Why no DC for Reef Octopus?

[Fish E]

Does anyone know why Reef Octopus doesn't have any external skimmers with a DC pump larger than the Regal DC 300 model?

 

[jda]

There probably is not that large of a market - external skimmers are hard to sell. Large tanks are not all that common.

FWIW - I had a 300 with a RO DC pump and had three pump failures in a year - Coralife got me new pumps, but the last one went out a few months out of warranty... they were good about it. The skimmer did not work all that well either with that pump on any setting, but the lowest setting would pull the most gunk which was kind of a waste of a larger pump. The same body with a Sedra 9000 skimmed twice as much stuff out of the tank. Perhaps the design of the Varios pump in the current models is better.

If you need external and don't mind a big skimmer, then a LifeReef or some sort of Beckett will blow away a needlewheel.

 

[Fish E]

There probably is not that large of a market - external skimmers are hard to sell. Large tanks are not all that common.

FWIW - I had a 300 with a RO DC pump and had three pump failures in a year - Coralife got me new pumps, but the last one went out a few months out of warranty... they were good about it. The skimmer did not work all that well either with that pump on any setting, but the lowest setting would pull the most gunk which was kind of a waste of a larger pump. The same body with a Sedra 9000 skimmed twice as much stuff out of the tank. Perhaps the design of the Varios pump in the current models is better.

If you need external and don't mind a big skimmer, then a LifeReef or some sort of Beckett will blow away a needlewheel.

Your points makes a lot of sense. Thank for taking the time. I was just curious if there was also a technical reason because they do produce larger skimmers, but use the Bubble Blaster pumps in those.

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[bif24701]

There probably is not that large of a market - external skimmers are hard to sell. Large tanks are not all that common.

FWIW - I had a 300 with a RO DC pump and had three pump failures in a year - Coralife got me new pumps, but the last one went out a few months out of warranty... they were good about it. The skimmer did not work all that well either with that pump on any setting, but the lowest setting would pull the most gunk which was kind of a waste of a larger pump. The same body with a Sedra 9000 skimmed twice as much stuff out of the tank. Perhaps the design of the Varios pump in the current models is better.

If you need external and don't mind a big skimmer, then a LifeReef or some sort of Beckett will blow away a needlewheel.

Depending on the model the Varios pumps are ~25 more powerful due to higher voltage power supply. Same pump, better controller and power supply.


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[slief]

On an external skimmer, you have recirculating pumps that draw in the air and most inexpensive DC pumps are questionable when run externally. Further, a variable speed pump on an external like that isn't as beneficial as a variable speed pump on an internal where the same pump is used across a wider size range of skimmers and the speed can be used to adjust the pump for the skimmer size. In the case of an exerntal skimmer, the bigger benefit to the DC/variable speed pump is the feed pump which has the direct impact on contact time. This is where it's most needed and also why the variable speed pumps are more popular on internal skimmers that depend on a single pump for both the feed and the circulation/air injection. As such, the benefits of using DC pumps on an external for circulation are not as impactful as they would be on an internal. Especially on larger external skimmers.