Why Diss the Aqua C Remora?

I don't chime in much on this forum but....

I have a Remora with a maxi jet 1200 on my 29 gallon tank. IME I have to clean the collection cup daily. The biggest downfall to a Remora is the need to clean the neck of the cup at least every other day. To make it simple I use a cheap bottle brush and run it through the neck when I empty the cup.

I have 62 pounds of live rock, 20 pounds of sand, two black clowns, a frogspawn, green shrooms, a yuma, and a kenya tree. Even with that small bioload I get a nearly full cup a day. This is only my second sw tank, but I have been satisfied with it's performance. It's quiet, space saving, and having a pump in the tank is no big deal to me. I didn't even pay 150 for it. I bought it new from marine depot on sale at 120 bucks.

Can I compare it to other skimmers firsthand? No. But it does it's job and IMO does it well. All of my parameters are in check and my tank is healthy and thriving.
 
My exp with a Remora Pro on a 90G:
I used it HOB, HO-Sump, in sump, Mag3, Mag5. It never worked well at all. The best I could get it to do was some weak Iced Tea colored water. Cosmetically, a Mag pump dangling in plain view was pretty awful. A non Pro with a Max-Jet would not bother me.

I replaced the Remora with an ASM G2 which was just a "fair" in sump skimmer. It cost me less than the Remora did. It easily pulled out in a day with the Remora could in a week and I'm being generous to the Remora.

JME
 
Had Remora Pro...was pleased. Now I have a CSS 125...what a difference this thing makes. Hands-down better, in my opinion, than the Remora Pro.
 
What planet are we on?

What planet are we on?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8549857#post8549857 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by xxpipedreamxx

I have a Remora with a maxi jet 1200 on my 29 gallon tank. IME I have to clean the collection cup daily. The biggest downfall to a Remora is the need to clean the neck of the cup at least every other day. To make it simple I use a cheap bottle brush and run it through the neck when I empty the cup.

I have 62 pounds of live rock, 20 pounds of sand, two black clowns, a frogspawn, green shrooms, a yuma, and a kenya tree. Even with that small bioload I get a nearly full cup a day.
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I have a Remora with a Maxi-Jet 1200 and a skimmer box on my 75-gallon reef tank and 29-gallon refugium. It barely collects a cup of weak tea in month! I empty the collection cup only during water changes every 2-to-4 weeks and it has never been full or dark. My nitrates are continually high (25 ppm) and I am always fighting outbreaks of algae and cyano bacteria in a tank with only 8 small (2") fish, 4" of aragonite sand and 100 pounds of live rock, corals and anemones.

I've never heard that I had to clean the neck of the collection cup every other day. Is that the only difference between your productive skimmer operation and my crappy one?
 
I work at an LFS

My first skimmer I've ever owned was a AquaC remora that I used on a 29 gal tank (about 3 yrs ago)

I loved the skimmer and everything about it.

I like the quality of construction that AquaC has. You take it out of the box and it just looks like something that's going to work really well.

So I have been an advocate of AquaC until I had a deltec experience. (deltec is my favorite thus far.)

On the other hand, I hate Coral life. I've always hated Coral Life. Everything they make seems to be cheaply thrown together.

You take a Coral Life product out of the box and it feels like something your either going to have to fix or replace in nine months.

So to show people that AquaC was "better" than Coral Life in terms of HOB, I hooked both skimmers up to the same system
(900 gallons)

They are hanging on seperate tanks connected to the same system. They have been running together for about six months.

We sell the CoralLife 65 for $100 and the AquaC Remora PRO for $300. These are the two skimmers I set up. They have been running roughly three months.

IME in a 24 hour period, the two skimmers pull out (usually) the exact same amount of skimmate.

I have noticed this everytime I've "experimented". I empty the collection cups into measuring cups and get almost the same result everytime.

Sometimes the Coral Life pulls out a little more than the AquaC. And the skim is always darker.

As much as I hate Coral Life, between the two skimmers, that's the one I'd chose for myself. I almost hate to admit it. It's cheaper and works better. ( I don't know for how Long term though )

The point I'm trying to make I guess is that ,as everyone else stated, The AquaC was and is a fine skimmer for HOB. But now there are so many other and cheaper alternatives that work just as well if not better.

AquaC will probably be a thing of the past. If not already.
 
IMO, the remora has its place. Sure, I prefer needlewheels (I run a giant ER RC500 on my display), but I've been generally happy with the Remora I picked up used for <$100. It travels between my QTs as needed, and no in-sump skimmer can do that easily. It doesn't skim like my big skimmer, but it does a decent job at extracting some of the organics from these lightly biofiltered tanks.

For someone that requires a HOB skimmer, I think the performance is reasonable for the price.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8545474#post8545474 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by The Saltwater Kid
I want the simplest, most reliable and quality performance plug and play HOB skimmer I can get for around $150.
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I don't believe any skimmer is plag and play. I've gone from Seaclone to Turboflotor to Euroreef and there is no such thing as a skimmer you pull out of the box and just totally ignore. They will all need occassional tuning and frequent cleaning. Just take the time to find out how to properly tweak your skimmer so that it works well. Also realize that it will take time to break in almost any skimmer so don't be sad if it takes a week for the AquaC to start skimming. I've had my new euroreef set up for about a week now and it's pulling less that the turboflotor. I'm not worried yet, it will just take a little paitence. If you already think you've received the aquaC then just give it a try. For a 30 gallon tank it will certainly meet your needs.
FB
 
Well... By the design, that HOB Octopus is similar to the CPR BakPak albeit with a needlewheel pump instead.
Infact very little differences between the BakPak, Remora, or even a Deltec MCE whathaveya in terms of how the "box" is designed. What makes them perform or not is the way in which the bubbles are generated. A needlewheel is the latest technology and is much more efficient than the Remora's "injector" or the BakPak's venturi.
It (the HOB Octopus) SHOULD technically work better than the Remora but like others have mentioned previously.... It is still a HOB and won't perform anywhere near what an in sump skimmer in the same price range can do.


D.
 
Well, like I've stated previously I don't currently have a sump because of lack of space so that automatically excludes any in sump skimmers no matter how good they are! I have to have an HOB skimmer and while some people get the CSS skimmers working well there are more then a few people who have problems with them overflowing among other things. I know there are a lot of mods to those skimmers and I'm just not interested in doing that. I realize that I'll still have to fiddle a little bit with the Remora to get it working at the level I want it to but not nearly as much as a CSS skimmer. I guess i will stick with the Remora for now and graduate to something better once I move up in tank size, for now with a 29g reef tank I think the Aqua C remora will do nicely (I might even get that surface skimmer/bubble trap attachment as it says it increases the productivity of the skimmer by 20%...every little bit helps right).
 
HOB versus In-Sump

HOB versus In-Sump

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8551985#post8551985 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dhnguyen
It is still a HOB and won't perform anywhere near what an in sump skimmer in the same price range can do.


D.
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I've always thought that HOB skimmers under-perform because manufacturers haven't invested heavily in them. HOB skimmers tend to be targeted for the lower-end of a line of skimmers. Are there any inherent reasons for HOB skimmers under-performing their in-sump brothers?
 
#1 reason - size

My big skimmer holds ~10g of water (air/water mix, really), the neck is 4+" in diameter, and it collects over a gallon of skimmate a week. Obviously, that's an extreme example, but even an average size in-sump model has a significantly larger reaction chamber than a HOB.
 
No reason for HOB/HOT Skimmers to be Small

No reason for HOB/HOT Skimmers to be Small

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8553534#post8553534 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jeffbrig
#1 reason - size

My big skimmer holds ~10g of water (air/water mix, really), the neck is 4+" in diameter, and it collects over a gallon of skimmate a week. Obviously, that's an extreme example, but even an average size in-sump model has a significantly larger reaction chamber than a HOB.
Click to expand...
The largest skimmers are floor-standing external skimmers, not in-sump skimmers. In-sump skimmers are limited by the size of the sump but external and HOB skimmers should not be limited by size contraints.

If an external skimmer or in-sump skimmer can be converted to hang on a tank, then there should be no reason for HOB skimmers to be the runt of the litter.

I believe that marketing is the reason that HOB skimmers are less powerful than their external or in-sump cousins. Most HOB skimmers are placed on display tanks and must be small to remain unobtrusive. Since I want to hang my skimmer on a sump, I do not have the same size constraint.

Besides, size isn't the only criterion for skimmer productivity. The Tunze skimmers are very small but very productive. If Tunze can produce a HOB/HOT version of its 9010 skimmer, it would be the best HOB/HOT skimmer in the market.
 
It's not about what can be done, you asked why skimmers sold as HOB are inferior to in-sump skimmers. It boils down to size. They are made to be small so they can squeeze between a tank and the wall. They use smaller pumps, because they know the pump has to be inside the tank. All of these are design tradeoffs. When you move to an in-sump skimmer, you tend to have more room available, so you get a bigger chamber, bigger pumps, more air/water, generally a better skimmer. How big depends on the size of the sump. Go external and you have even less limitations.

It all comes down to design choices. HOB skimmers fill a niche for people that don't have a sump and want a skimmer that takes up little room. Nothing more, nothing less. It is not suprising that they are less effective than their larger cousins.

You're right on that last point - efficient designs. Once the size is established, a pump (or pump system) needs to be chosen to optimize the air/water mix for maximum skimming. How well a skimmer is engineered in this respect can certainly vary from model to model (and company to company).

You're probably right about the cost aspect. Maybe a low margin, inexpensive skimmer probably doesn't warrant the R&D investment of a larger skimmer. I have no idea. Then again, maybe they figure the hobbyist buying the HOB won't know the difference... :D
 
Okay, so my hanging my remora pro inside my sump will not work? What skimmer would you suggest for my 40 gallon SPS, lps, clam set up? It also has a 18 gallon refugium hooked onto the sump which equals 29 gallons.
 
Try It!

Try It!

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8557431#post8557431 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MarineGirl411
Okay, so my hanging my remora pro inside my sump will not work? What skimmer would you suggest for my 40 gallon SPS, lps, clam set up? It also has a 18 gallon refugium hooked onto the sump which equals 29 gallons.
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I currently have a Remora with a MJ-1200 pump and a skimmer box hanging on my 29-gallon refugium sump. The refugium is connected to a 75-gallon display tank. The Remora is undersized for my system, so I am looking for a skimmer with greater capacity.

However, your Remora Pro should be more than adequate for your system. Do hang your Remora Pro on your sump and let it rip!
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8554162#post8554162 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jeffbrig

You're probably right about the cost aspect. Maybe a low margin, inexpensive skimmer probably doesn't warrant the R&D investment of a larger skimmer. I have no idea. Then again, maybe they figure the hobbyist buying the HOB won't know the difference... :D
Click to expand...

I think its more the latter than the former. There really isnt much R&D in skimmer design. They've essentially been using exactly the same designs for 10 years+. Any DIY'er with $30 worth of materials and an hour of time can create a HOB skimmer thats vastly supperior to any of the offered skimmers.

The manufacturers just view HOB skimmers as throw away items.
 
Re: Try It!

Re: Try It!

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8557839#post8557839 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pjf
I currently have a Remora with a MJ-1200 pump and a skimmer box hanging on my 29-gallon refugium sump. The refugium is connected to a 75-gallon display tank. The Remora is undersized for my system, so I am looking for a skimmer with greater capacity.

However, your Remora Pro should be more than adequate for your system. Do hang your Remora Pro on your sump and let it rip!
Click to expand...

Right, but its a $250 skimmer, and there are $129 in-sumps that would do a BETTER job (such as the NW110, or NW150, or the CSS 125/220 for that matter)
 
HoB's

HoB's

I've own alot of HoB's (CSS-65, 2 Remoras, CPR-BackPak, Typhon), I picked a new one up every few months until I got a sump and did away with that nonsense (Think of what your best HoB does in a month and that's what a good sump does in 2 or 3 days).

CSS-65: Skims the best out of all the HOB's, but is huge in tank between the monster pump and bubletrap, so it's best in a new tank that you can build around it/cover it up.

Remora / Bak-Pak: Skim exactly the same (I owned both the Rio and MJ Remoras). The edge to the Remora is it's simpler, you have to tinker with the Bak-Pack every few days. Edge to the Bak-Pak is it's a good deal cheaper, like 1/3 cheaper.

Typhon: Has a few great features, but unfortuately doesn't skim well.

-Any NW Sumpskimmer is going to be so much better it's not funny, so unless it's utterly impossible, try for a sump, you'll never regret it.


PW
 
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