Air suction analysis

[AlfaRomeo]

Roidan, you might be an expert with calculating/knowing this kinda thing but there might be ppl out there like me who dunt know nuts.. Just wanna mentioned that air suction is not THE most important factor but its rather a combination of factors which makes the difference between a good skimmer and an excellent skimmer(which includes air injection rate obviously) - Up to a certain price point, then it gets ridiculous for the price premium (initial cost or running cost) when compared to the relative increase in performance.

[roidan]

aiyo.....

of coz air suction is not everything or the most important factor lah...and i dun think i mentioned in any part of the thread that the one that sucks more air is the best skimmer....but i just mention that coincidentally the higher models of skimmers be it the deltec line or bbk line sucks more air than their lower models...

aiyo..please note this thread is not to compare which is the best absolute skimmer...but just to compare which skimmer sucks in more air...duh

your 902 may not suck as much as the rest on the list...but i am sure there are other factors that make it work like a dream for you...

relax lah abang

[AlfaRomeo]

Bro, nuthing to do with the skimmer that I am using now lah. Nobody needs a skimmer that can skim a few hundred gallons when our reefs are not even close to that size mah..

Just wanna state my opinions for your comments/observations mah... Issit an open thread for all comments or just certain desirable comments?

[roidan]

anyway, for comparison, some bros feel price vs price is more important to them, wattage vs wattage more important , or bubble size vs bubble size ..so some more technically inclined bros can contribute by setting up dedicated comparison threads similar to this...

and i have to say again...this is a comparison of ABSOLUTE volume of air suction of the skimmers...what the skimmers do with the air sucked in is another category...whether the air bubbles wanna look pretty dancing inside the skimmer doing nothing or the air bubbles are working hard to remove organics are of a different comparison category

let's keep this thread to the discussion of absolute air suction.....i would suggest those who want to compare other factors to start similar threads...because if end up lumping all the factors to compare, the comparisons will draw no conclusion as many reefers have tried in other international forums

[roidan]

keeping to the topic discussion,

i wonder why the BBK 300 specs states that it draws 2000l/hr of air when this picture taken from their website shows BBK 300 drawing 2400l/hr of air

maybe 2400l/hr is fully open and 2000l/hr is operating flow?

in any case, it's better for them to underrate their flow than to overrate the flow and end up with disappointing customers...

[Achilles Tang]

I like to throw something in for further thought...

Would it be cheaper & effective to just simply get an air pump/air compressor to inject in 'more' air ie. turbocharging?

[roidan]

forced air induction....idea hor

anyway, using an aircompressor to force air via ceramic air-plates may produce bubbles that may rival other methods and yet able to sustain high ABSOLUTE air introduction into the skimmer chamber..

just make as tall a skimmer as a reefer would accept for his placement application, put the air-plate at the base and then feed the skimmer with a water rate as desired....back to the basics of skimming....and i seriously think it would work as well if not better than some of our current skimmers coz we are probably too obsessed over gadgets like beckett/mazzei injectors and needlewheels when ultimately it just boils down to the interaction of the air and water mixture

that reminds me of another topic for skimmer discussion

Optimum Air-Water mixture....just like air-fuel mixture in our cars...ok..we shall leave this optimum level for discussion in another thread also...

[Achilles Tang]

Too much air too fast and you'll have an instantly empty skimmer with no water inside!

[alanseah]

keeping to the topic discussion,

i wonder why the BBK 300 specs states that it draws 2000l/hr of air when this picture taken from their website shows BBK 300 drawing 2400l/hr of air

maybe 2400l/hr is fully open and 2000l/hr is operating flow?

in any case, it's better for them to underrate their flow than to overrate the flow and end up with disappointing customers...

It show 2400 because that is the pure amount of air that BK 300 will suck.. without the air silenter.

[roidan]

so fully open BBK300 is 2400 l/hr, and fully open with silencer is 2000 l/hr...

in other words the BBKs air flow ratings on their price specs list (as well as the air flow rate that i collated for BBKs) are at fully open with silencer....

oic..thanks for the input alanseah...

which means my hunch earlier about manufacturers' air flow ratings are at full open should be correct...since different users will adjust differently and end up with different air flow but at fully open, all identical skimmer models should have the same airflow with little discrepancy

[Achilles Tang]

Hmmm... another food for thought...(or is it thought for food? ) so at the end of the day, when we all tune our skimmers to get the best bubble size and intensity, would the 'maximum' airflow be all that essential to know?

[roidan]

personally i think operating flow is more important...especially if you have a flowmeter and notice the air flow is falling, means it's time to check if the injector is choked or the needlewheel pump needs some cleaning from debris in the pump....say at one's favourite setting is 1500 l/hr from the skimmer's max air flow of 2000l/hr....and one day u find it drops to 1000 l/hr....means it's time for skimmer maintenance..that's my personal view on how we can use the flowmeter on a regular basis.

as for max air flow as given by manufacturers like BBK, i think it's just a stats figure of the potential of the skimmer....make it easier to understand, it's like a car manufacturer states the max speed of a ferrari or a honda. we do not drive at max speed probably during the whole useful life of the car, but yet this stat of max speed is given to us.

some people like to tune for more airflow and some people like to tune for less airflow to get the type of bubble size and density that they like...just like some drives a ferrari at race tracks over 200km/h and some drives a ferrari at 90km/h on our highway...it's personal preference. and which is why i said that manufacturers' numbers logically are published at their max rating to avoid confusion and discrepancy.

more often than not, bubble size is improved at the expense of bubble density and vice versa....as such, it's hard to determine what is the best bubble size and density otherwise there wouldn't be any need for air valves and manufacturers can just prefix an air nozzle of specific hole size for air suction. The manufacturers probably can suggest a starting point where all users can start from and they will deviate in both directions from this recommended points based on their own usage and judgement..

[weileong]

Here's the air flow for my deltec AP850

7 l/min = 420 l/h.

This is the operational flow.