Reeflo/Sequence Skimmer Club

[klasiksb]

Originally posted by Fish n' Frags
Hey all,

We just bought a old stock brand new Reeflo Orca 250 with the regular Orca pump. I'm curious what everyone is using to feed there 250's? Is there a standard?

Also, how do i test how much air i'm pulling?

Thanks in advance

I'm feeding mine with a Mag 5.

You would need an air meter to test the air draw, but you should be right about 60 SCFH of air with the stock pump (regular or gold)/impeller. I saw no air jump from the standard dart to the dart gold.

[rbc1225]

Not bad for 3 days. I changed to a mag 5 for the feed pump Sunday night and been doing great ever since, and yes that skimmate is really that dark.

[tangtang clown]

Is that your coffee pot?

[ddier2020]

ok i have two dumb questions, how do you know when the skimmer is broken in? and can how do you dial in the skimmer if you want dry or wet skim?

[drstupid]

when it breaks in (and this includes when you do major mods like a new needlewheel, or a thorough cleaning like a vinegar bath), it suddenly produces a ridiculous amount of foam and is very likely to overflow if you don't have the wedge valve wide open. i don't know how long this goes on, i've only seen the after effects (full bucket of spooge). afterwards it's controllable and should not do that again.

for safety's sake, i keep a float valve in the lid of my spooge bucket that will shut off the recirc pump.

the skimmer takes a good three weeks to break in, you will know when it's there.

wet-dry is dialed in with the wedge valve (flow). you should always leave the air wide open.

[FishTruck]

My skimmer does the opposite when I clean it too thouroughly.

I get nothing for about three days (seven if I really clean it like brand new clean - not recommended), then, back to normal.

I guess you know you are broken in when you get consistent skimmate.

Now, I just rinse the neck and cup with warm water and do a single wipe with a paper towel. This does not interrupt skimmate production.

You adjust for dry or wet skimmate by raising and lowering the water column. Usually, by dialing up / down the resistance on the outflow. If you push the column up, you will get wetter (and more) skimmate. If you push it way up, water will start pouring out of the skimmer and you can do a water change this way (see thread of the month).

[drstupid]

sorry, let me be more clear: mods or major cleanings will lead to a new break in period, which will end in the same way as the original break in period.

for routine cleaning i've been using a toothbrush on the neck. once every couple of weeks i'll take the cup off and rinse it with water and wipe it with paper towels.

[rbc1225]

I can't answer the question of how do you know when the skimmer is broken in but I assume it really doesn't matter if it is producing skimmate. I had to play with mine and try a couple different pumps but mine was producing very quickly as shown in the pics above. I took my old skimmer off the day I got my Orca and have been very please ever since. I clean the neck of the skimmer about every other day or so by wiping it with a wet paper towel. When I have had my hands in the tank and the skimmer is down closer to the bottom of the neck is the best time to clean the cup and neck. It starts to rise and produce again within an hour or two. I am going to let it accumulate a weeks worth of skimmate and measure it and see where it come in on an average day over the week.

[ddier2020]

well I know I got the right level as far as plumbing goes,but the skimmer is accumulating alot of sludge on the flange where the skimmer boby narrows. also I am feeding it direct of one of my calfo overflow tubes...

[rbc1225]

Where do you have the water level set without the pump running? If you are feeding with your overflow tubes, without the pump running are you able to keep a consistant water lever inside the skimmer? I have my water lever right at where the cup flange meets the skimmer body flange withouth the pump running. Once I turn on the pump, it overflows a bit then settles down and then starts producing the head of bubbles.

[RonD]

Originally posted by FishTruck
My skimmer does the opposite when I clean it too thouroughly.

I get nothing for about three days (seven if I really clean it like brand new clean - not recommended), then, back to normal.

I guess you know you are broken in when you get consistent skimmate.

Now, I just rinse the neck and cup with warm water and do a single wipe with a paper towel. This does not interrupt skimmate production.

You adjust for dry or wet skimmate by raising and lowering the water column. Usually, by dialing up / down the resistance on the outflow. If you push the column up, you will get wetter (and more) skimmate. If you push it way up, water will start pouring out of the skimmer and you can do a water change this way (see thread of the month).

I dont even bother turning the skimmer off when cleaning the neck and collection cup.. I take the lid off and rinse it and then take a sponge and reach down the neck of the skimmer and pull up against the sides all the way around.. smear the thick skimmate off on the edge so it falls into the collection cup, rinse the sponge when it gets clogged in the skimmer. Sop up a bunch of clean skimmer water from down inside and then swish that around in collection cup and the rest runs down into the collection bucket via the collection cups drain. whole process takes less than two minutes and the skimmer doesnt miss a beat. It sure is nice to have neck that can easily be reached down into

[GlassReef]

I thought I'd post a pic of my two Orca 250 PROs doin' their thing:



You can see that both skimmers are pulling exactly the same amount of gunk - and a lot of gunk it is :

This is important. Some of you may have read the thread I started a while back about the advantages/disadvantages of using two skimmers simultaneously. Many were of the opinion that, if you run two skimmers at once, one skimmer will "shut down" the other - making the use of two skimmers redundant. These pics prove, once and for all , that two skimmer work together just fine. They do exactly what was intended - get the gunk out faster than just one skimmer could.

[rbc1225]

Awesome job. I never understood why two wouldn't work together, but as you point out, the pics prove it works just fine.

[mark0933]

Hi, noticed in the pic that the collection cups are different, do you know which is the current version of the "pro series" and which one do you prefer?

Mark

Originally posted by GlassReef
I thought I'd post a pic of my two Orca 250 PROs doin' their thing:



You can see that both skimmers are pulling exactly the same amount of gunk - and a lot of gunk it is :

This is important. Some of you may have read the thread I started a while back about the advantages/disadvantages of using two skimmers simultaneously. Many were of the opinion that, if you run two skimmers at once, one skimmer will "shut down" the other - making the use of two skimmers redundant. These pics prove, once and for all , that two skimmer work together just fine. They do exactly what was intended - get the gunk out faster than just one skimmer could.

[GlassReef]

Neither of the two is the current model, which has 10 approx. 1/4" holes spaced evenly around the top of the cover and no crown (the acrylic ring attached to the cover).

To be honest, I've never been able to tell any difference in performance between a cover with a crown and one without.

[richierich2000]

what is the best air intake mod for the 250?

the venturi keeps getting clogged alittle and makes the pump run hotter I take a bottle of r/o water and let it suck in the air tube and in no time it runs cooler

[our6pack]

I have a silly question. Does the motor mount in any way to the plastic foot or is it suppose to just sit on it. Thanks in advance.

[richierich2000]

it just sits on it. it is more of a spacer

[klasiksb]

I just re-did my plumbing (is it ever NOT a nightmare?) today so I can feed the skimmer (Reeflo 250) from my drain. Trying to figure out about what gph is feeding it.

If you have a 250, where is your water level with the dart off? And approx. what gph are you running through it?

[rbc1225]

Mine is at the flange where the cup meets the body and I am running a mag 5 wide open. My outlet pipe is probably 75 to 80% closed.

[klasiksb]

Actually, where is your level if the dart is off and the drain line to 'open'? Think that would give me a better idea.

Mine is right in the middle of the REEFLO sticker on the side, about an inch below the transition to the neck.

[GlassReef]

Originally posted by klasiksb
Actually, where is your level if the dart is off and the drain line to 'open'? Think that would give me a better idea.

Mine is right in the middle of the REEFLO sticker on the side, about an inch below the transition to the neck.

Both of mine are about 1/4" above the top edge of the Reeflo sticker at the "Open" position.

[dmorel]

Checking in since I'm in the club now.
Just put a 250 on my new 5' round tank

Here is a pic when we were doing the freshwater testing of the system. We dumped a cup of salt in just to see it run and it pulled gunk in less than 15 minutes!



It's been running full on for about a week and pulling well. Very pleased so far. Will post some pics in coming days, it's got an amazing amount of foam.

[vegaskid11]

I seem to have problems keeping my feed water level constant.

I make slight turns of the open/closed pipe but it seems to just rise to quickly or it will slowly rise and then fall down again.

I try and set it at the flange and then I will leave for a few minutes to see if it will hold and it always seems to drop back down to the reeflo sticker area.

I am using a beacket waterfall pump from Home Depot that is about 800 gph with about 4-5 feet of head pressure.

I was thinking that maybe I need a pressure rated pump, but if some of you are feeding this thing from your overflow then there is no way that I need that.

Do any of you guys have problems with the feed level. Thanks

[dmorel]

couple weeks in: