Remora Pro - What pump are you running?

[tcollins]

I'm wondering what pump folks are running on their Remora Pro. I'm running a Mag 3 and am wondering if I upgrade to a Mag 5 or Mag 7 will I see an improvement?

[luke33]

I had a mag 7 on mine when i had it. It was still an overpriced piece of junk with any pump i ever used.

[tcollins]

Why does it always seem you don't find out until after the purchase what people think about a piece of equipment. I bought this skimmer after soliciting feed back on RC and another site. Everyone said it was one of the best HOB's out there and that was only seven months ago!! Mine has been skimming pretty good, but I just changed to a bare bottom this weekend and wanted to increase my skimming if possible. Living on a second floor apartment, I elected to not have a sump and potential leak issue.

Luke33 thanks for the response, however you didn't answer my question, although I'm guessing that it didn't matter which pump you had on the skimmer.

[wooglin]

I have a Urchin Std with a Mag 3 and it fills the cup up with nastiness only a daily basis.

[luke33]

tcollins, sorry bout that, i got burnt on mine and it was garbage. Aqua c makes good skimmers that are in sump, but there hot's are pure garbage imo. A mag 3 or 7 its going to do about the same, maybe a bit more per week, but like aqua c says , you'll get a cup every other week. NOT GOOD by any standards. Good luck

[sjm817]

I agree with Luke. I also had a Remora Pro. Ungraded from Mag3 to 5 and it made no difference. It is not a good skimmer. I wouldn't spend any more $ on it. If you do want to try the Mag5, dont buy a new pump. You can change out the front cover for $7 and convert the Mag3 into a Mag5. If you drill out the cover, you can do it for free.

[tcollins]

Luke 33, no problem I'm beginning to understand the frustration of spending money and then spending more money either wanting to upgrade or realizing you need to upgrade.

sjm817, what would you drill? Do you know of a thread on this?

Thanks

[sjm817]

I knew you would ask that....now I have to go measure the pump outlet!

You owe me....

[sjm817]

The Mag3 measures 3/8" ID, the Mag5 and 7 uses 5/8" ID outlet. Inlet is the same.

[tcollins]

sjm817, so it's either drill it out or buy a new piece? Does the impeller need to change? I appreciate the info.

[sjm817]

The Mag3/5 impeller is the same. If you wanted to upgrade the pump to a Mag7, you would need a new impeller and a new cover or drill out the Mag3 cover. The Mag5/7 cover is the same.

Mag3 = 12575 impeller + 12535 pump cover
Mag5 = 12575 impeller + 12545 pump cover
Mag7 = 12585 impeller + 12545 pump cover

[luke33]

Man, do what we both did and sell it in the used forum to some other newbie : ) Actually i sold mine and UPS crushed it......or did they lol, but they gave me a check for 200 bux, so we'll say they did. I have a via aqua sk388 heavily modded and it'll pull on average about 5 or 6 dark cups of skimmate per day. It would take the remora over 3 mths to do that, and it would be a light green color. Sell it and get a better skimmer my friend.

[luke33]

And if you do buy another pump, make sure you get somethin different than the mag. Go ahead and get a cheap pump with a decent sized volute. Check ebay for there 800gph catalina pump, and get the NW, it'll work the same as a mag but when you get a different skimmer you can mod it with this pump and its nice to have around. And it'll cost 38bux shipped to your door instead of 70-80 ; ) always look for future purchases. A mag, you'll just toss aside.

[tcollins]

Guys, thanks alot.

sjm817, I'll check with my LFS, their pretty good, it may be they've got parts. And the new post on pumps.

luke33, I'll take a look at the sk388.

[luke33]

Its the via aqua club, right below this one. lol

[sjm817]

I posted the mag pump info because it can be useful in general. I hate to see someone spend $ buying a mag5 or 7 when they have a mag3 already and can upgrade it for cheap. As before, you can try it, but dont expect any improvement. the Remoras are not great skimmers.

[wooglin]

Originally posted by luke33
tcollins, sorry bout that, i got burnt on mine and it was garbage. Aqua c makes good skimmers that are in sump, but there hot's are pure garbage imo. A mag 3 or 7 its going to do about the same, maybe a bit more per week, but like aqua c says , you'll get a cup every other week. NOT GOOD by any standards. Good luck

I fill my cup up every day. With some of the nastiest imaginable. If I pour it down the kitchen sink my wife gets so mad because the kitchen smells like poo for an hour.

I am not sure why AquaC says that on their web site, perhaps they want to be super overly cautious, but I can assure you the remora will pull much much more than that. In my experience the main problem is running them on pumps that are to small. You need a larger pump than they suggest. On mine it is supposed to run with a Maxi-jet 1200 and I run it with a Mag3.

For what its worth I just got done trying a needwheel based skimmer that was much larger than my Aqau C, and it ended back in the box, returned. It just did not produce the quanity that my AquaC did.

[luke33]

I think the remora is handmade so each remora pro has a different performance. I've heard of two people who have said there remora work great. I've seen pics of only one and did not see the color of the skimmate to prove it. Out of all the users i've ever seen and my personal experience, 98% of the time, users are very unhappy with this skimmer, there are a few exceptions, but i would avoid this skimmer at all possible cost. I would not use this skimmer on my tank if aqua c paid me.

[saltyreefguy]

my pro with a mag3 in the live rock sump does a great job...

[rssjsb]

I have two, and neither has never pulled more than about an inch a week of really weak tea-colored liquid. I've wondered before if it was the wimpy pump. Guess not.