ETSS Skimmer Club!

[steve9]

I have a etss1000 and dosing VINEGAR had little effect on mine.
Any downdraft ETSS/beckett will strip more from a tank in a hour
then any needlewheel will in a day.
They need very low water levels in there neck and high flow
outputs and as long as you have this dont pay attention to
how many times it shuts down.
Clean the neck and it should completely be covered again in a day or 2
if nothing is forming on the neck then you have a issue usually fixed by
restacking your bioballs.
The sanjay experiment on his large reef tank between a diy downdraft
becket and a red dragon powered needlewheel showed how much better the
downdraft skimmer was at removing TOC.
Plain and simple the theorys about bubble size and flow can not be correct as it
pertains to the construction of a cone skimmer or the beckect would of been
a poor remover of TOC...... BUT IT WAS WAY BETTER THEN THE BIG NEELEWHEEL.
Those pretty little bubbles running through those pretty bubbles plates slowly rising
up that expensive cone body dont remove TOC better then a VIOLENT CRASHING SHREADING
RIPPING SUPER HIGH FLOWING DOWNDRAFT........SANJAYS tank test is the only real world
test done on TOC and skimmers and should once and for all put a end to the downdraft bashing
always on cone skimmer post......They are pretty but not very good.

[privitor]

Been trying to dial my sump buddy 40 delux in for like 2 months no and just cant get it right. I asked the guys at LFS and he said maybe my bio load was not big enough to produce anything and my water quality he tested was near perfect. All its doing is wet foam travels about 2/3 up the riser then falls to about half way. I have tried opeing the gate and closing the gate but it never seems to produce skimmate in the cup. I have added bio balls and i have tried removing them but nothing seems to work! All it seems to do is just heat my water...

any advice?

[rigleautomotive]

Clean the skimmer completely with warm to hot water and clean paper towels.Keep the foam cracking about 3 inches or more from the top of the reaction tube and let a foam head form.It may take a day or two.Keep hands out of the aquarium.If you are cooking near the skimmer the oils in the air will stop production for sometimes days.If you are burning candles in the house or have a oil fired furnace,I have seen these skimmers not work well in these environments.Also some foods,for example PE Mysis will shut these skimmers down for a day or more so if you are feeding often,this can be a cause.Frozen brine shrimp are less oily and seem to turn a skimmer on that has had some time without foam production.Just a couple tips off the top of my head

[steve9]

Try a simple carbon air filter......usually works.
A Beckett mod on a large etss skimmer will allow you
to run the water level 6 inches or so from the cup
and it will never shut down.
I run a AQUA-C 1000 also on my system and with the
water level almost to the cup it never shuts down
with the low water levels it always shuts down.
I find the becketts better then the etss unless i have a
lot of fish ....a huge bioload then the etss rocks.
I just added the becket mod back and run it with a DC10000
it is pulling around 70 watts......works great.
For the sump buddy add as many BIOBALLS as you can and the carbon
on the air intake run the water level low.
You have a small system you need max bubbles so you need as many BIOBALLS
as possible........this will work for sure.
There is a different way to run the etss and that is to get a DYWER air meter
and a valve and run the air around 35 ......you will get small bubbles and a constant
foam head.
This is how i run my becketts.....

[Bugger]

I think Im going to retire this thing soon

[mwb32]

Sounds like you have worn out bio balls or a weak pump. Talked to Gary last week about the pump he uses on the SB40 and he said he has standardized with the mag 9 on any sump buddy 40 he sets up. Gary stated a Mag 7 will run the SB40 at about 70% efficiency and the Mag 9 will run it about 110 percent which means you have to dial it back with a valve on the pump. I have had trouble in the past with what you are experincing and if I have the correct pump its worn out Balls everytime. cleaning the balls wont work you need the sharp edges on the balls thus new ones. Hope this helps.

[privitor]

thanks for the response. When i bought it it had a mag5 pump with it and the guy told me that would be fine on my 37g. I have heard these things are nothing but trouble unless you have a big pump with a big bioload. With a big pump comes more heat consider i have a mag 7 and a mag 5 in my 14g sump.

I took rigle's advice and cleaned it really good but that just created a new break in period.

For about the price to upgrade the skimmer pump or upgrade both pumps to one really big pump, i could just get a needle wheel skimmer or something.

I will see how it goes after this new break in period completes

[d2mini]

Been looking for a new skimmer... considering an ETSS.
Which would you suggest for my tank?
200g + 45g refugium + 25g frag tank + about 75g of water in my sump.

The tank is less than a year old. I have 3 tangs, 5 anthias, 3 wrasse, 1 clown, 1 chromis, 1 pink spot goby, 1 spot breast angel, 1 blue throat trigger, 1 mandarin, and plan on more. And it's a mixed reef.

[mwb32]

d2mini, Had an ETSS 600 on a 180 for years and it was a work horse. Was running it with an Iwaki 40 high pressure pump with 22 bio balls and the skimmer would fill a gallon a week of gunk if I wet skimmed with it. The skimmer fit into the cabinet so that was really nice. The down side was an Iwaki 40 is a loader pump and the noise late at night was a little more than the wife liked. To save energy and cut down on the noise I went with a 30 high pressure pump and ran 14 Bio Balls. The skimmer still was all I needed on that 180 with a light Bio Load. ETSS has a great web sit and has a page showing filtration guide. I think with these skimmers people have a tendency to go to big and maybe a more balanced approach of a skimmer combined with a Refugium and a UV steralizer etc makes more sense. Check out MRSaltwaterTV on Youtube. The guy does a review of Julian Sprungs home tank and Julian doesnt even run a skimmer. For me currently have gone to a smaller 100 gallon tank and I have on order a SB40 with a Mag 9.5 pump.

[azjohnny]

Originally Posted by d2mini

Been looking for a new skimmer... considering an ETSS.
Which would you suggest for my tank?
200g + 45g refugium + 25g frag tank + about 75g of water in my sump.

The tank is less than a year old. I have 3 tangs, 5 anthias, 3 wrasse, 1 clown, 1 chromis, 1 pink spot goby, 1 spot breast angel, 1 blue throat trigger, 1 mandarin, and plan on more. And it's a mixed reef.

What happened to the Supermarin?

[ycg675]

Question,

I have the opportunity to purchase a etss 2500. a mammoth skimmer, for my 220. I know it is way overkill but here are my questions

1. How much heat is it going to add to my tank with the recommended 1/2 HP pool pump, or alternatively what kind of pump can I get away with on this?

2. I have serious concerns about over skimming, what do you think about turning the pump on and off multiple times during the day?

[NanoJosh]

Awesome so glad I found this thread will post my problems with etss 250 I think in the afternoon SWEET!! subscribed

[NanoJosh]

So I have an ETSS 500 I think its rated for 180g so whatever that is I did a quick scan of this thread and maybe found some answers basically my skimmer is a beast for a week pulling out nice dark green liquid then it loses its foam head. I'm running it on a 55 with a 20H sump actual WV is probably 65-70 gal I have 5 small black damsels two small maroon clowns a juvie lionfish lawnmower blenny and a small yellow tang. I guess its kind of overkill for my tank but I'm getting ready to add a 29gal display fuge to the system wit one clown and maybe one other fish. well to make a long story even longer any help would be great should I just wipe the neck out as I've read in previous posts, should I get a bigger bio-load ,feed more often (I only feed every other day), or should I downgrade skimmers which I really don't want to do I love this thing when it is working its a beast like I said any suggestions is much appreciated. Oh by the way I'm running it with a mag 9.5 which I think is good and my bio balls are 1/2 to 2/3 the way up the downdraft tube as stated in the pdf file manual I got from ETSS. Please help LOL thank in advance. Happy reefing !

[NanoJosh]

Here's some pics of skimmer placement

My foam head tonight and since around July 3rd
the foam is about an inch above the black plate
And here's a side view of the tank and soon to be display fuge.


55 gal mixed reef 10 gal SPS Dom.
10 gal nem tank 2 maxi minis 2 rock flower and one sunburst RBTA

Sent from some device using some app

[mwb32]

With my 600 when it started working then stopping it was the balls were old and needed replaced. You are also really running the 500 on a very small pump. That unit could easy handle an iwaki 20 or 30 high pressure pump.

[mwb32]

It seems the ETSS web site is gone ? Anybody else having the same trouble finding it ?

[bayoupr]

Not only is it closed but looks like all of the on line vendors that were carring his line have pulled them off of their websites. I wonder if he has found somebody else to build them while he collects a % since he has the patent?

[NanoJosh]

Originally Posted by mwb32

With my 600 when it started working then stopping it was the balls were old and needed replaced. You are also really running the 500 on a very small pump. That unit could easy handle an iwaki 20 or 30 high pressure pump.

OK cool I cleaned the neck only tonight as stated in a previous post if that doesn't do it Ill change the bioballs I bought this thing used and who knows how old the balls are my buddy at my fav LFS gave me some pre cycled bioballs when I got this actually so who knows how old they are. Thanks for the advice. If none of these work then a pump upgrade will be next.
Oh is there a submersible pump instead of the Iwaki I don't have room for that in my sump/or cabinet thank you

[NanoJosh]

Im a little confused about the bioballs do I use less or more for my size pump I remember reading in the pdf manual but it kid of confused me. Its a ETSS 500 run by a mag 9.5 thanks

[McGee10]

Just found this thread , Just have to say i am sorry i sold my ETSS 1000 best skimmer i ever had

[steve9]

A dc10000 or its clones is a great pump for the 500.
You have different speeds so you can easily adjust
for different situations and dead quit.

[mwb32]

Nano, use less balls for a smaller pump. Example is on my 600 was running 22 balls when I ran the iwaki 40 pump wanted to save energy so put on the iwaki 30 pump and ended up with 13 balls being perfect. Have also found can't just use any balls Gary supplies balls that have points on the edges. Just seems to be a little problem finding Gary these days. Urgh

[NanoJosh]

Thanks mwb problem solved I got rid of half the bioballs an hour ago and the foam head is steady creeping up I guess I had too many sweet can't wait to see what kind of crud this thing pulls out running at full capacity I may have to up my bioload eventually. Glad I found this thread. Is there a smaller skimmer than the 500 that I have I'd like one for my 24"x24x18 cube.


55 gal mixed reef 10 gal SPS Dom.
10 gal nem tank 2 maxi minis 2 rock flower and one sunburst RBTA

Sent from some device using some app

[bayoupr]

Have also found can't just use any balls Gary supplies balls that have points on the edges. Just seems to be a little problem finding Gary these days. Urgh

mwb32, The black bio balls that came with my 600 from Gary look like the same ones I got from BRS.

[mwb32]

Bay, thanks that's the ones, must call BRS and see if they also have the 1 inch balls for my SB 40.