A new skimmer at Casa Blorton...

Blorton · 03-18-2006, 05:54 PM

The friendly FedEx man brought me a present today. Looking pretty cool on the test run/cleanout with fresh water. Going to go plumb it in shortly.

Guess which one I went with?

Dan

Flipturn88 · 03-18-2006, 06:20 PM

If you got a BK, I'll go nuts! But a Deltec wouldn't be so shabby either.

jsmith0193 · 03-18-2006, 07:42 PM

H&S - good choice, about time someone else in the area purchased one.

kwl1763 · 03-18-2006, 10:32 PM

ASM is my guess

Blorton · 03-19-2006, 04:30 PM

Lol! Kayla - I'd go nuts too if a BK showed up here.

Jsmith got it right.... Here it is, rather improperly presented:

I went for the A150-F2001. Rated for 225G, so it ought to handle the 80 it's on now, and the upgrade to the 125 display + 15g fuge + 30 cryptic whenever I get the lead out and get those done.

It's an external model, and for simplicity, is being fed by a maxijet for now. I'll be redoing the drain plumbing later so that a portion of that goes directly into the skimmer. I've got it sitting in the muck bucket for now just in case it kicks in and starts going crazy and overfills the cup.

It's cranking out some nice foam so far. I just got it going this afternoon, so we'll see how long it takes to produce some nasty nog. I've left the nautilus going, and it will be interesting to see if one shuts the other down...

Btw - I did some mods on the Kent, and it's a great skimmer that deserves a lot more respect than what it gets. Check out this nog from one week:

I meant to "seed" the inside walls of the new skimmer with that stuff, but flat forgot to. Heh - maybe that was my subconscious barf-suppression kicking in.

Cheers!
Dan

russbriscoe · 03-19-2006, 05:00 PM

Dan, that is sweet.... Congrats. Did I tell you I have a new skimmer on order too? The bad thing is, it is on BackOrder from the Mfg.

I am sooooo ready to have clear and clean water. The little skimmer I got from you is working its heart out and doing a great job. I got about 5 gal of skimmate the first week of my LR. However, it is never was intended to be the skimmer i would use long term. I just posted my water tests here: http://thereeftank.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68734 Today is two weeks of the big cure.

My kids are not even excited about the tank anymore. I am sure they will get happy when i take them to CapBay and get nemo though.

Russ

Blorton · 03-19-2006, 05:14 PM

Thanks, Russ.

You know, you might want to go ahead and get a Mag7 for that AquaC skimmer you have. I've read that a lot of people are running those on that skimmer and like it very much. You could probably pick a used one up for cheap...

Cheers!
Dan

russbriscoe · 03-19-2006, 05:27 PM

is that a lot stronger? I have a new one skimmer on order too. I hope it comes soon.

Loverotties · 03-19-2006, 05:28 PM

That skimmer is workin!

squirmy · 03-19-2006, 09:02 PM

Congrats Dan. Nice skimma.

That is the new skimmer i picked for my set up as well.

I would be VERY interested in any plumbing advice. I am planning to gravity feed the skimmer and drain into the sump. Any lessons learned would be great. Will you be opening up Casa Blorton for a skimmer tour?

jsmith0193 · 03-19-2006, 09:38 PM

I have the same skimmer and had it gravity fed for a while. Unfortunately it was impossible for me to get a constant level in the skimmer with the wavebox running, so I am feeding it with an eheim 1048. I definately got more skimmate production when it was gravity fed, just made me nervous with the water level fluctuating.

Blorton · 03-19-2006, 09:54 PM

Squirmy - you are welcome to come check it out anytime.

FYI, the skimmer comes with the t piece on the exit side unglued, as well as the hose barb fitting for the intake. If you look at my pic above, you'll see the white teflon tape I used on the bottom portion of the t. I didn't want to glue that since my setup will be changing in the future. Just several wraps around is all it takes to seal it up good.

Also, it's a bit humorous, but this is a recirc skimmer, and the intake side is around 5/8"-7/8" ID tubing, but the factory drain size is much larger. It's 40mm, but Brian at Fins Reef includes adapters so that you end up with a 1.25" female slip to work with. I'd say just make sure you have some elbows and a stick of pvc to work with and you'll be good to go. You'll need pvc glue as well, but I would only glue the hose barb piece and the metric to english adapters. When you get it, you will see why the hose barb portion must be glued, and why the rest doesn't necessarily need to be. I use one of those roller wheel pipe cutters when working with pvc, and find that tool's tendency to swell the ends of the pvc to provide for a very snug friction fit and seal without the need to glue the parts. (Except when called for, naturally.)

On the drain side, just make sure it's all at a gentle downward slope. The pipe can handle flow rates many times what you'll put through it, but the slope helps keep the water level inside the skimmer constant.

One last thing - I picked up a cool tip on RC for setting the water level. You want to do that with the skimmer's recirc pump unplugged. For me, the "wide open" setting put the level precisely where the instructions said to use as a starting point.

Cheers!
Dan

Blorton · 03-19-2006, 09:59 PM

Fwiw, I'm using a maxijet 1200 for the feed at the moment and thought it would be necessary since it's got maybe 18" of head to work against, but it's still too much flow. I'll be swapping a 900 in tomorrow.

It's really, really, really hard to leave a skimmer alone so it can break-in.

Cheers!
Dan

russbriscoe · 03-19-2006, 10:04 PM

I cant wait to get my new skimmer... Hopefully I will get it this week.

robsmith32 · 03-20-2006, 01:40 AM

if its the remora pro, he got from you, i'd say nix the mag 7 unless you have the mag 7 custom cup with longer riser.
my mag 5 (new impellar)foams remora pro constantly, but ends up wet like your pick of your nautilaus.. and doesn't take a week on the qt tank.