How to define a good skimmer?

[chanbi]

I am planning to get a new skimmer and as i'm quite concern on power consumption, so not eyeing the beckett skimmer.

The first question that i have is always how to define a good skimmer? I have seen many reviews or comments about skimmer that purely based on skim-mate. The typical comment is "This skimmer can produce very thick kopi-O"! But is that good enough? Personally i thought that is kind of expected from any good reputated skimmer but really how to differentiate them (performance)? Is there any review out there that cover such as how much thick "kopi-O" from a quantity standpoint (within a fixed time frame, eg: 300ml within 48hrs and of course has to be from the same tank?)? I thought this will be more representative? Just wondering...

[ah^siao]

how big is your tank? then perhaps reefers can recommend wad type of skimmers for your tank?

[Marineman]

how to define a good skimmer?

The smaller the bubbles the better the quality of the skimmer as a rule of thumb.

[Achilles Tang]

Marineman, that is without doubt ONE of the many things that make a skimmer great.

A IDEAL skimmer should basically produce a LOT of foam of good quality (fine tiny bubbles), have a fat and tall chamber ideally (for longer contact time), be easy to maintain, and most importantly, have a high turnover of water to skim out organics before they cause a negative effect on a tank and be energy efficient.

The beckett skimmer fits all the above EXCEPT it is not energy efficient as it uses brute force instead to accomplish the production of good foam.

Quality finishings and pricing is something to look out for too.

[KingFish]

Ease of maintenance

Scalability (option to upgrade)

Just 2 for the moment, you guys have to look at other aspects.

[Maxima]

Go look around and u see that needle wheel, down draft or Venturi & Beckett will produce different result base on different design. Look around before you buy anything, second thing to watch out is the design, not just because it's a Venturi or Beckett or needle wheel. Some design just don't work as well + proper tuning.

Max

[chanbi]

All, thanks for your inputs..

I am actually eyeing the deltec APF600. Saw some pretty good reviews on it and the size is right (not much space in the cabinet). But just wonder will a EV180 or H&S do a better job?

[Achilles Tang]

Chanbi... woah... Deltecs will cost an arm and a leg comparatively to any other brand. Good build though! If you have the $$$, go for it!

The best needlewheels would be the H&S, Schuran and Deltecs. Performance-wise, they should be pretty close to each other. Then you have to look at other factors like size, ease of maintenance, build quality, power consumption, pump reliability (some people hate the Aquabee pumps) and of course pricing.

There is a new skimmer coming out by one of the exclusive product range that Bio-Ocean Technix carries that we may bring in due time coz it promises to blow the socks off even a beckett skimmer but yet doing away with the energy inefficiency!!

How it accomplishes this is because it uses a less-energy consuming but extremely powerful pump and it has been modified to produce a lot more foam than a beckett skimmer!! It certainly does have an extremely interesting design and I can't wait to see it in motion!

But I hear that its going to be very expensive! You heard it from SRC first!

[blueheaven]

what's the name?

[chanbi]

AT, dun keep us in suspend! Can PM me more infor? I am hoping to do it right the first time for this new setup..

[Achilles Tang]

Sorry guys... I spilled the beans too quickly... info won't come out officially until a month or so later.

[lightningstrike]

[IanJ]

Schuran are venturi and not needle wheel, build quality is first class. Aquamedic also produce good needle wheel types.

In UK , its always between Deltec and Aquamedic, some circles say that the Aquamedic produces a more "ideal" bubble size.

Both are good, the Deltec way too expensive here.

[Eric]

Marineman, that is without doubt ONE of the many things that make a skimmer great.

A IDEAL skimmer should basically produce a LOT of foam of good quality (fine tiny bubbles), have a fat and tall chamber ideally (for longer contact time), be easy to maintain, and most importantly, have a high turnover of water to skim out organics before they cause a negative effect on a tank and be energy efficient.

The beckett skimmer fits all the above EXCEPT it is not energy efficient as it uses brute force instead to accomplish the production of good foam.

Quality finishings and pricing is something to look out for too.

Actually its not true regarding the high turnover rate according to Shane Graber skimmer studies.

1. Water Flow Rate Through the Skimmer:

For optimum skimming using a counter current design (or actually any other design for that matter), the water in your tank should not flow through the skimmer any more than two times per day. For venturi's, downdraft's, and beckett's, this requirement is almost a virtual impossibility as the pumps need to pump the huge amounts of water to yield a sufficient quantity of air to skim. This may seem strange and even shocking to many people as they are used to the "Tim Taylor" - type skimmers (more power! Oh Oh OH OH oh!) that push huge volumes of water through a skimmer every hour. Many people believe that to skim more effectively and efficiently, you have to increase the water flow through their skimmer as the air bubbles will contact the air bubbles more times per hour. This is NOT the case. The water running through the skimmer is not the limiting factor when it comes to nutrient export. It's the amount of AIR that contacts each "drop" of water that is the limiting factor to how much a skimmer pulls out of the water column. Some organics require up to 2 full minutes of contact time with air bubbles in a skimmer before they are removed via foam fractioning. Thus the need for a slow wate flow through the skimmer is crutial for proper design and function.

According to Escobal, the following chart should be used to determine the flow rate for water through the skimmer (assuming a 2x per day turnover rate):

Eric

[Eric]

I am planning to get a new skimmer and as i'm quite concern on power consumption, so not eyeing the beckett skimmer.

The first question that i have is always how to define a good skimmer? I have seen many reviews or comments about skimmer that purely based on skim-mate. The typical comment is "This skimmer can produce very thick kopi-O"! But is that good enough? Personally i thought that is kind of expected from any good reputated skimmer but really how to differentiate them (performance)? Is there any review out there that cover such as how much thick "kopi-O" from a quantity standpoint (within a fixed time frame, eg: 300ml within 48hrs and of course has to be from the same tank?)? I thought this will be more representative? Just wondering...

Below is a link if you want to know more abt skimmer.....

http://www.hawkfish.org/snailman/skimmer101.htm

In progress of DIYing a Euroreef needlewheel type of skimmer, if its good.......the cost is barely $50......but of cos looks aside(anyway its sitting on the sump inside the cabinet, so dont really care abt looks.

Btw, what's your water volume inclusive of the tank & sump?

Eric