Bubble Magus skimmer experience :(

[Ludwigia73]

Well, a few months ago I asked on here which skimmers would fit the bill for my budget, and the Bubble Magus NAC5E seemed like the answer. I bought it directly from Bubblemagus.com. I received the skimmer in good condition, washed it out with vinegar, (50-50 mix with water), and put it to work. First impressions: this thing's huge. For a smallish skimmer, it's just large. It took up half the back wall of my 20g breeder. Add to that a large piece of foam to reduce microbubbles, and it takes up a lot of real estate. Checking it out with an engineer's eye, I liked a few things right away. The neck seal is very durable, and has 3 ribs that make me feel all warm and fuzzy about no leaks. The pvc pipe that rotates has a wedge shaped notch in the bottom, so as you turn it, it slows the flow or accelerates the flow. Easy adjustment. Caution: any skimmer with the pump hanging in open air that sucks air through the impeller will be noisy. However, the pump was making a rattling noise, which I could figure out.
Right out of the box, VERY noisy, gurgling sound coming from the open ended adjustment tube, and the pump made a ton of noise. I still ran it for 4 days, and no skimmate. The pump was producing lots of bubbles, just wasn't producing any skimmate.

I cleaned it up, checked their website, which said I had to email them to get an RGA number for returns. Their reply to me was they would never make any money if they allowed everyone who didn't like their skimmers to return them. I explained it wasn't that I didn't like it per se, but it wasn't working, and creating a ton of noise. I paid good money for a working skimmer, and didn't get one. They then proceded to say that it may take up to 20 days for the skimmer to break in!!! Then said that maybe it was some chemical in my tank keeping the skimmate from being produced. Since I'd borrowed back the Octopus HOB I'd just sold, and it was working, that wasn't it. He was somewhat insulting, however tried to hook me up with someone who might be able to help, but I was already done. I hooked it up again, and ran it another 10 days while the Octo was running, but then had to remove the Octo and give it back. I did a few water changes on my tank to counteract the fact that the skimmer wasn't producing, then skipped one. It began skimming, but not the normal way. As the bubbles "popped" in the tube, and the little fizz hit the top (like a soda does when it's freshly poured), it dripped down. At that point it was producing about a quarter cup every 3 days. On a heavily fed tank, I'd have expected more, but at least it was something. I'm saving my pennies for a new skimmer during all this, since this "guy" won't refund me, then it was going in the trash (I wouldn't even pawn it off on somebody at this point).

Finally, insult to injury, I was cleaning it out 3 days ago, and the fitting (which is glued in) snapped. I barely put any pressure to it putting the pump back on the skimmer, and it just snapped. This gives me a theory. I believe the fitting was already cracked, there's no way that fitting would break that easily. If it was already cracked, it may have been sucking air, which would have put too much air into the skimmer, and not enough water pressure to push the bubbles up the neck. My putting it back together gave it the extra oomph it needed to finish the break (again, just a theory, but I think a sound one). Worst part is, it's not repairable without redrilling the skimmer for a new bulkhead.

Long story short, here's the skinny:
Not happy with the quality.
Not happy with the customer service.


This is a forum for us to talk about reefkeeping, and the products that are associated with it. I've posted some good threads, and a few bad ones. I tried to include a few positive points about this skimmer. I just don't want anyone else having problems, or at least go into it with your eyes open.

I hate posting these kind of reports, but I hate even more when someone won't stand behind their product, or take advantage of someone with dollar bills in their hand.

[Stugots]

All you can do is your part! and I think you are doing a great job! I think more people should!
sorry for your luck!

[moondoggy4]

Sorry to hear about the problems with the skimmer. They still won't honor there product? you cannot send them back the skimmer and get a refund. There are lots of retailers selling these skimmers are you dealing with a Chinese company?

[lkc]

You got a lemmon, pure and simple. Now, they won't let you exchange it for a new one? I would ask about that. I have a NAC6 and it's really a workhorse.

[Ludwigia73]

Nope, I'm done. I didn't try after the fitting broke. I won't try. The service left a really bad taste in my mouth, and I don't continue to support those types of companies.

Lkc, I'm glad to hear you got a good one, I actually researched them a little bit, and the skimmer seemed to be a stand up product (at least the brand)... Just didn't see any bad reviews on customer service. Without badmouthing any further, it seems there is SOMEONE that has a bad experience at least once with every brand name, seems like it was just my turn. I'm a guy who's had a seaclone, and while it worked okay out of the box, was happy with it after the mods. I almost wish I'd bought one of those. It worked better before the mods. I had a via aqua multiskimmer deluxe, and it was a royal piece of crapola. I can't believe they're even still selling them. Again, I think it was a great piece of engineering, but it needed a bit more research and development before hitting the shelves. Because of that skimmer, I'll never buy a commodity axis product again. Unfortunately, I'm lumping this skimmer in with that one as far as experiences go. The seaclone was a good experience, believe it or not. I also had the Octopus 100h, and I really liked it. Should have stuck with that one. I sold it before I got this tank, figuring on starting out with all new hardware.

Lesson learned, and I agree with the lemon. Unfortunately, a retailer needs to know that lemons happen, and deal with it when it does. Didn't happen in this case. I only wish the darn thing was repairable, and I'm really handy... It would just take way too much effort to get rid of the hole that's there, only to put a bunch of time into it, not quite knowing if it'll work right in the end.

[SteveK1979]

Bubblemagus.com does not exist, did they ship from China?

[HiImSean]

i've heard before about the pump breaking off on another forum. i forget which vendor he went through but they exchanged for a new one. they also said that back in december they came out with an updated version with a different connection method for the pump to skimmer body

[Soymilk]

www.Bubble-magus.com is the official website but they DO NOT sell their products online. It is sold thru distributors. Are you sure you got it from them or a retailer?

Post a link of the actual place you got it from.

The closest I could find was www.bubblemagusskimmers.com

[Ludwigia73]

Yeah soy, sorry... I thought it was straight from BM (Hmmm, funny freudian slip on the initials?) LOL! Listen guys, I'm not really here to flame, and from minute one I was mistreated, so I'm not looking to replace it, I'm no longer looking for justice. It's going in the trash. I just wanted to post my experience online.

By the way, I hate just trashing someone, being in retail myself and all (kindof, equipment rental). I deal with Petsolutions, Reefgeek, InnovativeLights, and a few others, and all are great companies. This will be my last post in this thread. Take care, and remember to keep the water IN the aquarium!!!