Ice Cap K2-50 First look !

[Herbie]

SO ............ Just got the new Ice Cap K2 50 skimmer going, and wanted to give some first impressions real quick. (Will do an update after it breaks in a bit) . Guess I will be the guinea pig, lol .

 

.

Unboxed it, and it is comically small , and I was feeling a little worried I even tried this out...........BUT, after setting it up, I am pleasantly surprised. Build quality is excellent, and they took care of any annoying details that some skimmers miss . Easy to disassemble, no tools required . 4 screws to barely loosen and the whole body twists, and comes off the base. 2 screws to remove and the whole bubble chamber comes out . Pump goes through the bottom plate with a silicone bushing to keep it from rattling. The pump actually sticks in the bottom plate without falling out, but does have suction cup feet to rest on . DC pump that is incredibly quiet and very efficient. 6 watts and 200lph of air . Very slight air noise from the silencer, but not much. Cant hear the skimmer itself at all . EASY to adjust gate valve which works fantastic ...........no wedge pipe taking up space, or difficult to adjust . Adjusted the bubble height quickly and easily . Pretty much NO micro bubbles right from the start ! I didnt even break it in with vinegar ..........just placed it in the sump right out of the box , adjusted it, and basically had no micro bubbles coming out of the gate valve ...........NICE ! Cup comes of easily, just an o-ring seal that works well . Fits tight but comes off easily .

 

Will do an update after it breaks in for a few days ..............but so far , its pretty nice.

 

All in all ...............I am pleasantly surprised and impressed ! It was only $129. for the K2 -50 , which is the smallest version . I think it will work well for a lot of nano-tanks with sumps . Will fit in a nano reef 10 gallon , or even a 5.5 gallon sump very nicely . (I have it in a Reefer 170 sump) . I don't think it will fit in most AIO tanks though. Just a little too big for that probably !

 

If you have any questions, let me know !

Will hold my final judgement until this breaks in fully .

 

Here are some quick pics .............

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cencalfishguy56]

SO ............ Just got the new Ice Cap K2 50 skimmer going, and wanted to give some first impressions real quick. (Will do an update after it breaks in a bit) . Guess I will be the guinea pig, lol .

 

.

Unboxed it, and it is comically small , and I was feeling a little worried I even tried this out...........BUT, after setting it up, I am pleasantly surprised. Build quality is excellent, and they took care of any annoying details that some skimmers miss . Easy to disassemble . 4 screws to barely loosen and the whole body comes off the base. 2 screws to remove and the whole bubble chamber comes out . Pump goes through the bottom plate with a silicone bushing to keep it from rattling. pump actually sticks in the bottom plate without falling out, but does have suction cup feet to rest on . DC pump that is incredibly quiet and very efficient. 6 watts and 200lph of air . Very slight air noise from the silencer, but not much. Cant hear the skimmer itself at all . EASY to adjust gate valve which works fantastic ...........no wedge pipe taking up space, or difficult to adjust . Adjusted the bubble height quickly and easily . Pretty much NO micro bubbles right from the start ! I didnt even break it in with vinegar ..........just placed it in the sump right out of the box , adjusted it, and basically had no micro bubbles coming out of the gate valve ...........NICE ! Cup comes of easily, just an o-ring seal that works well . tight but comes off easily .

 

Will do an update after it breaks in for a few days ..............but so far , its pretty nice.

 

All in all ...............I am pleasantly surprised and impressed ! It was only $129. for the K2 -50 , which is the smallest version . I think it will work well for a lot of nano-tanks with sumps . Will fit in a nano reef 10 gallon , or even a 5.5 gallon sump very nicely . (I have it in a Reefer 170 sump) . I don't think it will fit in most AIO tanks though. Just a little too big for that probably !

 

If you have any questions, let me know !

Will hold my judgement until this breaks in fully .

 

Here are some quick pics .............

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Awesome I was gonna pull the trigger on one, now I will for sure!

[rone_kevin66]

Nice looking skimmer.

[gus6464]

Just saw this thread so I posted on the other one. How do you adjust the air? Don't see anything in the silencer.

[tanacharison]

Looks good I'm planning to get next size up. K120 I think.

[Herbie]

Just saw this thread so I posted on the other one. How do you adjust the air? Don't see anything in the silencer.

 

No air adjustment , only the gate valve to control the output flow , which in turn controls the bubble height.

 

I wanted something simple , and didnt have lot of different adjustments (like a Skimz) . I really like the fact that you can easily "micro" adjust the outflow gate valve to dial in the skimmer ...............and thats ALL that needs adjustment.

 

Had this breaking in all night, and its the first skimmer with a needle wheel design I have used that didnt sporadically overflow the cup while breaking in . I have it adjusted low for break in , and the cup had about 1/4" of tea colored skimmate in it .........light tea , but at least its not full of saltwater from overflowing !

 

So far, I like it !

 

Herbie

Looks good I'm planning to get next size up. K120 I think.

 

If you get the 120, post up some pictures, and let us know what you think about it .

The 120's and up K2's all use Sicce AC pumps vs the 50's small DC pump . I would be curious to see if the Sicce powered K2's are just as quiet s the 50 with the DC pump .

[Herbie]

Its been a few days since I put this K2-50 into service , and so far, I am impressed.

Very easy to dial in the skimmer , and micro adjust the foam height . I have it in 8" of consistent water level and it seems to be working very well and stable.

 

The skimmer is only a few days "wet" , and I am still letting it break in . I have it adjusted on the higher side for a wet skimmate for now till it breaks in .

I have a very light bio-load. A few snails and mostly LPS, SPS, Zoas, shrooms, etc . Its pretty much a coral only tank . Also have a refugium that's going strong.

 

This is what I am getting about every day so far .........

 

[Sancho]

Its nice to see competitively priced skimmers. What DC pump comes with it?

[WRX]

Pump Information

DCAIR-700 DC Pinwheel Pump

Power Consumption: 6watts

Air Draw: 200 lph / 7 SCFH*

Water Draw: 70gph

[azn-allstar]

Wow, great looking skimmer. Keep us updated. I really want to replace my SCA-301 for this skimmer.

[tanacharison]

Just finished setting up the K2-120 and I completely agree with the build quality its a nice product. I mainly wanted a skimmer with a extremely small footprint but had the power to skim in the 50-100 gal bio load range. This little thing just barely squeezes into my skimmer chamber of the sump but its performance should keep with the tank system I'm setting up.

 

Here is what I like most so far

• Coralvue had a great video on how to set up the skimmer.
• 
  
• Small footprint 5.1 x 7
• 
  
• Sicce PSK-200 is 1/4 the noise of my last skimmer and is basically unheard next to other equipment.
• 
  
• I felt it was fairly priced considering the bioload it claims to be capable of handling and the added extra features included. Skimmate drain, ozone and bubble plate. $279
• 
  

 

 

 

 

[WRX]

I like my K2-50, it seems like it's the right size for my Reefer 170 and my bioload.

 

[Rpc07]

I wonder if the k2-50 will fit in the back of a biocube with its small foot print.

[Halo_003]

Color me very interested in this...

[Herbie]

I wonder if the k2-50 will fit in the back of a biocube with its small foot print.

Hey, I got your PM about this too ........

 

I will measure the base and height for you tonight when I get home and post it here ......... unless WRX beats me to it.

 

I will say, I highly doubt its going to fit in the back of a Biocube. Size wise alone will be the biggest problem (I think its just too big to fit) , but also the 50 really needs to be run in about 6"-9" of water .........something a Biocube really wont be able to do I think.

 

Its a small skimmer , but its not that small !

[Rpc07]

 

Hey, I got your PM about this too ........

 

I will measure the base and height for you tonight when I get home and post it here ......... unless WRX beats me to it.

 

I will say, I highly doubt its going to fit in the back of a Biocube. Size wise alone will be the biggest problem (I think its just too big to fit) , but also the 50 really needs to be run in about 6"-9" of water .........something a Biocube really wont be able to do I think.

 

Its a small skimmer , but its not that small !

 

Well measuring my second chamber I have the width of 5 inches and could cut off a small lip to gain the 3.5 inches of clearance. And the big plus is my second chamber runs at a consistent 8.5 inches of water height and I have room to adjust my ato up or down if needed. It is going to be a very tight fit which is why your measuerments may make or break it. I appreciate you helping out.

 

If they measured the entire skimmer length at 4.75 and that includes the water height adjusted and the airline to the silencer I have no doubt this will fit.

[Halo_003]

How do you guys feel now that it's been a few week? I'm seriously considering getting one.

[Water Dog]

Well measuring my second chamber I have the width of 5 inches and could cut off a small lip to gain the 3.5 inches of clearance. And the big plus is my second chamber runs at a consistent 8.5 inches of water height and I have room to adjust my ato up or down if needed. It is going to be a very tight fit which is why your measuerments may make or break it. I appreciate you helping out.

If they measured the entire skimmer length at 4.75 and that includes the water height adjusted and the airline to the silencer I have no doubt this will fit.

Footprint wise, you may be able to shoehorn it into the second chamber, but at 19" listed height, you'd have to either lose the hood or keep the rear access door open. I ran into the same height issues when I was considering the Aquamaxx WS-1 in the second chamber... A deal breaker for me after having a Nanobox retro installed in the hood.

[Rpc07]

Footprint wise, you may be able to shoehorn it into the second chamber, but at 19" listed height, you'd have to either lose the hood or keep the rear access door open. I ran into the same height issues when I was considering the Aquamaxx WS-1 in the second chamber... A deal breaker for me after having a Nanobox retro installed in the hood.

I have a game plan for that also. My aquaticlife 115 sits right at 19" and this is what I did.

 

 

 

I have a brand new rear cover that I can use and I don't mind doing the same thing so this skimmer can fit. But I'm also thinking they measured the 19" to the top of the air silencer if that's the case I will remove that from the top of the skimmer cup and figure a way to mount it close by.

[Water Dog]

very nice precision cutting... Dremel?

[Rpc07]

very nice precision cutting... Dremel?

Yup. Wasn't to bad just lined up the cup, marked it, doubled checked and crossed my fingers lol

[Cencalfishguy56]

I was about to order one from premium aquatics but slept on it and now they've been out of stock for a while

[tanacharison]

I was about to order one from premium aquatics but slept on it and now they've been out of stock for a while

Check saltwateraquarium.com that's where I got mine.

[Rpc07]

Check saltwateraquarium.com that's where I got mine.

I ordered the last one from them a few hours ago. Hoping it will fit where I want it if not check the classifieds lol.

[Cencalfishguy56]

I ordered the last one from them a few hours ago. Hoping it will fit where I want it if not check the classifieds lol.

If not shoot me a pm, I got the money ready lol