Avast DIY skimmer and hydrofoamer write up.

Antonias1391 · Oct 28, 2010

I know some of you have been waiting on this for a little while and id like to explain why! I was getting enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corp! I (this recruit, haha) Leave for MCRD San Diego on March 23 2011:hell_boy: !! Ok ok enough with my life

I got the thing put together and misunderstood the instructions at one point so i broke a piece but nothing major. the skimmer and pump (Tunze Hydrofoamer 9410.) are sitting in the sink in a vinigar bath breaking in it should be another say or 2 before it makes its way to the tank as i have a couple of things to fix (2 leaks and somthing to sand :beat_shot

i will try to get some pictures online tomorrow thanks for every ones patience and i apologize for the wait!

Antonias1391 · Oct 28, 2010

Also on a side note im starting to Dose B-Ionic alk and Cal and may be going bare bottem going to read up tonight!

Antonias1391 · Oct 29, 2010

Alright here are the promised pictures ! First of a massive thanks to Avast Marine this thing is a beast and worth every cent :bigsmile: !! The shipping was very quick faster them Marine depots as i ordered both the skimmer and pump on the same day. This also gave me time to let put the skimmer together and let it dry before the pump got here.
I must say the packing on the skimmer was fantastic i should have taken a pic of the box but this should give every one enough of a visual

Here it is all put together with the Tunze pump i will be sure to take a side by side pic of this skimmer and my old one

And here the beast is getting a 24h vinegar bath i can already tell with how white the bobble chamber is that i am going to love this dang thing :xd:

i will take some pics of the switch witch will happen tomarow! I am going to have to take the sump out of the cabinet and turn it around so that should be fun. i will also do a water change. im gunna be busy tomarow!! lol

Antonias1391 · Nov 2, 2010

Alright heres the full write up and grade for this beastly piece of equipment!! First a big thanks to Avast Marine and Tunze without you 2 this wouldn't have been possible!! This is in all seriusnes the largest thing i could fit in there (thats what she sayed). so construction went very easily, i had a few problems but it was because of my of stupidity not the directions. Needles to say i should have dry fitted every thing first. If your planning on doing this Kit i would plan on dry fitting it as troylee did. I did a vinegar bath and that dramatically helped with breaking the beast in. It was obvious in the break in that this thing was way more capable of making baubles and keeping a foam head, something that the vertex failed to do every day.

Here is a side by side picture of the 2 skimmers the vertex looks alot taller but look where the bobble plate is and where the input is as well. The Avast skimmer is about 3-4 in wider as well, the cone design is a obvious advantage and the Tunze hydro foamer is German engineering that speaks for itself.

Heres a pic of what i did with my fuge during the move

And here is the sump after the move! Turned the whole thine around cause in my noobyness i put it in the wrong way :tongue:

So heres the negative that i would love to see Avast improve on and theres very little of that to be done. 1st the collection cup is a bear to take off. second i would love it if you guys could throw in a ball valve for the drainage stopper!!, third the silencer for the air draw did not work well, idk if it was just an issue with the Tunze pump or if it would break in eventualy but gosh it was noisy. and thats really it!

Heres a Video of the skimmer and sump [video=youtube;l4lpd9-IRGg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4lpd9-IRGg[/video]

Thanks So much Avast Marine this thing pulls the nastiest crap ive ever seen!!

melev · Nov 3, 2010

Why are there all those bubbles coming out of the pump itself? It seems like you may have a small leak. All that should be going into the skimmer body.