Skimmers with good documentation/instruction?

Lylelovett · Dec 17, 2019

Hi all,

I've got a 150g reef tank going, for about a year now. I've always struggled with my skimmer... I don't know how well it's working... I have NO idea if it's working as well as it could/should be... I don't really know how to fine tune it... I feel like it's a black hole that is probably working about 60% of it's efficiency, but am not confident in that statement at all.

I have a BubbleMagus A8. It came with no documentation, but generally people have seemed to like it.

All that said, I feel like I want to buy a new one. Are there any brands/models that have good documentation that I will really be able to learn how to set it up correctly, dial it in, and feel confident it's doing it's job?

Thanks in advance for all of your expertise/opinions!

ndrwater · Dec 17, 2019

Hard to go wrong with anything Reef Octopus...

scottedontknow · Dec 17, 2019

LIFEREEF. spend the money and you’ll never regret it. Ever. And Jeff customer service is on point!!!!

thewackyreefer · Dec 17, 2019

I've got 2 of the new Red Sea skimmers and love them. IMO a good skimmer shouldn't need good documentation/instructions.

JMM744 · Dec 17, 2019

LIFEREEF!! Simple and never goes obsolete!

ca1ore · Dec 17, 2019

For some reason this made me laugh .... I guess no instructions means the manufacturer has full latitude to tell you you didn’t set it up properly.

scottedontknow · Dec 17, 2019

JMM744 said:
LIFEREEF!! Simple and never goes obsolete!

For real I own and run a vertex, reef octo, eshopps and lifereef. While the vertex and reef octo are great don’t get me wrong and the eshopps is what it is lol the lifereef is literally 10000x better than both.

Mical · Dec 17, 2019

Your Bubble Magus is an excellent skimmer. Granted their literature is not "stellar" but their products are pretty good. What issues are you having? I have their Curve 5 a smaller version of yours and it's taken a bit of tweaking but works well on my 120 gal tank. It's in about 9" of water and I adjust the foam to about the middle of the neck (midway up the skimmer cup) and it pulls all kinds of brown crud from the tank. I clean it once a week while doing my weekly testing and it's been flawless.

MTBake · Dec 18, 2019

I'm really liking my Deltec from @Battlecorals. It didn't come with instructions either. All I really needed to know was the preferred water depth. Dialing it in after that wasn't difficult at all.

Lylelovett · Feb 17, 2020

Mical said:
Your Bubble Magus is an excellent skimmer. Granted their literature is not "stellar" but their products are pretty good. What issues are you having? I have their Curve 5 a smaller version of yours and it's taken a bit of tweaking but works well on my 120 gal tank. It's in about 9" of water and I adjust the foam to about the middle of the neck (midway up the skimmer cup) and it pulls all kinds of brown crud from the tank. I clean it once a week while doing my weekly testing and it's been flawless.

Firstly, I've just never found the right depth. I feel like I'll finally get it set, it will skim 1/4-1/2" of the cup full and then nothing again. Then I replace my socks or look at it funny and it all goes out of whack and I can't get it back to skimming correctly.

I also can't seem to figure out the right settings between the two adjustments dials - The manual doesn't say what either of them does exactly...

It makes a ton of bubbles and for these tiny tiny windows of somehow magically getting it set up right, it skims. but I've never had it working steadily for more than a few days, let alone a week.

MTBake · Feb 17, 2020

Are you constantly adjusting the skimmer? Or it just happens to go haywire all of a sudden? Kinda sounds like you need to open the gate valve more. But I'm not entirely familiar with the skimmer you have. That was the solution for me when this happened with my Deltec the second time.

I found this video earlier. Hope it helps a little.

Mical · Feb 17, 2020

When I first set mine up, I set it in 8" of water (and currently is) and had dial set to the "M" on max. It worked as advertised and every week when doing maintenance, I empty & clean skimmer cup. Recently I added an air valve (like used on air pumps for freshwater tanks) and adjusted so air bubbles were smaller and now have it dialed at 3 (below the Max mark) and it cranks out a ton of dark brown almost black gunk. The efficiency and performance of skimmers varies from tank to tank depending on how much you feed, what you dose & fish bioload. There's no "one setting fits all configurations". I think that's why skimmer mfgrs don't commit to any one particular setting preference.

AdamW0611 · Feb 17, 2020

I have a reefer 300, only used it about 2 months so far, but skimmed great since day one. There's a marker on the skimmer itself for water depth, also really easy to clean.

theMeat · Feb 17, 2020

Bubble magus a8 is a good skimmer. The most important thing, and often overlooked is the position of the bubble plate. The solid part of the plate needs to be the part over the motor output.
Make sure the venturi stays clean and it just performs, quietly