What Skimmer are big tank owners using?

[erics3000]

What did you do to your hammerhead?

 

[emilio c]

What did you do to your hammerhead?

Nothing Refflow has the new Hybird Pump line. http://reeflopumps.com/hybridpumps.html

 

[erics3000]

Got yeah. At first I though you made it a needle wheel, just wasn't sure how they would work on the becketts. I have a old reef flo marlin on mine. I have been thinking about converting it to 220 make it a little more effecient.

My return is a old dart and I have been wanting to but a dart gold and keep mine for a spare. It has been cranking for 3 years now. I need to check if the make the hybrid for the dart series.

Guy let all post some pics of our Becketts....

 

[erics3000]

Here are a few old pics of mine

 

[SteveMH]

I need to check if the make the hybrid for the dart series.

Indeed... Dart/Snapper Hybrid

 

[ccampbell57]

I sold my MRC MR6R because of what my AquaC EV2000 does...watch this skim monster

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[HOB]

"I sold my MRC MR6R because of what my AquaC EV2000 does...watch this skim monster"

What pump are you using on your EV2000?
What water volume are you skimming?

Mine produces some serious foam too.

 

[Nanook]

Great video, I could watch skimmer videos all day long

Geo is building me the largest beckett skimmer ever in the very near future and I will post pics when I get it....my new Precious

 

[ccampbell57]

"I sold my MRC MR6R because of what my AquaC EV2000 does...watch this skim monster"

What pump are you using on your EV2000?
What water volume are you skimming?

Mine produces some serious foam too.

I use a Mag 36...total water volume is 850g

 

[dahenley]

chris,
did your MRC pull some good stuff, and the EV just does more or better?
just curious on your comparison. plus, what pump were you using on the MRC?

 

[ccampbell57]

I never hooked up the MRC. it was brand new and my plan was to run both skimmers together (one off of each overflow), I initially hooked up the AquaC during the cycle phase and it was amazing the gunk it was getting out. For instance, when I put in 300 lbs of sand and the water was completely cloudy it took the skimmer 2 hours to clear out the water...it was amazing.

The skimmate that the AquaC pulls is awesome. It is 1/4" of pure sludge that I clean out of the neck of the cup every week and if I run it wet I can fill a 5g bucket of wet skim Ina matter of 7 days.

The MRC had a barracuda pump as the recirc and a mag 18 feeding it. My friend had this same skimmer and loved it but could not hide it so he went with a Super Octo 5000

I am going to get the Super Octo 8000 as the primary in the next 6 months as a second skinner to assist my bioload

 

[dahenley]

ok, it sounded like the EV2000 kicked the MRC's but, but you just set up the aqua c and loved it so never bothered the MRC. (not to mention the size was hard to hide)

that is very informative.

also,i love the video!

 

[mx838]

The PM is running at the top of this as far as I can see? I have a XL2 and I am going to upgrade to a XL4. I have been doing this for 15 years and have seen many skimmers come and go. Everyone has a right to an opinion and mine is that PM is very inovative and easy to operate. The owner of the company and staff have taken the service to a whole new level for me and others I know. Some people are unable to operate a PM skimmer it may seem to complex, so its easy for them to bable off how their experience was? "PM" does include instructions in full "color detail". :thumbsup:

I am with you! I have alot of exp over many years with skimmers and I always thought of pm on top also. I have dealt direct with the owner on special builds for me and they have always been excellent to deal with and the skimmers always do a great job. They are way over built and do a great job. I clean my injector once everyother month on my xl1 pm skimmer just as often as I clean my needle wheel pump so I cant say its any more maintaince then any other skimmer I would not say that they started a rumpr about another skimmer coping it I would say just a customer the other skimmer does look suprisingly close in design to pm. I am patial to pm but not closed minded to other skimmers just based on having 4 skimmers in my house 2 are pm and work better. Its just my personal preference.

 

[Rosh]

EuroReef, works great and always has.

 

[dahenley]

Has anyone used or looked at the bashsea Skimmers? They use a corkscrew design on the Beckett to double the contact time, while keeping the Skimmers lower profile. Any comments on that?

 

[bag151]

There is more then one way to skin a cat. I have had a MRC-MR3, ATI Bubble Master 300, and now my Bubble King 250 Supermarin with Planctonite Sweeper on my ~450g system. Each skimmer has it's own issues and at peak capacity they should pull the same amount of skim if you are comparing skimmers with similar variables such as size, contact time, and bubble size. My biggest complaint about the MRC was keeping it in tune for maximum production. Seemed like I was constantly pulling the becketts to clean them because some snail crawled in the intake or a bit of cheatomorpha drifted in there. Then I had the Bubble Master which is a mesh mod, which was fine unless you wanted to turn it off. Constantly trimming stray threads or I would have to blow start the pumps got real old. If I turned it off to feed I would have to screw with the skimmer to get the pumps to start again. I decided to stop screwing around and got a Bubble King a few years ago and it was the best decision I have made on my tank yet. The reason why it's such a great skimmer is because of the Red Dragon pump, high quality pumps make the difference on every skimmer. The skimmer itself is simply a tube you inject bubbles into, how you make the bubbles makes the biggest influence on skimmer performance. Beckett's are popular for commercial skimmers because it's easier to scale up a Beckett then a meshwheel.

 

[ksed]

Very well said!

Did you find the mesh wheel to get plugged with debris?

There is more then one way to skin a cat. I have had a MRC-MR3, ATI Bubble Master 300, and now my Bubble King 250 Supermarin with Planctonite Sweeper on my ~450g system. Each skimmer has it's own issues and at peak capacity they should pull the same amount of skim if you are comparing skimmers with similar variables such as size, contact time, and bubble size. My biggest complaint about the MRC was keeping it in tune for maximum production. Seemed like I was constantly pulling the becketts to clean them because some snail crawled in the intake or a bit of cheatomorpha drifted in there. Then I had the Bubble Master which is a mesh mod, which was fine unless you wanted to turn it off. Constantly trimming stray threads or I would have to blow start the pumps got real old. If I turned it off to feed I would have to screw with the skimmer to get the pumps to start again. I decided to stop screwing around and got a Bubble King a few years ago and it was the best decision I have made on my tank yet. The reason why it's such a great skimmer is because of the Red Dragon pump, high quality pumps make the difference on every skimmer. The skimmer itself is simply a tube you inject bubbles into, how you make the bubbles makes the biggest influence on skimmer performance. Beckett's are popular for commercial skimmers because it's easier to scale up a Beckett then a meshwheel.

 

[bag151]

With the mesh wheels I did notice they would gum up with detritus over the course of a month and would reduce the efficiency some, stuff like algea threads or small shell would just spin with the mesh and fractionate the water. The real trouble was from solids that sucked into the mesh would tend to dislodge threads that would cause more drag and prevent the pump from restarting. The needle wheels do get some debris stuck inside the wheel every once and awhile, but it's easier for them to break free and I haven't noticed it drastically effect the skimmer performance unless it was significant. I clean out my Red Dragon every month or two depending on how diligent I am and I don't see a drastic buildup. It will also have a different impact depending on the pump, small pumps like Sicce which are basically modded powerheads are more susceptible then larger Red Dragon and Reefflow pumps.

One thing that I really think makes a big difference is an automated cleaning system. Having a sweeper with a wash down clean out the neck of a skimmer really improves the skimming efficiency by removing that thick sludge buildup in the neck to provide a fresh contact surface. If your diligent and wipe out the neck daily then it's probably a loss on you, but if your like me and only like to clean the skimmer once a week it's a great improvement. I am working on changing my cleaning intervals now to see the effect on waste production. Avast marine sells a sweeper system for $135 now which is a cheap addition in this hobby.

 

[deep_sea_Dennis]

I have a super reef octopus 5000int on my 265

 

[montepora]

I agree, I run two Barr 5220's, twin Beckett skimmers that perform incredibly well, btw I also run an RK2 25PE commercial skimmer, all on my 600g system, all three remove a lot of skimmate, as a side note I do not believe one can over skim, if anything I think most of us under skim

I am currently running Barr 4220 dual beckett and it rocks. I used to use ETSS 1000 and 800 and they both rock also.