Let's Talk Beckett Skimmers!

[jules77]

So let's talk about Beckett skimmers and skimmers in general. I have been tweaking my beckett for probably 4 months straight it seems. I had put the injector assembly together wrong and was fighting that for a while. ARROW GOES UP! THERE ARE SLOTS FOR THE TABS! But I am still not getting the performance I thought I could get out of a higher end skimmer. So here is what I am getting- If I can get a nasty thick skimmate it never evacuates the chamber. I make an adjustment and it blows out a whole bunch that has been brewing and then goes back to doing nothing. So I keep adjusting trying to get that magic setting that will produce a constant flow of skimmate that is not super dry but not straight water either. I have to figure I am doing some thing wrong. I get plenty of bubbles in the chamber but it seems as it climbs the bubbles get bigger and bigger and then the chamber becomes unstable up high. One of the big bubbles will climb up through the foam and pop somewhere in the chamber. So my next step is to change out the air inlet to make smaller bubbles, since I have tried just about everything in recent months. All I want is a little bit of dark skimmate!!!!!! That's what I want for Christmas!

[David Grigor]

Dale, what pump are you using ? Is it pressure rated ?

I was using a Mak4 on a single beckett injector. My only real problems with instability was when some sandbed particle gets sucked in and stuck on the injector. Had to clean the beckett every 2 weeks to keep in top condition. Eventually, just bought a second injector to do a quick swap.

I sold the skimmer along with the big tank and now that recirculating needle-wheels are more available will likely never use a beckett again.

[jules77]

I was running a Mak-4 but now a little giant that seems to be more powerful just based on water level after swapping back and forth a few times. Could instability be caused by over powering it do you think?

[redwinger]

Originally Posted by David Grigor

Dale, what pump are you using ?

I was using a Mak4 on a single beckett injector. My only real problems with instability was when some sandbed particle gets sucked in and stuck on the injector. Had to clean the beckett every 2 weeks to keep in top condition. Eventually, just bought a second injector to do a quick swap. I sold the skimmer along with the big tank and now what recirculating needle-wheels are more available will likely neve use a beckett again since they require a bigger pump to run......

I second that as I was told about the inconsistency of becketts and the probability of a particle getting stuck in the injector. That is why I went with the recirculating myself and cvould not be happier. It is basically set it and forget it. I can adjust it to whatever consistency of skimmate that I want. I know that alot of people are huge fans of the becketts and know that they are great skimmers but from what I have heard they are hard to get running right.

[David Grigor]

If using a Mak4 or larger pressure rated pump then that should be sufficient.

Sounds like your on the right track then and probably allowing too much air in. Hard to tell without seeing it in person. I kept mine restricted.

[marm64]

When I had my beckett I ran it with a Little Giant 4MDQ and it worked good with that size pump. I found that you have to clean the crud out of the Beckett to keep up good production.

[jules77]

I'm thinking of trying a different adjustable air inlet that came with it when I got it from Achilles Tang. I switched to the original one a while back but hey I am willing to try just about anything at this point. I certainly will check the beckett internally while I am swapping out the air valve...

[David Grigor]

These are really nice high quality needle valves. Just pick what diameter you need. Come in barbed or threaded......

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/pro...uct%5Fid=15616

[capman]

Originally Posted by David Grigor

I sold the skimmer along with the big tank and now that recirculating needle-wheels are more available will likely never use a beckett again.

My knowledge of state-of-the-art thinking about skimmers is about 8 years old (back around the time when the ETS downdrafts were the hot new thing!). It sounds like the needle-wheels are conisidered by many to be very good skimmers now. Can you direct me to some brands/models that are considered to be top of the line skimmers these days?

[redwinger]

reefmania.net, aquatic acryllics, euro reef, deltec, asm.......

[Achilles Tang]

Most important thing with a beckette is to have some type of filtering device on the suction side of your pump. If you don't you won't stand a chance trying to dial it in. Things will constantly be lodging and dislodging in the foam injector changing the parameters on you. For me it was a 1" piece of PVC pipe capped with roughly a billion holes I drilled in it. Well maybe more like 100 but that was my cheap filter. Second for the way I had it set up on my system I found by changing the air inlet to a smaller one I could get the bubbles dialed in so small that the water just looked like milk. If too much air was going in then it was a large bubble foamy mess. Start by turning the air off completely to the beckette chamber and seeing if your just pumping water with NO bubbles at all. If not then there is a leak around the gasket to the beckette chamber and something isn't sealed right. If you are just pumping clear water have that be your starting point. Open In small increments and let it run for a half hour in between and see how it settles in. With all that said I did clean the injector along with all my other aquarium maintenance every Saturday for the most part. I noticed that even with preventing anything from going in that with all the herbivore I was hosting I would get a lite green film in the beckette after about three weeks and production would start to fall off. Hope this helps sorry to hear it hasn't been going well your welcome to PM me and we can talk further by phone if you've already tried all of this.

[jules77]

well something else to try I suppose, I think I am probably going to upgrade to a reefmania model after the holidays regardless. I have lost a couple of fish recently due to not being able to keep up with extra water changes to keep up with bio-load. I wanted to run a foam pre-filter but not wanting to have it get clogged with gunk either and need to clean it all the time. It must not be sealed someplace because when I have shut the air off completely there was still some bubbles. I have tried and tried to seal it up but nothing seems to change much.

[spazz]

can you post some pics of it running? what brand is it?

[Graham]

Yeah, like Chad mentioned, you have to have a filter on the intake that will prevent the passage of particles large enough to get trapped in the injector. If you have the pump intake plumbed to a bulkhead, you can use any of the various bulkhead strainers to keep particles out. It doesn't require cleaning more than once every 6 months or so for me. In 2 years, I have had two snail shells manage to clog the injector. It's pretty easy to tell when that happens, though.

I really don't understand why so many people have trouble keeping them dialed in and producing. My Beckett is the easiest, most consistent and effective skimmer I've ever owned. I honestly can't think of a reason to try any other style at this time in the hobby. There is no way I could expect more from a skimmer.

FWIW, I'm certainly not ragging on anyone for not using one - just letting you know my complete satisfaction.

[Sea monkey]

I was just reading a thread on RC that said Beckett skimmers more effective but a bigger pain to use, require a lot more maintenance and electricity. would you classify this as a true statement ?

seems everyone in the club likes the recirculating needle-wheels.