Euro Reef cs12-1 skimmer input

[Cjud7982]

I have been kicking this euro reef cs12-1 skimmer around for a while and have been itching to use it, but know that my current stocking wont be enough to support a consistent foam head. My tank is a 180 gallon display with a very large external overflow, approx 6 gallons, and plan to build a new sump to accommodate this skimmer and increase my total water volume as much as I can. The sump will be close to 100 gallons, and when running be filled with approx 60 gallons. So total water voulme would be around 240-250.

The intended stocking is to be a tang dominated tank. I know anything over 3 tangs is probably pushing it, either a) because of aggression and b) they are big dirty fish. The tangs I currently have in the system are a 4 inch yellow, 4 inch purple, and 4 inch tomoni. They get a long great and have for the last few years. Some one I know, is moving and gave me 3 other tangs that have been together for years and have never shown any signs of aggression towards each other. They are currently in a separate tank system for holding, observation, and qt. I would love to add these fish to my display, so that got me thinking about my skimming power and sump size. I am fully expecting some lash about that many tangs in a 180, so any thoughts on that are welcome as well.

With having 6 tangs in a tank, I figured now would be a good time to put this cs12-1 skimmer to use. I have been having a very hard time finding any information on the specs of the skimmer, but what I do know is that it has a 12" chamber, 24 inches tall, and two ehiem 1262 pinwheel recirculating pump. I plan on feeding it off my return pump manifold or a smaller pinwheel pump. From what I can find, the eheims push about 1000 lph of air each. I know this skimmer is oversized, but have seen many successful tanks within this size run a similar skimmer. The recommended ranges i see on these skimmers is anywhere from 250 gallons up to well over 500 gallons. I am figuring that with 6 tangs and having to regularly feed them multiple times a day, to keep aggression down, that there will plenty of DOC to keep the skimmer producing skimmate. I know that there is a ton of adjustability on the skimmer, in flow, out flow, air intake, one recirc, or two, and water depth. BTW, i plan on using it internally to my sump so I dont have to worry about the uni seals leaking ever.

I am curious to see what you guys thoughts are, and if I am off my rocker. I know I can get a new 8" skimmer body with all the new bells and whistles, but I have read and seen many other people who claim that these skimmers are second to none, especially with the ehiem pumps. Plus i really dont wanna have to buy 600 dollar skimmer when I already have one lol.


thanks in advance

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

A 12" body ER skimmer is oversized for a 180-gallon tank, you can try it and see if it works if you are dumping a cup of skimmate a week, then you are good. I hope you have a big sump that skimmer will take a lot of room.

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

I’m a huge euroreef, reefdynamics fan. Post a pic when you get this hooked up.

 

[Cjud7982]

Well I needed the bigger sump anyways, if it works then great, if not, then at least I get a sump that a little over double the water volume of my 40 breader with a huge fuge and massive equipment chamber. Here's a pic of the sump as I'm building it. Measures 52.5 long, 22 inches wide, and18 inches tall. out around 85 gallons, will be baffling it obviously which will be about 65 gallons of water when running.

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

Nice. Is that glass?

 

[Cjud7982]

Nice. Is that glass?

Yeah,. I am not a fan of acrylic, I build all my stuff out of glass.

 

[Cjud7982]

Got some of the silicone on the tank cleaned up after assembly. Added baffles yesterday and today. Went with a simple three chamber with bubble trap. It's getting closer. Gunna give it a few more days for all the silicone to cure before water testing it

 

[Cjud7982]

Got the pin wheel impellers and other plumbing for the skimmer done, sump leak tested(sat with water for about a week), cleaned, swapped and plumbed yesterday. Phwew what a day. Skimmer is breaking in and going up and down as expected. Now I need to redo all the wiring and built a control panel away from the water . Hope this is all worth it haha

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

Looking good, did you have all the bits for the Ehiem pumps? It is getting harder to find impellers.

 

[Cjud7982]

Yeah, there was a gentleman on here that had some old pumps that he sold me. They had the pinwheel impellers. I had the venturis, pumped impeller covers. I did have to take the impeller off of one of the rotors and put it on another rotor I had. The magnet was pretty beat up, but was able to swap the impeller onto a good rotor. I didn't realize it, but when I got the skimmer there was a spare needle wheel with it that I just found in my junk drawer. So now I have a spare I guess lol

 

[Cjud7982]

It's starting to skim! idk why it's exciting lol I've been dealing with skimmate for years haha.

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

Nice! I need to get one of those eheim pumps for my skimmer. That skimmer of yours is a beast. Great work on the sump.

 

[Cjud7982]

Ask around on the wtb forums for a standard 1260 or 1262. There's tons of them. the eheim 1260 and 1262 body's are the same with the same impellers. The only difference is the impeller cover, the 1262 intake is larger. I can set you up with the volute/impeller cover that makes it the 1262. And I would be willing to hook you up with my extra pinwheel impeller. Just need to cut the blades off a stock rotor and slide the pinwheel impeller onto it. Convert any old 1260 or 1262 into a skimmer pump.

And thanks for the compliments, I've been wanting to do this for quite some time now.

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

Euro Reef Systems & Parts - buckleyunlimited.com

Manufacture Direct. Original Parts were back in 2018 we have the nano skimmer, all the euro reef systems parts and completed units. these are brand new units. starting July 1, 2018 we will help each customer with parts replacements. we also have the tooling for very large protein skimmers...

buckleyunlimited.com

Back in the day, I used to go to the Euro Reef shop and watch them build the skimmers.

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

we need to figure out some more cost effective pumps and impellers. My ins 135 is running great on a sicce psk600. My ins 180 needs a bigger pump. As the old Sedra has bit the dust. These are still some of the best quality skimmers. I bet my old ins 180 is 20 years old. I found Jeff a couple years ago and he was making pumps and impellers at $349 and $149 price points. I should have just picked one up. I’d like to see the skimmers resurrected and parts readily available.

 

[jda]

Tunze Hydrofoamer is a great replacement for Sedra or Ehiem on the ER or ASM skimmers.

Few believe me that they are every bit as good, if not better, then newer cone skimmers with bubble plates and all of that, until they see the foam in the cup at my house.

I use at least two skimmers on each tank - that is definitely oversized. They perform excellently and pull lots of junk. I do not believe that you can skim too much.