Non-Producing Aqua C Urchin

[pogodzib]

Nice to hear some input from you Michael

Jason - Let us know if you put a larger pump on the Urchin yet and let me know the quantity and color of your EV-150's skimmate. I can get 1/4 gal of slightly darker than apple cider skimmate per day using either my Mag 9.5 or Mag 12, but I think you said that both you and Chris pull out much more than that. Maybe I get less than you guys because I feed sparingly and use ozone. Is your color lighter or do you feed heavy? BTW - I believe Michael uses his Urchin on his 58(?) gallon SPS tank, so you can be assured that it does a pretty good job or his SPS corals wouldn't grow so good.

[Jrmass]

Actually I haven't really been producing much skimmate off of my skimmer lately as I have been doing a lot of adjustments to the sump. I was wrong when I told you about the mag pump on mine... I was thinking about the mag drive that was on my 70 gallon. The pump that I have running is actually a rio 3100. So, basically the equiv to your mag 9.5. If I have the skimmer set lower than what I have it now (which is what I had before) I could potentially get upwards of 1-2 gallons/day lol. But, now I'm producing about 2-3 cups of medium dark skimmate/day.

As for cleaning my urchin... The thing has been staying immaculantly clean as it hasn't been producing anything anyhow. I took the unit out indefinately this time I believe as I think I might just get a better skimmer and run both tanks off of that skimmer and the aqua c 150. (might go with a aqua c 180-240). But, as for a better pump on the unit. No I haven't changed anything over as I think the problems are quality of the skimmer and size of the skimmer.

[pogodzib]

That sounds much more like how my EV150 performs. I've just got done adding a 2" long tube below the internal platform under the injector hole and it has really increased the skimmate output. If I opened the air valve that I added all the way, I'd split out a gallon every couple minutes. FYI - Be carefull with the larger Rio pumps. I had one burn up on me a couple years ago and it left oils in the tank and killed off some fish and corals. If your pump is newer, I think they may have changed their pumps and got rid of the oils that they used to contain.

[mjsandbe]

I believe that there is such a thing as too big a pump for a skimmer. The Mag5 is a big step up for the Urchin, I can only imagine that with the Mag9.5 equivilant that you are running that the flow is so high that there is very little time for foam creation before it exits the skimmer. Just a thought.

[pogodzib]

I agree that you can definately go too large of a pump on skimmers, but the AquaC skimmers use the flow through the nozzle to suck in air. Jason has both an AquaC EV-150 and an Urchin. The Rio 3100 pump he was talking about is on his EV-150. The majority of people with the EV120/150/180 skimmers (that have used these skimmers for awhile and are on reef forums) are upsizing their pumps to a Mag 9.5 or Eheim 1260/1262. The Mag 7 that is recommended for the EV-150 skimmers is just too small and the Mag 9.5 is only one size up. Kind of like using your Mag 5 on the Urchin.

[Jrmass]

Well, in a few days we'll see if the upgrade from the maxijet 1200 to a mag3 is really worth it or not. I found someone selling a mag3 shipped for $27 so I bought it. I figure I should have it sometime soon and then I'll put the unit back onto the 70 gallon (which currently has nothing) *although all that's in that tank is 2 damsels, and 100+ lbs of LR and 100+ lbs of LS*

So, I'll keep you guys informed,

Jason