Anyone have experience good or bad with Deltec Skimmers

FirstContact · Mar 4, 2020

External Skimz now
Upgrade to External Deltec

Pro: DC pump gets 1900 lph air draw
Con: Control box looks flimsy- do I even want to deal with it.

Pro: AC pump built for longevity, just plugs in.
Con: AC pump gets 1700 lph of air draw.

Do we know who makes their AC and DC pumps?

Retro Reefer · Mar 4, 2020

They have a reputation for producing a quality product I wouldn’t be concerned with the quality of their DC controller. I switched to a DC skimmer a couple years ago and will never go back to AC

GlassMunky · Mar 4, 2020

I think Adam from @Battlecorals is a distributor for them, he might have the info you’re looking for

Silent · Mar 4, 2020

I have never heard anything bad about Deltec skimmers. Once I heard someone having trouble with skimmate production and replaced old AC pump with a new AC pump and problem solved.

FirstContact · Mar 4, 2020

Okay great. It really boils down to DC vs AC. But it reads like DC is the way to go. Thanks everyone.

@Retroreefer: do you ever turn the DC pump down?

jamie C · Mar 4, 2020

100% deltec is an amazing product. I am running their calcium reactor. ill be buying their skimmer this week.

Retro Reefer · Mar 4, 2020

FirstContact said:
Retroreefer: do you ever turn the DC pump down?

Yes! just like when you where a kid blowing bubbles with your little bottle of soap, If you blow as hard as you can bubble production may be limited or nonexistent but if you blow easy you can form big beautiful bubbles

same with your skimmer, depending on organic levels in your water running your DC skimmer at lower settings can sometimes produce skimmate much more efficiently that running it full blast.

Silver14SS · Mar 4, 2020

I had an AC 1351 on a previous tank and have a DC 600i now, pretty similar design. I prefer the DC version due to the adjustability. I run it at 5 out of 10 on the controller. Works great, very quiet and skims well.

I believe the pumps are made by whoever makes Jebao, just a guess from the shape.

lakai · Mar 5, 2020

Silver14SS said:
I had an AC 1351 on a previous tank and have a DC 600i now, pretty similar design. I prefer the DC version due to the adjustability. I run it at 5 out of 10 on the controller. Works great, very quiet and skims well.

I believe the pumps are made by whoever makes Jebao, just a guess from the shape.

Aquabee I believe.

lakai · Mar 5, 2020

I have a 1000i and its great! The only issue I have with it is how tight the cup is to the skimmer neck making it impossible to just take the cup off to clean. The good thing is that the entire skimmer is very light weight and easy o disassemble.