No more stalling... so far...

 

[flipsideleo]

Forgot to add that this is where I keep my foam head. I'm in 9" of water, and it's still pretty easy to make adjustments.

This is a pic right after I cleaned that mess above. I hope it keeps awn keepin' awn!

 

[poolkeeper1]

Okay... I'm not sure if I found the culprit or not, but I think I have this thing licked ::knocking on head::

In this chamber, I have the IN-250 and my drain. The drain always produces "mega" bubbles. I have never run a sock before, so I figured, "maybe the extra bubbles are getting sucked up in the pump and causing it to stall like that." You know... to much bubble turbulance going into the intake of the pump, for lack of better words. So, I "socked" it.

Here's what turned out 24 hours later (I cleaned the cup last night):

Not too bad!

So far, the skimmer has been running for 48 hours, continuously. No more stalling... so far...

That's the best I've ever seen a stock pump do, Unless your tank was just really dirty that looks very good. I would leave well enough alone If you can keep those results coming. But that's the million dollar question, Mine just wasn't reliabe from one day to the next and kept flooding my house. Good luck with keeping It like that.
Bill:dance:

 

[geno7]

I think the 280 has the same pump as the 250 does, They just shortened the body of the 250 and wala the 280 Is born. But most people just replace the pumps with a better one. In my case I used a Bubble Blaster 3000 on my 250 and now have a great skimmer. There are many choices you can choose from so do some research and go for It.:hammer:
Bill:dance:

All the mods I've seen have had the 180 or above. What about the 100? I don't have an official prize for the first one to succecfully mod a 100 and produce more skimmate, but lets go 100 owners. My 100 has not given me a minutes problem, but I'm not happy as of now with the performance. It's not that noisey as of now. I'm just looking forward.

One thing I have noticed is that it has a ton of turbulance in the reaction chamber. I'm just leaving a bubble magus behind and it was much less. It being a BM100 I didn't like the small neck. The BM impeller will work on the IN-100. It works but it is a little small for the pump diameter on the intake and just seemed to increase the turbulance. I gave it all of about 5 minutes and removed it. The BM impeller is far supperior in design of the IN-100, reminds me of the red dragon impeller, just smaller. Babbling on, sorry.

 

[reefaddictionrx]

Looks good Leo!

I'm still not sure that the drain bubbles would stall the pump. When you had it in the vinegar bath it shouldn't have had extra bubbles to pull in. Possibly the air from the drain now...but I would sure think the prop would just speed up with the air and then slow back down after it forced the air out and filled with water.

Either way, I'm glad it's still running. It would have made me pretty upset if my pump had quit like yours right out of the box.

 

[flipsideleo]

Looks good Leo!

I'm still not sure that the drain bubbles would stall the pump. When you had it in the vinegar bath it shouldn't have had extra bubbles to pull in. Possibly the air from the drain now...but I would sure think the prop would just speed up with the air and then slow back down after it forced the air out and filled with water.

Either way, I'm glad it's still running. It would have made me pretty upset if my pump had quit like yours right out of the box.

Well, technically, I think it was more of a "water turbulence" thing vs. a bubble thing. You're right... the extra bubbles shouldn't really have done anything at all. Either way, it's working a lot better. It is noisier than my Red Dragon skimmer though but seriously... that's like comparing apples to mud pies.

 

[flipsideleo]

That's the best I've ever seen a stock pump do, Unless your tank was just really dirty that looks very good. I would leave well enough alone If you can keep those results coming. But that's the million dollar question, Mine just wasn't reliabe from one day to the next and kept flooding my house. Good luck with keeping It like that.
Bill:dance:

Thanks! No, it's really not that dirty. The skimmer just pulls pretty well. I have it between 9-10" of water, and most of that dark skimmate is only dark because of a recent carbon sack I threw in there to clear the water up a bit. Just trying new stuff altogether.

I was also skimming dry. I'm doing it pretty wet now, just to see how it performs.

 

[Ward1]

I think the 280 has the same pump as the 250 does, They just shortened the body of the 250 and wala the 280 Is born. But most people just replace the pumps with a better one. In my case I used a Bubble Blaster 3000 on my 250 and now have a great skimmer. There are many choices you can choose from so do some research and go for It.:hammer:
Bill:dance:

Thanks. How did you modify the pump to fit in the skimmer body?

 

[poolkeeper1]

Modify

Modify

Thanks. How did you modify the pump to fit in the skimmer body?

If you go back to page 52 I posted some photos of the BB pump on the 250.
It also matches right up once you rotate the Volute on the BB to the side from the top (Remove 3 screws turn facing the side) The only other mod Is to sand a piece of PVC 1" as a connector to slide Into the stock elbow that connects the Resun pump as they are just a little different size. Then It matches right up, Only thing I found was removing the base plate on the BB made It fit perfect, This piece just slides right off and Is not needed to work right. It took all of ten minutes to make It work and a piece of PVC 1" long.
Bill:hammer:

 

[Ward1]

If you go back to page 52 I posted some photos of the BB pump on the 250.
It also matches right up once you rotate the Volute on the BB to the side from the top (Remove 3 screws turn facing the side) The only other mod Is to sand a piece of PVC 1" as a connector to slide Into the stock elbow that connects the Resun pump as they are just a little different size. Then It matches right up, Only thing I found was removing the base plate on the BB made It fit perfect, This piece just slides right off and Is not needed to work right. It took all of ten minutes to make It work and a piece of PVC 1" long.
Bill:hammer:

Ok, sounds simple enough..thanks. Now I need to figure which of the BB pumps is going to give me the correct rates..I know the largest one has double the air ratings of my factory pump so I will have to be careful. I also considered just buying a skimmer that comes with the BB pump.