Old tall skimmer's vs modern short ?

[427HISS]

Back in the 90's with our first go around wirh reef tanks, the popular custom skimmers were 3'to 6' tall pvc and were air stone driven or venturi's, except for the Tunze.

Most people today like to have their skimmer small enough to fit under the stand or in the sump. I realize technology has improved, but are these skimmers really any better than the old school tall skimmers ?

The main question is dwell time.

In the 90's, I built a 6'tall by 6" diameter skimmer, big air pump and made my own wooden air stones. The reef was in the wall with access from a bedroom that I made the fish room. Since the equipment was hidden, the looks did not matter.

Today, if you could hide your skimmer, would you have a tall one, or a modern short skimmer ?
Do you beleive a tall,........ venturi or wood stone driven skimmer, with it's longer dwell/contact time and larger water volume, still skims the water better than todays short skimmers made to be hidden or has modern technology surpassed the old tall skimmers ?

Are the tall skimmers more efficient ?

Has there been any studies between the two styles,.....short or tall ?
Or have you done your own test ? If so, please explain the results.

 

[mcarroll]

Mostly I think bubble sizes have shrunk and skimmers have followed suit. Also, it's much, much more common for the skimmer to be designed specifically for one pump these days, which of course has (should have!) design advantages.

I don't think small bubbles (or large bubbles) are any stickier, so I doubt actual performance has changed.

 

[Cory]

A taller skimmer if it has the same skimmer pump as a smaller skimmer, will always outperform the smaller one.

Contact time is the key. But i also think speed as the bubble reaches the top would factor too, giving it that extra push.

 

[Battlecorals Verified Sponsor]

There is almost no better example of this, than with the old and new Deltec lines

first the glossy video


Then, this thread was my spiel about it happy to go into more details about specifics if you like.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/deltec-vs-deltec.239239/








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[427HISS]

Which one is running, the smaller one ?
I wish both were running side by side so we could seen the difference.
I'll check out your link tonight.

Thanks Adam,
Kevin

 

[Bpb]

What measurable criteria are the comparisons being judged on though? By some percentage of doc being removed from the water over a given time frame? Noise? Footprint (physical and carbon)? What? You can't just say "this one wins". The taller classic Venturi skimmers may not be as energy efficient, but the pumps are generally much much longer lasting, cheaper, and easier to replace. And some of them like MTC and Lifereef have mostly user serviceable parts and can be modded easily. But yes, bigger footprint, more energy used.

There are too many criteria to be measured and every situation is unique based on the users goals to say what is better or worse. An energy efficient and sexy looking Skimz may be attractive on paper, but when the pump dies, or impeller cracks in less than a year (happened on a Sicce pump for me as well), and specialty replacement parts cost 1/2 as much as the skimmer itself, and are on several month back order....suddenly those 50 watts saved aren't so great. Just offering an opinion on the flip side of the "short squat space saving and energy efficient pinwheel skimmers are better" argument

 

[Battlecorals Verified Sponsor]

Which one is running, the smaller one ?
I wish both were running side by side so we could seen the difference.
I'll check out your link tonight.

Thanks Adam,
Kevin

Yeah I'm with you 100%

I fully intended on having both running strong so you can really see the difference, and to actually do a way more informative comparison video, but I am missing the output Union on the old 902 and I couldn't run it without having a waterfall splashing everywhere.

The 2560, the Smaller white one is the one you see running and is the the new equivilant skimmer to the old 902.

Primarily lower turbulence in the body and very strict attention to body and neck sizes is how they were able to shrink the 902 to the size of the 2560 without compromising performance. in fact the 2560 outperforms the 902 a bit which is hard to believe I know.

It's not really about dwell or contact time any more. At least with high air skimmers

Had to see it with my own eyes to believe it. Really not trying to turn this into a deltec commercial but as I said the new line vs the old line is a great example of exactly what you were asking. Any way