Protein Skimmer Recomendations!!

[biecacka]

I love my Bubble King! It’s a beast no doubt. But they all perform a task pretty close to similar in results. It really comes down to build quality of the skimmer and the pump Used. There are plenty of good options out there.
life reef, tunze, deltec to name a few they people seem to love.

corey

 

[Topreefer92]

I have an aquamaxx EM-300 and it did take a little while to settle down but I am pleased with it now. Quiet, stable performance and pulls a solid amount of gunk out of the water for sure. Not sure why you are having difficulty, have you tried leaving on settings for a few days? I only made very small adjustments as I dialled it in..

Yeah I have been doing just that for the last year. I will try to document the changes better and see.


I did notice that the red sea does use a sicce pump!

I appreciate all the feedback thus far folks!!

 

[scott11]

Good discussion here- I am looking for a very quiet skimmer, 100 total volume, heavy stock (eventually). Most discussion here is about AC skimmers. I was thinking DC for noise concerns. Any good DC skimmers to look at? I have a RO110 older model, and its too loud and hard to tune.

 

[Plecosam]

Reef Octopus have a DC range that review well, if money is not a concern Red Dragon.

 

[jda]

If you can hear a pump over the air intake or falling water, then your pump might be worn out or scratched or something. DC does not help with the real noise of a skimmer.

 

[Oldreefer44]

"upgraded" from Bubble King to Life Reef. Like it so much that I am going to use it on my new 180 build. Simple, very well made and practically plug and play.

 

[scott11]

If you can hear a pump over the air intake or falling water, then your pump might be worn out or scratched or something. DC does not help with the real noise of a skimmer.

I think most of the noise is the air intake. Some pump noise/vibration. The rest of my tank is silent, so I am a little more sensitive to this than some others. The air intake has a silencer- any way to further reduce the noise? I can run the inlet to the closet next to the tank (where I have my ATO), but not sure if this will reduce the airflow.

 

[Plecosam]

All my AC pumps can be heard over falling water, they all hum, and did so from new. Sicce, Ehiem, Nyos, Aquaone, Tunze all the AC pumps I can hear along with falling water and air.

 

[Peace River]

I have been running Reef Octopus skimmers for over ten years and currently have three different models of Reef Octopus skimmers running on different systems. I have always been happy with them.

 

[Plecosam]

Which RO do you have?

 

[Peace River]

Which RO do you have?

Currently I have a 110, 130, and 150 as well as the RO L-150 Light Reactor

 

[SALTYMOPAR]

I like Reef octopus, But I currently have a bubble magus curve 5 elite out of the box the thing was making skimate.

 

[lakai]

check out the Akula line of skimmers. they ship direct from Italy. i have a UKS 160 and it's on par with Bubble kings
skims very very well. you can get a quote direct from their site contact link. http://www.ultrareef.it/product.htm.

I Have a ultrareef média reactor, really high quality stuff. I’m curious about royal exclusiv skimmers, worth the price? If so why?

 

[reeftivo]

I Have a ultrareef média reactor, really high quality stuff. I’m curious about royal exclusiv skimmers, worth the price? If so why?

I had a mini 160 and now have RE's new double cone 130 x DC. Nice little skimmer. Skims very well with that DC pump!

my opinion is just my opinion, but of the two BK skimmers I've used, Royal Exclusive sure does use some premium materials to manufacture their stuff. Very weighty PVC, nice thick acrylic and pretty much perfect joints (not to mention red dragon pumps). Their PVC and acrylic edges are all polished as well. The Akula skimmer is on par with BK build quality and they even have beefier PVC. The Akula i own just isn't as polished on the edges of the cup like the BKs are. It sure does skim well though! The Ultrafeef Akula and Typhoon skimmers use their custom Sicce pumps. I guess they're made special because it's a dark green sicce with transparent volute on mine. Never seen a Sicce like that before!

When i bought my Double cone i saw some crazy stuff coming down the pipe on RE's Euro web site. They have some crazy new mini'ish 160 that's coming. It has long diffuser tubes coming of the bubble plate. Kind of like a super long version of the aquamaxx bubble plate cones. Interesting stuff!!!!!

 

[Dolelo96]

I have the Reef Octo Regal 150ss. Love it!

 

[DHill6]

I had a mini 160 and now have RE's new double cone 130 x DC. Nice little skimmer. Skims very well with that DC pump!

my opinion is just my opinion, but of the two BK skimmers I've used, Royal Exclusive sure does use some premium materials to manufacture their stuff. Very weighty PVC, nice thick acrylic and pretty much perfect joints (not to mention red dragon pumps). Their PVC and acrylic edges are all polished as well. The Akula skimmer is on par with BK build quality and they even have beefier PVC. The Akula i own just isn't as polished on the edges of the cup like the BKs are. It sure does skim well though! The Ultrafeef Akula and Typhoon skimmers use their custom Sicce pumps. I guess they're made special because it's a dark green sicce with transparent volute on mine. Never seen a Sicce like that before!

When i bought my Double cone i saw some crazy stuff coming down the pipe on RE's Euro web site. They have some crazy new mini'ish 160 that's coming. It has long diffuser tubes coming of the bubble plate. Kind of like a super long version of the aquamaxx bubble plate cones. Interesting stuff!!!!!

Just received the 130 x dc skimmer. Instructions are non existent. I didn’t see anything in the manual about maintenance on the x pump. Manual needs to be updated including thus specific pump. Anything you can share on tips with this skimmer? Did you attach a C02 reactor?

 

[JumboShrimp]

Recirculating.

 

[reeftivo]

Just received the 130 x dc skimmer. Instructions are non existent. I didn’t see anything in the manual about maintenance on the x pump. Manual needs to be updated including thus specific pump. Anything you can share on tips with this skimmer? Did you attach a C02 reactor?

hello,

i would start the skimmer off at 7 inches of water with the stand pipe wide open. start the pump power setting at the 2nd or 3rd power level and let it build a stable foam head over the course of a couple days. once it has developed a stable head that doesn't roll and boil, increase the power level one increment daily and monitor until you have the foam head breaking at the collar where the cup attaches. dont adjust it multiple times in one day. report back when you get the foam head up to the collar (this can take several days). The pump impeller can be accessed via the two screws on the red volute cover. you would remove those screws and twist/pull to access. Be careful not to drop the bearings/bushings if they stick to the shaft of the impeller. they can bounce off to the abyss. you'll need to remove this periodically (3 months for me). the connection from the pump to the body of the skimmer is a little wonky IMO, but works. you can just unscrew it or pull it off w/o unscrewing. there isn't much holding it on.

 

[DHill6]

Just received the 130 x dc skimmer. Instructions are non existent. I didn’t see anything in the manual about maintenance on the x pump. Manual needs to be updated including thus specific pump. Anything you can share on tips with this skimmer? Did you attach a C02 reactor?

Disregard, It’s working perfectly, including attached C02.

 

[DHill6]

hello,

i would start the skimmer off at 7 inches of water with the stand pipe wide open. start the pump power setting at the 2nd or 3rd power level and let it build a stable foam head over the course of a couple days. once it has developed a stable head that doesn't roll and boil, increase the power level one increment daily and monitor until you have the foam head breaking at the collar where the cup attaches. dont adjust it multiple times in one day. report back when you get the foam head up to the collar (this can take several days). The pump impeller can be accessed via the two screws on the red volute cover. you would remove those screws and twist/pull to access. Be careful not to drop the bearings/bushings if they stick to the shaft of the impeller. they can bounce off to the abyss. you'll need to remove this periodically (3 months for me). the connection from the pump to the body of the skimmer is a little wonky IMO, but works. you can just unscrew it or pull it off w/o unscrewing. there isn't much holding it on.

Thanks for all the tips. It seems like it’s settling in, nice foam forming. It’s only been a couple days but I’m impressed with this skimmer including the feed mode.