pismo_reefer Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 (edited) That 'knock-off' looks really nice! It seems to work very well, too. The difference becomes apparent, when you see them side by side. BM uses a really high quality acrylic, and seals. I'm very interested to see how that neck-seal holds up, in the longrun. If it works well, you should keep people posted. As, that could become the new low-buck skimmer. Edited December 16, 2011 by pismo_reefer Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted December 16, 2011 Author Share Posted December 16, 2011 (edited) For anyone who is interested in seeing a 20+ page thread about this skimmer (and the larger brother, the SC-150) ..... Clicky Clicky Here And another one of 10+ pages here..... Cliiiiiiiiiiiiiiick! Edited December 16, 2011 by paneubert Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted December 16, 2011 Author Share Posted December 16, 2011 (edited) Just for my own documentation, I have the skimmer in 7 inches of water in the bucket and I have it tuned to just above "2" out of 5. That gets the water level in the skimmer to hit right at where the collection cup and body meet. Tons of micro bubbles escaping into the bucket from somewhere and no foam yet. But the bubbles are looking good in the reaction chamber. This is as of 6:30 AM before I left for work. Edited December 16, 2011 by paneubert Quote Link to comment
siwelk Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 For anyone who is interested in seeing a 20+ page thread about this skimmer (and the larger brother, the SC-150) ..... Clicky Clicky Here And another one of 10+ pages here..... Cliiiiiiiiiiiiiiick! Queued reading. Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted December 18, 2011 Author Share Posted December 18, 2011 (edited) Who likes skimmer porn? Video if you click on the picture. This is the skimmer breaking in with just a little pinch of flake food and the crap from my AquaC Remora feeding it. Edited December 18, 2011 by paneubert Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted December 19, 2011 Author Share Posted December 19, 2011 Skimmer is maintaining a head of bubbles in the neck of the cup. There is a little bit of fairly clear liquid in the cup. Lots of little dark specks on the roof of the cup and in the neck. Not surprised there is just that clear stuff since this is a skimmer made for a 40-60 gallon tank sitting in 3 gallons of water with almost nothing nasty to skim out. Plus is has just started to break in. I might toss some pellet food in there to see if it will skim them out as they dissolve. You may ask why I still have this in a bucket......it is because I have to wait till Christmas to set up my overflow and sump. I don't have any 1 inch hose for the overflow box and I don't have a good return "J Tube" system. I also think I am getting a new Mag 7 pump fro Christmas. So I gotta wait. I plan on getting all the stuff I need when I do my post-Christmas BRS order. Then the skimmer will go into service for real. Quote Link to comment
siwelk Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 (edited) Skimmer is maintaining a head of bubbles in the neck of the cup. There is a little bit of fairly clear liquid in the cup. Lots of little dark specks on the roof of the cup and in the neck. Not surprised there is just that clear stuff since this is a skimmer made for a 40-60 gallon tank sitting in 3 gallons of water with almost nothing nasty to skim out. Plus is has just started to break in. I might toss some pellet food in there to see if it will skim them out as they dissolve. You may ask why I still have this in a bucket......it is because I have to wait till Christmas to set up my overflow and sump. I don't have any 1 inch hose for the overflow box and I don't have a good return "J Tube" system. I also think I am getting a new Mag 7 pump fro Christmas. So I gotta wait. I plan on getting all the stuff I need when I do my post-Christmas BRS order. Then the skimmer will go into service for real. Good update. MD is having a sale on Mags currently, until 1/2. Sounds like it may already be ordered though. Edited December 19, 2011 by siwelk Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted December 20, 2011 Author Share Posted December 20, 2011 (edited) I keep recycling the same skimmate back into the bucket. I just dumped whatever was in the cup back into the water and waited to see if it would form a head. It only took like 45 seconds to skim it back out. Edited December 20, 2011 by paneubert Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted December 21, 2011 Author Share Posted December 21, 2011 So.......I am dumb The giant/long threads that are written about this skimmer all seem to complain a little about how the external pump versions do not have a way to attach the pump to the skimmer body. The pump is slightly shorter than the bottom of the skimmer body and so the pump just sits under the skimmer via gravity and the output from the pump just flows up and in to the skimmer via a tube/barb fitting that does extend into the actual skimmer body. But there is not a seal, just the pump output tube going thru a larger opening into the skimmer. Say the pump is a 1/4 inch output and the skimmer is a 1/3 inch opening/input. Something like that. You get the idea. Water could leave the pump and not technically all be forced into the skimmer. Some could escape back down next to the pump. I trusted that to be how mine worked since that is what everyone said. Turns out that the outflow/barbed fitting of my pump *DOES* fit snugly into the bottom of the skimmer if I lift the pump. Snugly enough that the pump is elevated off the floor of the sump and "hangs" by the barbed fitting all on its own. Booooooooooooooooo......why did I not try that earlier? Skimmer skims much easier and more efficient now! All the water is being forced into the skimmer. It is like I upgraded my pump or something. Ohh well. I am happy I worked it out now rather than months from now. Quote Link to comment
evo_2679 Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 (edited) I must say this skimmer is the best bang for your buck!! Todays skimmate : Edited December 22, 2011 by evo_2679 Quote Link to comment
Squared Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 yep, im totally getting this skimmer. i'll proly order it tommorrow Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted December 27, 2011 Author Share Posted December 27, 2011 Sump installed! Took me all day......hahaha. And I still don't have a real return setup. So for now I just have a 3/4 tube taped up above the rim of my display so I could play with it and make sure it worked. I am not running the actual return pump unless I am around since that return tube could easily detach and start whipping around my living room. So for now it is essentially a second tank with a skimmer in it just recirculating the same water over and over Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted December 27, 2011 Author Share Posted December 27, 2011 Photos of the sump to come when I get home. I think I already need to put an extra baffle in there leading from the refugium to the return section. Since I am missing a real return system/nozzle until my BRS order arrives, I have to throttle the return pump down to like 30% flow or else I have a massive/focused jet of water running in my tank blowing things over. Even with it throttled back, it seems like the water is racing thru my sump from the first to the last chamber. I think I need to put a baffle up high off the floor at the end of the refugium to force the water to go under. That would make sure I am not just having a giant dead water refugium section with a river of fast water flowing on the top inch or so. It really looks like I am just running the water over the surface and not having it refresh the refugium space. Hard to tell since I don't have anything loose in there yet. I should toss some hair algae in the refugium and see if it gets tossed around. I would use food coloring, but that would make my tank look crazy. Hahahaha. But it would let me see how fast my carbon can remove contaminants....hmmmmm. Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted December 30, 2011 Author Share Posted December 30, 2011 Just paid "still in the bag" special pricing for........... I think it was 15.99 total? That clown is like an inch long....maybe. And the sea hare has a home/credit back at the LFS when I am out of algae. This might have been the best package deal I have ever scored Quote Link to comment
iball1804 Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 Those are algae tanks. Wow. Awesome! Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted December 30, 2011 Author Share Posted December 30, 2011 Funny thing is that I just manually removed pretty much all my hair algae last night. So this guy will mow the short/hard to reach stuff. Then I need to figure out what to do with him. Probably sell him back. Or start a hair algae tank. Hahahaha. Quote Link to comment
iball1804 Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 It'll grow back No worries. Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted December 30, 2011 Author Share Posted December 30, 2011 I am just squirting 10ml of tank water in their bags every few minutes. Then I will dump the Sea Hare in the tank. The Maroon is going into a "Critter Keeper" until I see how my massive female reacts. When the LFS told me they would get me a "small" male, I did not think it would be this tiny! I hope she is nice to him and they pair up. If you have followed my thread, you know I had a pair before, but the male died from ich back when I had my tank go nuclear. I hope that means this female is more accepting of a mate since she did it once before. Quote Link to comment
iball1804 Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 I once saw a female Maroon at least 6" long. It was HUGE. In this case, what comes to mind is the movie Norbit, and the relationship they have together. That movie is the best. Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted December 30, 2011 Author Share Posted December 30, 2011 My last name is Neubert. So maybe it applies.... Plus my wife is like 5 inches taller than I am. Quote Link to comment
Squared Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 how bad is your gha problem? Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted December 30, 2011 Author Share Posted December 30, 2011 (edited) how bad is your gha problem? Not horrible. Mostly just on the side and back glass along with one patch on one of my rocks that never seemed to go away even when I put Turbos on it. I just now got my sump running. Slowly but surely I have gotten my equipment in there. Still waiting on the BRS order to install my return and have it running 24/7. I think with the sump getting going and this Sea Hare, I should have the algae wiped out. I was hesitant to get the Hare to begin with since I hear they can die and nuke the tank quick. But the LFS guy told me he can't even keep them in stock. So I will have no trouble selling him back when the time comes. I do want to be able to feed my corals a lot more heavily. So maybe I will just feed like crazy and see if I can sustain enough algae for the Hare. Worse comes to worse, he nukes and my couple cups of carbon I have running come in handy Video of the size difference between the Maroon Clowns. I think the Female could literally eat the Male.... Click on the photo to view the video. Edited December 30, 2011 by paneubert Quote Link to comment
Squared Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 that clown is soooo cute Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.