Aquamaxx Bullet 2 HOB Skimmer

jackson6745 · Mar 9, 2023

I had an MCE 600 Back in the day. It pulled gunk but that weird shaped cup was a PITA to clean lol. Im starting another nano and am receiving one of these bullet 3's tomorrow. Looks like a good design.

vokrey09 · Mar 9, 2023

jackson6745 said:
I had an MCE 600 Back in the day. It pulled gunk but that weird shaped cup was a PITA to clean lol. Im starting another nano and am receiving one of these bullet 3's tomorrow. Looks like a good design.

Nice, I have a feeling it's going to be a great skimmer. Please send an update once you get it going if you don't mind

Ideally I'd like to get the 3 but its size is an issue for me. I think I'm starting to lean towards either the bullet 2 or possibly aquamaxx's HOB 1.5 as these will fit behind my tank without needing to move it further from the wall

Still not sure though

jackson6745 · Mar 9, 2023

vokrey09 said:
Nice, I have a feeling it's going to be a great skimmer. Please send an update once you get it going if you don't mind

Ideally I'd like to get the 3 but its size is an issue for me. I think I'm starting to lean towards either the bullet 2 or possibly aquamaxx's HOB 1.5 as these will fit behind my tank without needing to move it further from the wall

Still not sure though

I might have a space issue as well. May have to do a little customizing to it if the intake is too wide on an AIO setup. I wanted an Aquamax 1.5 but couldn't find one anywhere.

vokrey09 · Mar 9, 2023

jackson6745 said:
I might have a space issue as well. May have to do a little customizing to it if the intake is too wide on an AIO setup. I wanted an Aquamax 1.5 but couldn't find one anywhere.

Yeah they're sold out everywhere. I hate to wait and pass up the deal on the bullet 2 or 3. But I have aquamaxx's nf-1 on my 25 gal AIO lagoon tank. It works well, but will randomly stop working and need to be cleaned more than I'd like.

What AIO tank are you putting this bullet 3 on?

jackson6745 · Mar 9, 2023

vokrey09 said:
Yeah they're sold out everywhere. I hate to wait and pass up the deal on the bullet 2 or 3. But I have aquamaxx's nf-1 on my 25 gal AIO lagoon tank. It works well, but will randomly stop working and need to be cleaned more than I'd like.

What AIO tank are you putting this bullet 3 on?

A Waterbox 25 peninsula. Probably a bit much but good for heavy in/heavy out approach

vokrey09 · Mar 9, 2023

reeftivo said:
sorry i missed the question on the intake screen. it does come off

Appreciate it. Would you be able to tell me the minimum dimension my tank would have to be from the wall to mount this?

reeftivo · Mar 9, 2023

vokrey09 said:
Appreciate it. Would you be able to tell me the minimum dimension my tank would have to be from the wall to mount this?

3.7 to 4 will give you a enough wiggle room

you are going to hang it off the back of the AIO chamber, correct?

jackson6745 · Mar 9, 2023

vokrey09 said:
Nice, I have a feeling it's going to be a great skimmer. Please send an update once you get it going if you don't mind

Ideally I'd like to get the 3 but its size is an issue for me. I think I'm starting to lean towards either the bullet 2 or possibly aquamaxx's HOB 1.5 as these will fit behind my tank without needing to move it further from the wall

Still not sure though

The 1.5 is back in stock on bulk reef supply.

reeftivo · Mar 9, 2023

jackson6745 said:
The 1.5 is back in stock on bulk reef supply.

nice

the AM 1.5 is very similar to the old warner marine that worked well for me. another that is similar is the JNS 1.5

vokrey09 · Mar 10, 2023

reeftivo said:
3.7 to 4 will give you a enough wiggle room

you are going to hang it off the back of the AIO chamber, correct?

jackson6745 said:
The 1.5 is back in stock on bulk reef supply.

Appreciate the info guys! Yes I plan on putting it in the AIO chamber. BRS also restocked the bullet 1 last night which is what I originally wanted to buy but has been out of stock for a long long time. I ended up pulling the trigger on that after a lot of reading I did yesterday.

I don't run a very high nutrient system and didn't want an oversized skimmer to bottom me out. The smaller option also allows me to free up a chamber that I'm going to grow some chaeto in

jackson6745 · Mar 14, 2023

I have the Bullet 3 running, wow. That's the most airflow that I've seen coming from a HOB skimmer. Very quiet as well. It's cleared up the chalkiness from newly added sand seemingly overnight.

vokrey09 · Mar 14, 2023

Wow that's great news. I'm having second thoughts now! I just received my Bullet-1 yesterday. Haven't set it up yet because I was a little underwhelmed after seeing it out of the box.

Can you verify what the required minimum clearance behind the tank for the 3?

jackson6745 · Mar 14, 2023

vokrey09 said:
Wow that's great news. I'm having second thoughts now! I just received my Bullet-1 yesterday. Haven't set it up yet because I was a little underwhelmed after seeing it out of the box.

Can you verify what the required minimum clearance behind the tank for the 3?

Looks about 4 1/2” is needed.

vokrey09 · Mar 14, 2023

jackson6745 said:
Looks about 4 1/2” is needed.

Ok, thank you. REGRETS. Should have at least went with the Bullet 2

My biggest issue stopping me from setting up the bullet 1 is that it uses a screw to set the skimmer height. This screw is just pressing against the acrylic cup at the height you want. Afraid that everytime I empty the cup that specific height will need to be found again, and also over time that pressure may cause some cracking

reacclimating 2 the hobby · Apr 9, 2023

Glad to hear it quiets down. When the cup was down all the way it was perfect, but after adjusting it's a bit loud. But i'm only on day 3 with my Bullet-2.

reeftivo · Apr 10, 2023

vokrey09 said:
Ok, thank you. REGRETS. Should have at least went with the Bullet 2

My biggest issue stopping me from setting up the bullet 1 is that it uses a screw to set the skimmer height. This screw is just pressing against the acrylic cup at the height you want. Afraid that everytime I empty the cup that specific height will need to be found again, and also over time that pressure may cause some cracking

o-ring or rubber band maybe around the cup to mark the sweet spot?

that way you hit the mark each time.

wouldn't worry too much about the set screw since acrylic is pretty durable. just don't over tighten.

reacclimating 2 the hobby · Apr 10, 2023

I just made a mark with a sharpie.

RHND · Apr 18, 2023

I have the bullet 2 working great on my IM 25 peninsula as well

scpal9 · May 24, 2023

jackson6745 said:
I have the Bullet 3 running, wow. That's the most airflow that I've seen coming from a HOB skimmer. Very quiet as well. It's cleared up the chalkiness from newly added sand seemingly overnight.

What are the dimensions of the spill way that goes into tank? Height and width?

jackson6745 · May 24, 2023

scpal9 said:
What are the dimensions of the spill way that goes into tank? Height and width?

The spillway outside dimension is 4 1/4” wide. It only goes down into the water about an inch or so. The intake pipe goes down about 6” but that could be cut shorter if needed.