Reeflo/Sequence Skimmer Club

[trueperc]

I was hoping you can all help me choose. I have been give the okay by the wife to get a high end skimmer and I have settled on this model, but not sure which one out of the 200 or 250. Now I have a 210 with a 70 gallon sump. SPS system with about 10 large fish. My future plans at most are going to be a 300 gallon with the same sump. Would a 200 be fine for me and then later upgrade the cup and nw at a later date or spend the extra 400 on the 250. Thanks

[benf]

I would go with the 250...my system is ~295gals too with the similar amount of large fish.

[JRaquatics]

Just Dave - You will still need the vent tee IMO. I have two on my line and pockets of air still come out of the output. You setup looks like it will work fine. All I would do is add a tee to vent right above were you have your metric to english adapter.

[wizsmaster]

I don't think that would be a good idea ... since he has a gate valve AFTER the converter. He would want the vent T AFTER the gate valve.

[JRaquatics]

Thanks Wizsmaster. Your completely right. I ment to say that I would place the valve right above the output with a tee directly above it. I say this because there is a decent amount of air that makes it to the drain and this will help purge it and keep the skimmer at a steady level. I am just afraid that air pockets can accumulate in the sutup above.

[spongebobby]

Originally posted by trueperc
I was hoping you can all help me choose. I have been give the okay by the wife to get a high end skimmer and I have settled on this model, but not sure which one out of the 200 or 250. Now I have a 210 with a 70 gallon sump. SPS system with about 10 large fish. My future plans at most are going to be a 300 gallon with the same sump. Would a 200 be fine for me and then later upgrade the cup and nw at a later date or spend the extra 400 on the 250. Thanks

Yes the 200 would be fine, but the 250 would be nice also. The 200 pro would easily handle what you have currently so if your sure your going to upgrade tanks in the future I would just opt for the 250 pro kit.

Both are monster skimmers and perform great.

[wizsmaster]

Leaving the lid off doesn't seem to be the ticket .. i had the lid off for the past 12 or so hours, and was quiet surprised that i had very dry foam, and caked on left overs from it all over the inside of the cup, and pretty much no skimmate in the external collection bucket.

I have since drilled out the hole sin the lid, and put it back on. Now the air is pushing the foam/skimmate down into the external collection bucket again.

[benf]

Need to dbl ck with u guys...i have the same air gauge as u Marko, and i have the hose connected to the top hole on the back and my reading is 90 and NOT 90-95 as i first thought. The mods i have so far are air valve is cut back to the last 2.5 notches and the valve drilled out to i believe 17/64 and the next size larger on the lid holes. My watt meter is showing 156, but when nothing is connected it still shows ~7 so i am thinking i am realy at 149w using the AO motor. No mods yet to the black venturi the valve screws into. What size did u mod ur valve and lid?

[wizsmaster]

Ben,

I drilled the air valve to 3/8", if i remember correctly.

With just the silicone hose connected to the bottom of the silencer, and the top of it removed, I pull about 140w - 142w.
When the pump is off, the water level is about 1/4" below the lower black flange of the neck assembly.

When I connect the air meter, my pump will draw a bit more, with the straight pipe I was able to get it to really low 150's Watts, at times high 140's Watts & the air meter read between 120-130 SCFH.

Of course, keep in mind this is a fresh pump, baldor motor.

I drilled the holes in my lid to 3/8" this morning if I remember correctly. Mike advised drilling the 4 holes large, but I am missing a set of drill bits in-between 3/8" & where he'd like to see it. I have not seen any wattage increase from putting the lid back on, compared to before ~5w.

I have NOT touched the black venturi yet, and as of right now have no intentions on doing so. I believe they are hard to come by at this point ... w/out a spare I have no intentions on possibly destroying one.

This skimmer is rocking now, I don't see a need to further mod it at this point.

[cweder]

I wouldnt touch the black venturi, once you start messing with it you can really change to air/water ratio.

[benf]

Thanks Marco...3/8" in the lid x 4 seem kinda big to me

Would like to know how large others have drilled their air valve out too? Did u do 3/8" as well?

[benf]

Forgot to mention i increased the diameter of the valve to 5/16 and noticed my watts droped~4-5 watts but didnt notice a change on the air meter

[RokleM]

4x 9/32 on the lid, 9/32 on the air valve too. ~120 SCFH at 145w

[benf]

which motor again were u running Eric? and didnt get a response earlier from anyone...when using the meter does the hose get connected to the top or the bottom hole?

[wizsmaster]

Originally posted by wizsmaster
Ben,

I drilled the air valve to 3/8", if i remember correctly.

...

I drilled the holes in my lid to 3/8" this morning if I remember correctly. Mike advised drilling the 4 holes large, but I am missing a set of drill bits in-between 3/8" & where he'd like to see it. .....

Scratch that post .. I'm coming down with a cold, and my concentration & brain power is out the door.

I Drilled the Air Valve to 5/16"
I Drilled the 4 holes in the lid to 1/4", mike had recommended 3/8"

Originally posted by benf
Thanks Marco...3/8" in the lid x 4 seem kinda big to me

Would like to know how large others have drilled their air valve out too? Did u do 3/8" as well?

Yes, it sure does.

Originally posted by RokleM
4x 9/32 on the lid, 9/32 on the air valve too. ~120 SCFH at 145w

I drilled 1/4" in lid, and 5/16" for the valve

Originally posted by benf
which motor again were u running Eric? and didnt get a response earlier from anyone...when using the meter does the hose get connected to the top or the bottom hole?

Hose to Air meter goes on the top hole. If you plug it on the bottom hole, the air meter wouldn't be measuring anything. I doubt it would pass air very well either.

[detect007]

im getting a new skimmer very soon and plan on possibly buying a orca 200. I hear great things from everyone about them. my system is about 250g and medium to heavy load of mixed corals and only about 8 fish. I was wondering if someone could tell me if this would be a good choice for my system?

[RokleM]

Originally posted by benf
which motor again were u running Eric? and didnt get a response earlier from anyone...when using the meter does the hose get connected to the top or the bottom hole?

I had one of the very original units with the A.O. Smith, but recently upgraded to the Baldor Dart Gold.

[benf]

Eric,
did u do any other mods...i am just pushing ~90 and you say ur getting 120SCFH

[benf]

OK, now which watt meter do i believe? I had been using an AmWatt made by Reliance Controls and my readings were ~153(but showed ~7 with nothing pluged into it). This morning i just pluged my other meter(think its called Kill A Watt) and my reading is ~125. Thats a huge difference!!

My local Lowes and HD didnt carry a single fitting to for the air meter to go to that thread size to that hose size so i had to use 3 straight fittings...wonder if i am not getting accurate air results due to that even though they are straight fittings?

Thoughts? What watt meters are u guys using??

[wizsmaster]

Ben,

do you have an Ace Hardware nearby ? They usually have more of the odd ball plumbing stuff than HD/Lowes. My local Lowes/HD is WORTHLESS!

[benf]

yes, somewhat close

[benf]

what watt meter are u using Marco

[wizsmaster]

Whats Up PRO.






http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/tra...f/?cpg=froogle

[wizsmaster]

Didn't know that kill-a-watt made a power strip. This thing could be useful to monitor a bunch of things ... even permanently.





http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/tra...r/a3e4/?cpg=ab

[benf]

mine looks like this one:

http://www.p3international.com/produ.../P4400-CE.html