Do high end skimmers work more efficiently?

[Centerline]

As someone who has owned several different skimmers I'm going to suggest that performance comes down to body design, quality of the pump, density of bubbles and dwell time of said bubbles. Case in point, I have an old Red Sea Berlin skimmer that was very expensive 15 or so years ago when I scored it. I'm not cheap, but don't want to throw away any reef gear and will find away to re-purposes something I paid for to justify my hoarding So, I needed a skimmer for a QT tank. I pulled out the Red Sea, upgraded the pump to a Sicce PSK and got performance that rivals any skimmer I have owned. Why? Dwell time and bubble density. On a side note the Red Sea Berlin really was an interesting innovation and design with the "triple pass" increasing dwell time and settling / condensing froth. Unfortunately you really had to have the water height dialed in to keep the pump from stalling due to back pressure.

 

[Scott.h]

As someone who has owned several different skimmers I'm going to suggest that performance comes down to body design, quality of the pump, density of bubbles and dwell time of said bubbles. Case in point, I have an old Red Sea Berlin skimmer that was very expensive 15 or so years ago when I scored it. I'm not cheap, but don't want to throw away any reef gear and will find away to re-purposes something I paid for to justify my hoarding So, I needed a skimmer for a QT tank. I pulled out the Red Sea, upgraded the pump to a Sicce PSK and got performance that rivals any skimmer I have owned. Why? Dwell time and bubble density. On a side note the Red Sea Berlin really was an interesting innovation and design with the "triple pass" increasing dwell time and settling / condensing froth. Unfortunately you really had to have the water height dialed in to keep the pump from stalling due to back pressure.

It doesn't happen to look like this does it? Lol. I've had this thing for years, and I can't for the life of me throw it away. But I'll be honest, I never could get the thing to work properly. It seems like when I bought it it was state of the art.

 

[Centerline]

It doesn't happen to look like this does it? Lol. I've had this thing for years, and I can't for the life of me throw it away. But I'll be honest, I never could get the thing to work properly. It seems like when I bought it it was state of the art.

Lol, that would be the exact skimmer. The stock pump on it had some real problems. Stick a PSK on that puppy and you will be surprised ... I'll bet you have all sorts of stuff that you have horded over the years... love it.

 

[cracker]

I have a real old ASM skimmer the thing works very well. I don't remember if they were expensive back 15 years ago. Just sayin I don't need a newer high dollar skimmer. Now my buddy has a fancy one where you can adjust air & water amounts. Had it about a year & still trying to tune it .

 

[Scott.h]

The articles were written by my friend Ken Feldman, and can be easily found by googling his name plus the word "skimmer".

That article was pretty interesting. I'm pretty surprised at the Reef Octopus coming up that short. I guess the bottom line is that we feel good about seeing junk in the collection cup, but big picture is they don't really do all that much. Bubbles only collect so much stuff. I found it more interesting that even with macro algae there was still a rise in TOC, and the 10% weekly water change barely kept it in check. That makes me a little nervous now being on the triton method with no water changes. We need a TOC test kit now!

It also appears I'd be better off buying a new pump for the reef dynamics vs a new reef octopus. However running 24/7, if it's a 30% (or so) removal at the end of the week it probably doesn't matter.

We need another test like this with all modern skimmers.

Thanks for posting that.

 

[Scott.h]

"Bubbles is bubbles"

any idea what BSA is? I get the TOC, but "they removed almost all the BSA".

 

[Centerline]

I have a real old ASM skimmer the thing works very well. I don't remember if they were expensive back 15 years ago. Just sayin I don't need a newer high dollar skimmer. Now my buddy has a fancy one where you can adjust air & water amounts. Had it about a year & still trying to tune it .

They were right in the middle pricewise and right at the top for performance. I sold buddy of mine a ASM when I purchased a new Reef Octopus. I came to find that the old ASM was just as good as the new RO. Live and learn...

 

[redfishbluefish]

any idea what BSA is? I get the TOC, but "they removed almost all the BSA".

Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA)

 

[bif24701]

any idea what BSA is? I get the TOC, but "they removed almost all the BSA".

Just a protein they used to add to fresh mixed sea water for the purpose of testing the skimmers.

 

[Cory]

As someone who has owned several different skimmers I'm going to suggest that performance comes down to body design, quality of the pump, density of bubbles and dwell time of said bubbles. Case in point, I have an old Red Sea Berlin skimmer that was very expensive 15 or so years ago when I scored it. I'm not cheap, but don't want to throw away any reef gear and will find away to re-purposes something I paid for to justify my hoarding So, I needed a skimmer for a QT tank. I pulled out the Red Sea, upgraded the pump to a Sicce PSK and got performance that rivals any skimmer I have owned. Why? Dwell time and bubble density. On a side note the Red Sea Berlin really was an interesting innovation and design with the "triple pass" increasing dwell time and settling / condensing froth. Unfortunately you really had to have the water height dialed in to keep the pump from stalling due to back pressure.

Thats interesting. I remember those. Compare the neck size though. Its tiny. So its got a lot of force to push out the foam compared to a thick size neck. As you said too dwell time is important. That tripple pass makes the skimmer at least double the hieght. And thats effective in increasing contact time and this makes darker smimmate.

 

[Cory]

Just a protein they used to add to fresh mixed sea water for the purpose of testing the skimmers.

And that would equate to nitrates. Remove as much protein as possible and youll have reduced nitrates.

 

[Cory]

The best skimmer ive had was a home made 6ft tall skimmer. It used wooden airstones. The skimmate was sludge- barely a foam. Tiny bubbles and hieght makes very dark skimmate. Its all about contact time.

 

[Scott.h]

And that would equate to nitrates. Remove as much protein as possible and youll have reduced nitrates.

Just a protein they used to add to fresh mixed sea water for the purpose of testing the skimmers.

That's what I was wondering about the BSA. So I wonder when removing TOC if that translates into 30% nitrate reduction?

 

[Cory]

That's what I was wondering about the BSA. So I wonder when removing TOC if that translates into 30% nitrate reduction?

Probably about that. But nitrates should be the easiest to remove. Dsb, algae, bacteria and carbon dosing and skimming all remove nitrates.

Carbon, and ozone can remove 70% of doc.

 

[bif24701]

Probably about that. But nitrates should be the easiest to remove. Dsb, algae, bacteria and carbon dosing and skimming all remove nitrates.

Carbon, and ozone can remove 70% of doc.

Technically nitrate can not be removed. NO3 is an inorganic molecule and is not removed via skimming. The organics dissolved in the water are removed by the skimmer before they break down into NO3 and PO4.

 

[Cory]

Technically nitrate can not be removed. NO3 is an inorganic molecule and is not removed via skimming. The organics dissolved in the water are removed by the skimmer before they break down into NO3 and PO4.

I never said a skimmer will remove no3. It cant. I said that a skimmer will remove protein, which has nitrogen in it and when that breaks down a few times it becomes no3. But yes i agree with what your saying.

 

[Scott.h]

Exactly. More less what we gather from the article is that regardless of the skimmer, over time, it roughy removes 30% of the garbage before it breaks down into nitrates. The better of the skimmers tested, they just got to their max capability faster.

 

[Centerline]

The best skimmer ive had was a home made 6ft tall skimmer. It used wooden airstones. The skimmate was sludge- barely a foam. Tiny bubbles and hieght makes very dark skimmate. Its all about contact time.

I live a couple of miles away from Marine Land / Whitney Labs in Fl and they have / had a bunch of very tall skimmers attached to the dolphin area pulling some serious sludge. Stuff look like coffee.

 

[cap232]

for me I I like the old euro reef / reef dynamics ins skimmers. just about any right sized pump will work.
if I find a good deal on them I try to buy them. right now im looking for a euro reef rs180 or reef dynamics 180. same skimmer.
I just love them you only had to set it once and that's it. no fuss skims great.. some of the older vertex skimmers were pretty good. I don't like the new cone style. to fussy

 

[cap232]

I'm in the market for another skimmer. My reef dynamics pump is done. The proper pump is a few pennies. I don't have a problem paying more for a higher end skimmer. The bottom line is that I have too many fish in too small of a tank. Salt isn't cheap. Changing large amounts of water isn't convenient. And if spending $500 for a vertex, deltec, or whatever, will pull faster then my 2 reef octopus classics (which have been an awesome value btw) in my other systems then so be it. I'm not one to take my buddies to the basement to brag about my skimmer, when it's covered in salt creep. I want value for the dollar when it comes to removing dark stuff. I want the absolute biggest skimmer I can fit, and I want to know it's worth it's weight in waste removal!

what size skimmer is it.?