Seachem Aquavitro skimmer

[dbdisok]

Seachem Aquavitro 125. A few notes on how I set up and tune the skimmer.

Do NOT put the air intake/silencer on the skimmer overflow. It will take in water and not drain (like when I turn off my pump to do a water change). I hang it outside the sump.
Having the skimmer between the min level line on the pump and the top of the pump seems to work best (6-8 Inches).
I let the pump take as much water as it can. I took the restriction pin out of the water intake. (this is one thing I did not mess around with, might be able to use if you have sitting deeper in sump)
Put on the collection cup.
I set the air to full close and the overflow all the way down. Crack open the air line and watch the bubbles. Too much air and I get big air bubbles in the neck. I like lost of little bubbles, so my is set mostly closed and this give lots of small bubbles up in the neck of the collection cup.
Then slowly bring up the overflow until the bubbles are at the top of neck of the collection cup.
1/4 turn adjustments (at most) I tweaked it to work best for me. Took a few tries to get it right where I wanted it.
I tried having in deeper water, but my skim was very wet and filled up quickly, could not keep the head pressure down.
You don't need the filter & sock on the overflow, but it does a good job of keeping the noise down.

I am shopping for a skimmer for a new system with a total water volume of about 125 gallons. My LFS has the Aquavitro Division skimmers in stock. I was wondering how you feeling about your skimmer now that it has been running for a few months?

 

[dolpator]

So I just won a Element 250 and the CA Element Reactor from a live sale. I currently run an Reef Octopus INT150 and a Geo Calcium reactor on the 150. I am not sure what to do with them. I love the sleek design and my equipment is all a little on the older side of things, and I know the pump on the GEO is going to need to be replaced soon. I have another tank but it is only a 36 gallon cube, and these would be overkill. Decisions decisions decisions.

 

[CaseyWagner]

Got one today.
Straightforward to assemble, and foaming away right now. We'll see how it goes.
Was missing a nozzle cap from the parts, but got around that by using a piece of plastic and a rubber band for now.
Also, label with serial number was missing, making registration for the warranty impossible.

Sent Seachem a couple of messages on Twitter about it. Will see what they say.

 

[CaseyWagner]

Got one today.
Straightforward to assemble, and foaming away right now. We'll see how it goes.
Was missing a nozzle cap from the parts, but got around that by using a piece of plastic and a rubber band for now.
Also, label with serial number was missing, making registration for the warranty impossible.

Sent Seachem a couple of messages on Twitter about it. Will see what they say.

It's been running for 24 hours, and it's a bit wet but that's to be expected. I raised it out of the water a little bit with 2 layers of egg crate, as it was sitting at max depth and that was leading to excess foam with the settings for minimum foamage. It's adjusted now, and I can use the tweaks to airflow and venturi as needed.

Seachem's going to sent me the valve barb cover and handle the registration since there's no serial number. Will update on how that works

Happy so far, and with the possibility of upgrading the hardware it seems like a good investment

 

[Jazzasaurus]

Been lurkin here for a while everyone - I bought this. I have it running right now, but its my first skimmer in a bigger tank. I have no.idea if its running correctly. Would be happy to let anyonr here know how its working if i could get the legos together correctly and felt goot about it running correctly.

 

[Khoi_La]

Been lurkin here for a while everyone - I bought this. I have it running right now, but its my first skimmer in a bigger tank. I have no.idea if its running correctly. Would be happy to let anyonr here know how its working if i could get the legos together correctly and felt goot about it running correctly.

You just have to let the skimmer run for a day or two to break in, then do a lot if tweaking here and there to find the correct water level, as the bioloads are different in every tank. Clockwise is higher water level, and counter clock is lower the water level, hope this helps

 

[BeltedCoyote]

So what do people think about these? It’s been a bit. Considering the 125 for my 120

 

[CaseyWagner]

Very happy with mine. Was running it on a 40 gallon.
Have to set it up again since I moved the tank and need to put a sump in place again.
It seemed to keep my 40 *too* clean. My coral growth picked up speed again when I took it offline.
I'll put it on a timer when it's back.

Anyway, it works great for pulling nastiness out of the water.

 

[rob taft]

Another happy user here. Easy to dial in and seems to be very effective. I shortened the overflow sock as it was drifting too close to other equiment. I found that you have to place the plastic overflow screen just right so it keeps the skimmer quiet.
The skimmer is the 250 unit and its running on a tank with an overall system of 150 gallons. I run it 24/7. I also have this sitting on a silicone mat and underneath a closed cabinet. Overall, I'm very pleased with SeaChem's product.

 

[fishingchuck]

I just installed the 500 Yesterday. No complaints so far. Seems like a great skimmer especially for the price.

 

[marspeed]

Just picked up a125 I'll install it later in the week

 

[BeltedCoyote]

Thanks for the input everyone. I’ll be adding one of these bad boys to my build

 

[fishingchuck]

As an added perk the extra input is going to be perfect when my biopellet reactor arrives. I can plumb it directly into the skimmer. I’ll let everyone know how it goes when it arrives.

 

[marspeed]

Ok took me a bit this picture is five minutes after I plugged it in

 

[marspeed]

And it's very quiet I'm not having any sound issues with the overflow I used the sock provided with the skimmer

 

[dedragon]

seeing these in person, they are a nice, inexpensive skimmer, with recirculating (usually more expensive) option. The only real problem i see is the cheaper plastic used on the clear parts of the unit and crazing over time but it is the absolute cheapest recirculation skimmer you can find, with a sicce pump as well. Great value product

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Yes they are cast acrylic for mass production. My lifereef has crazing from the age of the acrylic. Jeff at lifereef told me to slap some jb weld on it and no worries. Lol. So I did.

Here below in these pictures you can see how I have the skimmer running currently with the addition water feed pump.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

This accessory piece is what I need to complete my skimmer and actually make it recirculating.
BTW a 125 division is for sale in the marketplace here on r2r I think I saw yesterday for anyone interested.
D

 

[mlivvy]

This accessory piece is what I need to complete my skimmer and actually make it recirculating.
BTW a 125 division is for sale in the marketplace here on r2r I think I saw yesterday for anyone interested.
D

Seachem Aquavitro Division 125 Secondary Pump Kit

Seachem Aquavitro Division 125 Secondary Pump Kit

www.reefh2o.com

You just have to ask your LFS to order it for you.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Got the 2nd pump kit today. I'm using a psk-1000 impeller. My original impellers shaft didn't hold up. Lol.
This kit really helped my troft from running too much water. 4 hrs after install and the skimmer is back to performing.
D