ETSS Skimmer Club!

[montepora]

Originally posted by ostrow
I'm considering an ETSS 900. But I can't for practical reasons run 2 pumps. I was thinking of getting an oversized pressure-rated pump, like the new Reeflo Blackfin, and run the 900 off my manifold.

Does ANYONE here run their ETSS off a manifold. There was someone a few pages back with a 900 who didn't post what pump he uses. If you see this, I'd love to hear.

Thanks all.

My ETSS 1000 is feed off Reeflo Hammerhead that is also supplying return and other equipments I have. I am thinking about getting a higher neck from the 1500 model so I can process more water. Currently, my pump is throttle back a lot.

HTH.

[ostrow]

Montepora ... thanks. What sort of head pressure does your Hammerhead face? I'm for some reason not getting a lot of flow out of it with the pump wide open, but my previous Hammerhead gave a lot more. Just wondering. I pump upstairs and have close to 20'.

[txfatcat]

well I recieved a ETSS 800( older model) that had been barely used. I recieved two heads for it. A tall and a short. I currently run the tall.


I have it in a 150g sump for a 265 gallon tank. I power it with a mag 12 and it runs great. It didnt have a gate valve on it and I put a ball valve on it instead(gate valve will be here this week). I have yet To adjust it and it works great so far. I have been adding live rock and it seems to produce the most skimmate after I add rock or it goes through a mini cycle. I have no bioload at the moment. I am so glad I found this thread. I have been looking for it for a while. I have recently changed the hard pipe inlet to a soft flexible duct that alow the pump to be mor e comfortable and the intake tubes to be inline and perfect unlike the pictures. I also had to create a catch container out of a cranberry juice bottle becase the size of my stand. It wont allow me to fit the factory container in and out. It will also stop the flow of skimmate when full. Its cheap to make and will produce pictures here tomorrow. Sorry for the large pictures. figured it would thumbnail them as to not jack up the thread.

here are some picks of my setup(a work in progress)





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[montepora]

Originally posted by ostrow
Montepora ... thanks. What sort of head pressure does your Hammerhead face? I'm for some reason not getting a lot of flow out of it with the pump wide open, but my previous Hammerhead gave a lot more. Just wondering. I pump upstairs and have close to 20'.

Mine is about the same, the basement is about 12' and then another 7' to the tank. Check and make sure that nothing is stuck at the strainer, that actually happened to me where algae and other stuff cover the strainer which affected the pump's output that I failed to notice. Another thing is to see the distance between the pump outlet to the first elbow/T of your manifold. I was told that they need at least 2' to work properly.

Oh, I am using the Hammerhead Gold which has less output then the original HH.

[ostrow]

Finally figured the pump issue.

So, does anyone have photos/description/links that show the difference between the original 1000 and the current one? I'm having no luck searching out the description of the changes.

Also, can the skimmer outlet be submerged? Meaning, can one sit the 1000 in the sump?

[txfatcat]

I am almost sure the outlet can be submerged. If you look at mine, you will see its underwater with a 90 to turn it down. I have changed this to a gate valve with no 90 as of now. It still works great. One thing that I did in the planning stage of from my understanding in the manual was to cut the skimmer stand so that the black bottom section of the skimmer is right at the water line. The top of the black bottom section sits about 1/8-1/4" above the water line.

I have not seen any outstanding issues that would be out of the norm with this setup. Now that I have a gate on mine, things should be more consistant.

please keep in mind I have a 800 so I am not sure if this applies to the 1000. I dont know or understand why it wouldnt be the same. I would call AETech to double check.

here is the number that I have found.
Contact us
845-838-9044

[ShootMe]

Though I would join in if not in a complete active role in the club yet. I picked up the ETSS 800 from ReefEnabler today at a steal. I am very impressed with the build quality of the skimmer, feels like this thing will last forever. Right now I am in the process of completing the build of my 40 breeder , as you would guess my tank is extremely under sized for the skimmer at hand. I will have a big enough tank one day, 3-4 years from now plus the price was just too good. Now I am convinced to get an AEtech skimmer on my tank and will decide on the Reef Devil or the Sump Buddy 40. Unless you guys think I can put an 800 on a 40breeder.

[ReefEnabler]

Thanks for picking it up!

I didn't realize you were going to try this on a 40

If you're concerned with overskimming, remember that you can restrict the output of the iwaki 55 pump with the ball valve, and then restrict the drain on the skimmer slightly to compensate. This will actually reduce the power consumption of the pump because less work is being done. The pump is designed for pressure so it won't harm the pump.



Would you still be using the iwaki 55 if you go with a reef devil for now?

if you are going to plumb that iwaki, then you might as well try the 800, especially during live rock curing when the water will get really gunky.

Remember it can take some time for it to kick in, so don't over restrict the drain pipe valve, make only small adjustments and wait a day whenever you make adjustments before restricting further. often over restricting these can make them overflow easily, filling the waste collector with sump water, which could drop the waterlevel in the sump too low.

I will check out your build thread.

[montepora]

Originally posted by ostrow
Finally figured the pump issue.

So, does anyone have photos/description/links that show the difference between the original 1000 and the current one? I'm having no luck searching out the description of the changes.

Also, can the skimmer outlet be submerged? Meaning, can one sit the 1000 in the sump?

I have the old model with small holes drilled on top of the water inlet, unlike the current ETSS, air intake is built on the side of the mixing tower.

So what was the issue for you pump?

[ostrow]

Ok, someone has to explain to me this whole external collection cup thing. How, exactly, does it shut off the skimmer when it fills? I see the ball that closes off air escaping at the top. But that air is independent of the skimmer air intake.

If I don't want to use an external collection bucket, then I close a valve on that drain on the bottom of the cup. No air escapes. The skimmer has to still work though. If it didn't, they'd have to sell it with the external collection cup and the standard one would not serve any purpose.

So, how exactly does that external cup shut the skimmer off?

[txfatcat]

It uses the ball. I dont understand how it works without an external either. I have an external but cant see that if I ran without one how it would work?????

The way that I have built my external(cranberry juice bottle) is that the "outake" air tube is stopped and lower than the intake (water/fluid) tube. This way when it fills to the top, it stops the flow of air and stops skimming


Any engineers have some insight that can help us all to understand??????

[shleprock30]

I think it is all due to back pressure. Without holes in the lid to let the air escape the back pressure will kill the foam head. That is what happens when the outlet tubing, run into your collection device ie. milk jug or whatever else, gets covered with skimate.

Just take the tubing and stick it into a glass of water and see what happens to the foam head, also works to stop floods if the skimmer goes a little nuts.

If you want the cup to work as a collection cup without the external collection device, then you would probably just need to drill holes in the lid to allow the air to escape.

Rick

[cnaegler]

Originally posted by shleprock30
I think it is all due to back pressure. Without holes in the lid to let the air escape the back pressure will kill the foam head. That is what happens when the outlet tubing, run into your collection device ie. milk jug or whatever else, gets covered with skimate.

Just take the tubing and stick it into a glass of water and see what happens to the foam head, also works to stop floods if the skimmer goes a little nuts.

If you want the cup to work as a collection cup without the external collection device, then you would probably just need to drill holes in the lid to allow the air to escape.

Rick

That's pretty much how an external collection cup works and, yep, you'd have to drill air holes in the lid. Otherwise, no foam head.

[montepora]

Originally posted by ShootMe
Though I would join in if not in a complete active role in the club yet. I picked up the ETSS 800 from ReefEnabler today at a steal. I am very impressed with the build quality of the skimmer, feels like this thing will last forever. Right now I am in the process of completing the build of my 40 breeder , as you would guess my tank is extremely under sized for the skimmer at hand. I will have a big enough tank one day, 3-4 years from now plus the price was just too good. Now I am convinced to get an AEtech skimmer on my tank and will decide on the Reef Devil or the Sump Buddy 40. Unless you guys think I can put an 800 on a 40breeder.

I think you can definitely plug in the ETSS 800 for your 40g as long as you have a big enough sump with baffles. Also, don't be alarm when your fish come down with ich briefly. That would be due to the high saturation of oxygen. I do not believe overskimming and I think you will get crystal clear water~

I could be crazy but I really think this is doable.

[ShootMe]

Originally posted by montepora
I think you can definitely plug in the ETSS 800 for your 40g as long as you have a big enough sump with baffles. Also, don't be alarm when your fish come down with ich briefly. That would be due to the high saturation of oxygen. I do not believe overskimming and I think you will get crystal clear water~

I could be crazy but I really think this is doable.

Thank you for the advice. At the moment there is nothing in the tank beside rock and salt. I’m not going to add the clean up crew until nitrates are at 0 and the first fish would be a few weeks after that. I have a few options on how to install the skimmer and pump. Due to space limitations the skimmer will likely have to be internal. Currently I am using a 20 gallon high tank as the sump with three baffles; I can replace this with a 20 long and drill the long side for the iwaki 55 pump, plumb it into the skimmer then have the waste collection cup behind my stand. Or I can use the 20 high with a mag 12, in that case both the mag pump and the skimmer would be internal.

First a couple of questions. The water level in the skimmer should be 1� above the top of the black base correct? What should the depth of the water be that the skimmer is going to sit in and/or does it really matter? Second how many micro bubbles should I expect to come out of the skimmer? Third, how much space should be between the skimmer outlet and the baffle wall? This might determine if I can go with the 20 high or 20 long.

Thank you for the advice ReefEnabler

[ostrow]

Talked to Gary at AE Tech. Skimmer can sit in sump as long as the outlet is not submerged more than an inch or two. So that is good.

I'm going to be trying one of these and see how it compares to my Orca, which is off for a modification that may or may not be possible right now.

[montepora]

Originally posted by ShootMe

First a couple of questions. The water level in the skimmer should be 1� above the top of the black base correct? What should the depth of the water be that the skimmer is going to sit in and/or does it really matter? Second how many micro bubbles should I expect to come out of the skimmer? Third, how much space should be between the skimmer outlet and the baffle wall? This might determine if I can go with the 20 high or 20 long.

When I had space constraint, I had the skimmer box 2/3 in the water and as long as your pump is at spec, you will not have any issues. I would suggest you take out a ball or two from the towers so the water is forcing down stronger.

Regarding micro bubbles, you will get a good amount initially but after the skimmer breaks in, it will be minimal. I think another user suggested using stress coat for fresh water tank to help speed up the process.

I think you will need at least 2" to 4" between the outlet and the baffle wall. I strongly suggest you to get the biggest sump you can possibly fit and afford.

[ReefEnabler]

This is the AETech user manual: http://www.superskimmer.com/Manuals_...rETSSTotal.pdf

It states that for internal installation, the water level outside the skimmer should be below the red valve adjustment on the drain.

also of note:

Next, assuming that the water drains properly the initial water level should be set approximately 1 in. into the first clear section above the black sump box. This is not an ordinary skimmer, it will foam completely the rest of the way once it is broken in. Setting the water level too high REDUCES the air produced causing less than optimum skimming.
♦ Always use the lowest possible water setting that will produce dry foam.
♦ It can take from one hour to a week for the E.T.S.S.® toâ€� kick inâ€�. This depends on a variety of circumstances: organic content of system, type of pump used, water-surface tension, new plumbing, etc.
♦ If you set the initial water level too high, when the E.T.S.S.® “Kicks Inâ€�, it could overflow and push water out the drain. When the E.T.S.S.® begins to skim, because it is so powerful, it can easily push out tremendous amount of wet foam to the top of the collection cup and out to the waste container. Some aquarists impatiently raise the initial water level too high, trying to make the E.T.S.S.® skim before its time, and wound up with gallons of wet foam in the waste container.

[diverdick]

This may have been a topic before but here it goes anyway:

Do any of you ETSS folks run ozone in your skimmers? I understand the ETSS skimmers are ozone safe and I was thinking of running it on my 800.

Chime in!

/Thanks a bunch,

--Rich

[jdieck]

Originally posted by diverdick
This may have been a topic before but here it goes anyway:

Do any of you ETSS folks run ozone in your skimmers? I understand the ETSS skimmers are ozone safe and I was thinking of running it on my 800.

Chime in!

/Thanks a bunch,

--Rich

I do. Initially after a while I noticed the Ozone reacting with the neoprene (Black) O rings, I replaced them with silicone based O rings (Got from mcmaster.com) and have had no issues since then. It has been about probaly four years.
Some skimmers also come with a nylon hose adapter for the water inlet. I would recommend replacing that one also using PVC.
To feed it, I drilled and tapped the air inlet fitting and installed a fitting for the Ozone tubing (See Below)



I have activated carvon in the air vent of the waste collector to prevent unreacted Ozono being released. Also helps with removing stincky smell from skimmate. After a while I decided to vent the skimmer waste collector air to the outside.
Finally I have a bag of activated carbon in the chamber were the skimmer discharges into.

[yasmar01]

i just picked up a etss 800xr used. i will be hooking it up this weekend. from what everyone is posting i cant wait to see this thing in action. its going on my 210 gal. reef. i will post some pics.

chris

[Gregz263]

I just picked up an older ETS 1700. I have been told that it is similar to the current ETSS 2000 model. Now this is a little overkill for my system but it gives me room to grow. I plan on running it with a reeflo Marlin to save a little juice. Does anyone have any thoughts on cycling it on / off say every 12 hours?
Has anyone successfully "modified" their ETSS by trimming the towers?

[Jamesurq]

I modded my ETSS - I shortened the height of the um.... what's it called? The tower with the bioballs in it... Reaction chamber, maybe?

At any rate, yeah, took a couple of inches off so that it would fit in the cabinet.

[hottuna]

any more etss stories?
I am looking at either a sump buddy 40 or reef devil deluxe...anyone know the difference between these 2?

[shleprock30]

I am using the SB 40 and it is much easier to tune then the Reef Devils, at least it seems that way to me. The "sliding gate valve" works great and does not seem to be as touchy as a regular gate valve, plus there is no extra space used for the outlet.