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Unread 07/02/2006, 08:15 PM   #1
Abengochea
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What skimmer is preferred based on actual comparisons?

I am looking for a skimmer for my 75 gallon. I was thinking of getting an MRC skimmer but Ive heard that they are very loud. Ive also considered the asm or the octopus. Now I am curious, what would be the best one based on actual experiences. I know that everyone has their favorite but I would like to know of which skimmer works better than another on the same tank. Basically asking anyone that has upgraded from one of these to another based on performance. Thanks


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Unread 07/02/2006, 10:06 PM   #2
mg426
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I have taken this order in my purchase of skimmers.
#1 seaclown: Total junk dont waste your time or money.
#2 Aqua C remora Pro : Works fine just not nearly enough for my tank.
#3 Coralife 220: Not complete junk but nothing to recommend.
#4 ASM G3. Best skimmer I have owned, Great value works great all of the time never quits.

All of the above skimmers were on the same tank at one time or another.
I have never owned an octopus or a MRC. I hear they work great though.


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Unread 07/02/2006, 10:49 PM   #3
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Started years ago with a Lee's airstone driven in tank model. Not great. Moved up to a HOB Bak Pak(orginal) by CPR. Always like it just not the Rio 600, changed to the 800. Got a little better. Quit the hobby as a FO for a couple of years. Started back with the mentality of no "mickey mouse" equipment. Bought a Euro Reef CS 80 for my 30 galllon cube. I love it! Works great even with a high turnover in my sump.

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Unread 07/03/2006, 01:25 AM   #4
UCanDoIt
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On my 75g reef, I went through these:

Remora Pro with Mag3 & Preskimmer
OK, thought it performed well until I upgraded

Remora Pro with Mag5 & Preskimmer
Got a stronger pump and performance just went up 50%, but Mag5 is so noisy

Deltec AP600
Awesome skimmer, was getting this every 2 days. Didn't know how good Deltec were until I owned one myself.


Deltec APF600
Got tired of of emptying the AP600 every other day, so upgrade to the next size and put the AP600 on my 60g reef. The APF600 takes out waste within hours of introducing into the tank. After each feeding, within hours, it skims out proteins.

If I were to make a recommendation, I say go with the H&S A110-F2000 if your budget has room for $459. Same performance as the Deltec, but a little cheaper. Also, replacement parts out of the warranty period is much more reasonable as compared to Deltec. I owned a big H&S skimmer, it absolutely performs great.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hreadid=818119

On my 175g FOWLR tank, I've gone through EuroReef, AquaC EV, ASM G3x, H&S A150 and now I have a H&S A200 on it. The A200 is overkill definitely, but works great.

Would never go back to a skimmer using a China made pump, runs hot, no where as efficient is drawing air as the German made needlewheel pumps. My dealer has one of the new Octopus skimmer for testing and just overnight, the China pump raise the temp within the skimmer to close 90 degrees as the water was recirculating within the skimmer. These are just my own personal observations. HTH


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Unread 07/03/2006, 06:23 AM   #5
viggen
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I have a ER RC500 & ASM G3

if price conscious the ASM line hit a good price point & some like how they are built & others like myself do not.

The ER's cost a bit more but I feel are built better & are easier to service

My problem with the Octopus stuff is it's all made in China & I like supporting US made products as much as possible. I have never owned one & have zero first hand experience. With pretty much everything over there, they seem to copy products & not research problems/issues... thus the temp claim seems interesting

Above ER you have Deltec & many others but they can get pricey


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Unread 07/03/2006, 08:08 AM   #6
RichConley
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Quote:
Originally posted by viggen

My problem with the Octopus stuff is it's all made in China & I like supporting US made products as much as possible. I have never owned one & have zero first hand experience. With pretty much everything over there, they seem to copy products & not research problems/issues... thus the temp claim seems interesting
I'm pretty sure Eheim just moved all of their pump production to china.


I'm all for buying american, but not at the expense of quality. The Octopus NW200 (which I have) is better made then the Euroreef CS180, sucks in more air, performs better, has a better pump, and costs $450 less. ($628 vs $189)

I just can't argue with that.


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Unread 07/03/2006, 08:13 AM   #7
RichConley
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Quote:
Originally posted by UCanDoIt


Would never go back to a skimmer using a China made pump, runs hot, no where as efficient is drawing air as the German made needlewheel pumps. My dealer has one of the new Octopus skimmer for testing and just overnight, the China pump raise the temp within the skimmer to close 90 degrees as the water was recirculating within the skimmer. These are just my own personal observations. HTH
Was the skimmer hooked up to anything, or just recirculating.

With heat, wattage draw = heat. PERIOD. My NW200 has a 60w pump that pulls about 45w sucking air. Thats on a killawatt. A 60w ehiem makes EXACTLY the same amount of heat. Simple conservation of energy.

If you're just recirculating a gallon or two of water in the skimmer, with 60w of heating, OF COURSE its going to get hot. Hook a maxijet up and give it enough time, and it'll heat the water to 90+.


That being said, the same manufacturer that makes the Ocean Runner pumps for aquamedic (widely regarded as being much superior to the Sedra pumps used on ER skimmers) makes the pumps for the octopus skimmers. I can not tell the difference between my pump and the OR 3700 I have sitting around.



Hook an eheim pump up to that skimmer and let it sit overnight just recirculating, and I will bet you it is just as hot as with the oceanrunner.


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Unread 07/03/2006, 09:06 AM   #8
moonpod
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This is based on REAL first hand experience. Over the years I have owned and used a plethora of units specifically including:
cpr backpacks
ER 8-2 (I dunno current designation)
ASM G3
Aquamedic Turboflotor
Aqua C remora, EV120, 180 and 240
MRC MR 3
Aerofoamer
GEO dual sedra 5000 recirc skimmer
Deltec AP702
Bubble King 400ext
Tunze DOC 9005
PCI 150 recirc

First comment I have: the "right" skimmer for you depends on your setup and needs.

Second: definitely, without peer for mass air injection becketts are the way to go--HOWEVER, there are drawbacks and the bubble "quality" isn't so good IME.

Third: recirculating designs give your more "control" over the skimming parameters (ie dwell time), which make it easier to "optimize" the unit IMO.

Fourth: Submerged pumps of any design generate heat. The solution? Don't use in sump skimmers. Also beware, even run externally some pumps transfer more heat than others to the water.

Fifth: In sump needlewheel non recirculating skimmers are definitely the easiest units to setup for the neophyte and generally provide reasonable bang for the buck.

Sixth: Aquamedic is the Taam of Europe

In terms of what skimmer is "best" for your setup you need to ask these questions: external or in sump? What size pump are you willing to use? What is your budget? Are you gonna upgrade in the near future and to what size? Are you a "heavy skimming" type or a "enough" skimming type?


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Unread 07/03/2006, 09:23 AM   #9
UCanDoIt
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Quote:
Originally posted by RichConley
Was the skimmer hooked up to anything, or just recirculating.

With heat, wattage draw = heat. PERIOD. My NW200 has a 60w pump that pulls about 45w sucking air. Thats on a killawatt. A 60w ehiem makes EXACTLY the same amount of heat. Simple conservation of energy.

If you're just recirculating a gallon or two of water in the skimmer, with 60w of heating, OF COURSE its going to get hot. Hook a maxijet up and give it enough time, and it'll heat the water to 90+.


That being said, the same manufacturer that makes the Ocean Runner pumps for aquamedic (widely regarded as being much superior to the Sedra pumps used on ER skimmers) makes the pumps for the octopus skimmers. I can not tell the difference between my pump and the OR 3700 I have sitting around.



Hook an eheim pump up to that skimmer and let it sit overnight just recirculating, and I will bet you it is just as hot as with the oceanrunner.
On display was Octopus RPS1000 ($209) vs Deltec AP600 ($614) vs H&S A110-F2000 ($459). I just got the specifics on the temp from my dealer, within the Octopus after 12 hours of setting up, 92 degrees warm, recirculating the water within itself. Octopus looks like a decent inexpensive skimmer, but at the trade off of high heat transfer into the water. Now if you can put a German made AquaBee pump on the Octopus skimmer body, you've got a great skimmer. BTW, by touch only, the Octopus skimmer body was much warmer than the other 2 skimmers.


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Unread 07/03/2006, 09:45 AM   #10
RichConley
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45w vs 22w vs 22w. Theres your difference. (rated)


I've got the big octopus, and at 45w actually running, it doesnt effect the temp of my 58 gallon at all.

Like I said, all submersible pumps running submersed produce heat directly proportional to their wattage draw. It doesnt matter whether its an aquabee or an eheim, or a sedra, or a magdrive or an ebo jager heater. When submersed, wattage = heat.

The octopus NW series is where the money is at. For less than $200 you can buy a big 8" x 24" skimmer with a big OR style pump and recirc it, and have something that will outperform an ASM G4 or a Euro 8-2 for MUCH less money.


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Unread 07/03/2006, 11:43 AM   #11
gcarroll
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Hey Rich,
I was under the impression that heat was the direct result of inefficiency. If a pump was 100% efficient then all wattage consumed would produce work equal to the amount of energy consumed with no heat. But we know that electronic devices are not 100% efficient, the byproduct of that inefficiency is heat. The above explanation that you provided assumes that all pumps operate with the same efficiency. I'm sure as in many other electronic devices, pumps are built with different levels of inefficiency. Usually this is reflective in the price because it is cheaper to design and build products when you are not concerned with efficiency.


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Unread 07/03/2006, 12:05 PM   #12
UCanDoIt
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I don't know about heat exchange or heat transfer, but I do know what feels hot and what doesn't. Besides the skimmer body feeling obviously much warmer, the pump is night & day difference in terms of heat. I would think that if these external recirculating skimmers were put into the sump, the heat from the Octopus pump would be like putting a heater that is always turned on into the sump.

edited: BTW, I do have an H&S A200 skimmer that uses the Eheim 1260, hardly any heat transferred back into the water and also it is just warm to touch, not hot like the Octopus pump. I'm not a scientific type of person, this is just my experience. Common sense tells me that the Octopus pump transfers much more heat back into the water than the Eheim pump, even though they are both 45 watts electricity usage.



Last edited by UCanDoIt; 07/03/2006 at 12:28 PM.
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Unread 07/03/2006, 12:16 PM   #13
gcarroll
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Quote:
Originally posted by UCanDoIt
BTW, I do have an H&S A200 skimmer that uses the Eheim 1260, hardly any heater transferred back into the water and also it is just warm to touch, not hot like the Octopus pump. This is just my experience, nothing scientific.
Not all products are created equally. You don't need to be a scientist to understand when common sense tells you that one is hotter than the other. I was just explaining to Rich that heat is a byproduct of inefficiency. I have seen him make the above comment on many occation and it goes against all that i have been taught in the world of electronics.


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Unread 07/03/2006, 12:31 PM   #14
RichConley
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Quote:
Originally posted by gcarroll
Not all products are created equally. You don't need to be a scientist to understand when common sense tells you that one is hotter than the other. I was just explaining to Rich that heat is a byproduct of inefficiency. I have seen him make the above comment on many occation and it goes against all that i have been taught in the world of electronics.
gcarrol, thats not entirely true. THe problem here, is that theres only 2 products produced by the pump. Heat, and water movement. The water movement is reduced to heat by friction(if not, your water would move forever after you turned off pumps), so efficiency does not matter. Heat transfer from a submersible is directly proportional to wattage. When you start talking about externals, than efficiency is a concern, but not with a submersed pump.


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Unread 07/03/2006, 12:34 PM   #15
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ASM G3


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Unread 07/03/2006, 12:38 PM   #16
RichConley
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As to things being hot to the touch, my OTP 3000 is cool. Not hot at all. Maybe something wrong with yours?


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Unread 07/03/2006, 12:38 PM   #17
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The two skimmers I have used thus far are the Aqua-Media Turboflotor 1000 Classic and Octopus RPS-3000. Obviously they are very different in size.

In general, both have been good performers, although the Turbo was too small for my 90.

I would suggest that you look at the RPS-2000 (some call it the NW-150 recirc). The larger unit would be overkill on a 75...it's overkill on my 90, but I'm hoping to upgrade soon.

If you have the money, by all means look at the Deltec or H&S. If not, the Octopus skimmers are a good value.


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Unread 07/03/2006, 12:42 PM   #18
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I would get a Octopus.. I have a Deltec AP600 and it's very nice , but the price difference is way too much to be overlooked.


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Unread 07/03/2006, 12:53 PM   #19
viggen
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Quote:
Originally posted by RichConley
I'm pretty sure Eheim just moved all of their pump production to china.


I'm all for buying american, but not at the expense of quality. The Octopus NW200 (which I have) is better made then the Euroreef CS180, sucks in more air, performs better, has a better pump, and costs $450 less. ($628 vs $189)

I just can't argue with that.
it wouldn't surprise me, seems like everything is getting made over there

The Octopus skimmer I looked at was definantly not built as good as my RC 500 & DEFINANTLY better then a ASM.

where do you get the info that the pumps work better? I would like to read up on it I have the GenX SP-4 pumps on my skimmer & before I switched it to a RC500 it had Dolphin ?? 800 pump, I cannot remember the model.

I also do not understand how every 45w pump will always transfer the same amount of heat to the water. RPM, flow, quality of parts, etc I feel all play a much bigger role in how the pump performs then simply the powerdraw of the pump which is a byproduct of RPM, flow, parts, etc


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Unread 07/03/2006, 01:06 PM   #20
RichConley
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Quote:
Originally posted by viggen
I also do not understand how every 45w pump will always transfer the same amount of heat to the water. RPM, flow, quality of parts, etc I feel all play a much bigger role in how the pump performs then simply the powerdraw of the pump which is a byproduct of RPM, flow, parts, etc
In direct heat transfer, yes. Indirect? No. More efficient pumps will produce more flow. They will all produce the same heat. You have to remember that any flow produced is turned into heat by friction. Otherwise your water would keep accelerating forever. So in essence, any electricity that goes into the pump is being reduced to heat.


As to pump performance, Hailea is the manufacturer of the OTP pumps. They are also the manufacturer of the Ocean Runner line for aquamedic. These pumps are visually identicle, and I would guess that they are the same line of pumps, just slightly different sizes. The OTP 3000 is about 90% of the size of an OR 3500.

The OR pumps are MUCH nicer than the Sedras and GenXs. I'm pretty sure the OTPs are the same pumps. Thats where I get that theyre much nicer pumps. That, and my OTP 3000 is noticibly quieter than a sedra5000, and outperforms the sedra9000 thats sitting around (@24" head)


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Unread 07/03/2006, 01:07 PM   #21
bernie lyons
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skimmers

moonpod , which of the the skimmers you have listed is your favorite ? Deltec , bubble king ,ect
bernie lyons


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Unread 07/03/2006, 01:12 PM   #22
scottfarcuz
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Tolerance of the machined parts, and quality of magnets/windings used will make efficiency/heat output change.

I love how some people need to spend their day defending what they have purchased. IF it's a good product it should speak for itself without 300 posts of endorsements from 1 user...


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Unread 07/03/2006, 01:15 PM   #23
RichConley
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Quote:
Originally posted by scottfarcuz
[B]Tolerance of the machined parts, and quality of magnets/windings used will make efficiency/heat output change.

/B]
No Scott, no they wont. They will make the direct heat output change, but not the indirect. WATER MOVEMENT IS CONVERTED TO HEAT BY FRICTION. Absolute heat production is DIRECTLY proportional to wattage draw.


When you start talking about external pumps, or any pump run externally, pump efficiency starts to matter with regards to heat. When you put the pump in the water, it no longer matters because both the product (flow) and the waste (heat) are both turned inot waste (heat)


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Unread 07/03/2006, 01:19 PM   #24
scottfarcuz
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Quote:
WATER MOVEMENT IS CONVERTED TO HEAT BY FRICTION
But internal parts moving, or less conductive windings doesn't equal heat?


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Unread 07/03/2006, 01:21 PM   #25
RichConley
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Quote:
Originally posted by scottfarcuz


WATER MOVEMENT IS CONVERTED TO HEAT BY FRICTION

But metal parts moving, or less conductive windings doesn't?

Yes, they do. BUT, which seems to be the thing you dont understand, improving the windings or machinings only increases the amount of water moved. WHICH GETS CONVERTED BACK TO HEAT. So by increasing the efficiency of a pump, you simply increase water movement. You dont reduce the heat.

NOW, when you use a more efficient pump, you can use a smaller one, which would add heat, but thats not what we're talking about. If wattage is the same, heat is the same.


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