AquaCare ACF1000V review

[roidan]

Batman sees the bat symbol in the skies of Gotham city activated by a fellow Justice League brother and responds to the request of........

the review of AquaCare skimmer.....

ACF 1000V

[roidan]

Height of skimmer: 61cm

Total height you need in order to remove collection cup: 63cm

Footprint: 17cm x 33cm

more dimension and details here...

http://www.aquacare.de/produkte/acf/e1acfv_n.htm

[DeepBlue]

You are the best .... I trust this will be an exciting review!

This skimmer is german made, I have tested it once....impressive for a venturi skimmer...hope to learn more about other skimmers ard ...not just the standard macro and weipro venturi skimmers we are farmiliar with

for efficiency...totally no idea....need to see what Roidan can find out from this little test. Trust it will be a very fair assessment.

Thanks for answering the request by a local reefer here. This is what the forum is about.

[roidan]

yeap....

objective review will be in order....

good will be said....bad will be said as well.....

First impressions:

Well built, none of those "weipro or macro" type of feel.....in layman words, feels solid and strong.

Fittings are quality VDL pvc fittings and pipes.

But the "clear" pvc used for the collection cup and skimmer body cheapens the design as cast/extruded acrylic would have provided a much clearer view of the reaction chamber and adds *gloss* to the design.

Thus even before u fire up the skimmer, you already have to face a "cloudy" looking reaction chamber.

Thus in terms of build quality and aesthetics, it is ahead of weipro/macro equivalents but the use of *clear* pvc (which actually is more cloudy than clear ) is a niggling point to me personally.

[roidan]

Will be running the review in both outsump and insump sections....

as can be seen from the manufacturer's website....this picture shows the pump mounted just on the mounting plate of the skimmer directly under the venturi, this is their suggested insump configuration.

What i do for running the skimmer outsump is to put a pump in my sump and then use hose to deliver water to the venturi and then add piping/elbow to the discharge outlet of the skimmer to return water to my sump....

I shall start with outsump operation. Pumps used are Eheim 1262 (3600l/hr at 0 head) and Sicce Extrema (2500l/hr at 0 head)

[roidan]

Outsump configuration with Eheim 1262:

Eheim 1262 placed in sump....delivering water to the skimmer via long hose....

Air reading: 4l/min = 240l/hr

Bubble density reasonably good but as frozen by the camera, there are still pockets not occupied by bubbles.

[roidan]

a picture of the full chamber.....

the long hose that i use to deliver water from the eheim 1262 to the skimmer is reducing alot of flow especially when at the end of this flow is the skimmer's venturi waiting to restrict the full flow even more...

But when this long hose is changed to much shorter hose later during insump use, you can see the difference in the reaction chamber and air readings.

(this goes to show that even a good pump like eheim 1262 is facing considerable flow loss via pipe/hose length as it is still a non-pressure rated pump)

[DeepBlue]

Impressive...waiting for more details

[roidan]

Outsump configuration with Sicce Extrema:

Air reading: 2l/min = 120l/hr

Bubble density is very bad....again badly aggravated by the use of the long hose.

Conclusion: for outsump use, please minimise the length of hose/pipe used to deliver water to the skimmer.

[roidan]

Pic of bubbles generated at 120l/hr

[roidan]

Insump use:

Here is where there is a great improvement.

airflow: 4l/min = 240l/hr

Using the sicce extrema, it was able to pull in 4l/min of air...similar to what the eheim 1262 could do in the earlier outsump configuration with a long hose.

[DeepBlue]

To me, looks weaker with Extrema(dun have the gadget to test)....wonder with its original spec of eheim 1260, how weak it will be?

Guess this skimmer performs best insump?

[roidan]

Using the eheim 1262 insump, it was able to pull in 6l/min of air...

6l/min = 360l/hr of air

yes, i would agree the skimmer performs best insump with the pump installed as in the manufacturer's picture

[roidan]

very dense bubbles from the eheim 1262 insump.

will conduct a few rounds of testing insump and outsump these few days to confirm the readings again

[roidan]

bubbles from eheim 1262 insump

[roidan]

From the website....

http://www.aquacare.de/produkte/acf/e1acfv_n.htm

The 1000V published airflow is 220l/hr with Eheim 1260

the 2000V published airflow is 400l/hr with Eheim 1262

Recollecting earlier airflow results:

Outsump 'long-hosed' Eheim 1262 = 240l/hr (near published airflow)

Outsump 'long-hosed' Sicce Extrema = 120l/hr (grossly under published airflow)

Insump Eheim 1262= 360l/hr (very much over publish airflow-bordering to next higher model 2000V )

Insump Sicce Extrema= 240l/hr (near published airflow)

Just like they recommend the Eheim 1260 for 1000V insump use, the water flowrate of 1260 is around 2400l/hr....which is very similar to Sicce Extrema's 2500l/hr....thus the 1000V published airflow is 220l/hr is similar to in-sump extrema's 240l/hr of air

Thus, I reckon that irregardless of what pump in watever situation, as long as we hit the manufacturer's recommended airflow rate of about 220l/hr of air, the skimmer should be working as what the manufacturer expects.

In other words, you should use a pump 'as powerful' as the eheim 1260 for insump use that would enable the skimmer to suck in air at 220l/hr. The sicce extrema in this case is a suitable substitute. If you want to use the skimmer outsump and deliver water via long pipe/hoses, you will need a stronger pump than eheim 1260 to overcome the water flow loss and generate a flow at the venturi as strong as the insump 1260 would. In this case, the eheim 1262 via long hose is a good pump for outsump use.

[roidan]

The other way to check if the pump is suitable for the skimmer is to measure by the water pass the venturi/exiting the skimmer....

It is actually 660l/hr for the 1000V and 1300l/hr for the 2000V.

This means that the Eheim 1260 with 2400l/hr water flowrate at 0-head, passes through the venturi/exits the skimmer at only around 660l/hr in order to suck in air at 220l/hr, this shows the great restriction the water flow faces at the venturi.

Similar using the Eheim 1262 with 3600l/hr water flowrate at 0-head, passes through the venturi/exits the skimmer at only around 1300l/hr in order to suck in air at 400l/hr.

[roidan]

Round 2 of testing:

Eheim 1262 insump drawing 6l/min of air (360l/hr), similar results to round 1 insump testing.

[roidan]

But one problem surfaced during this round, foam came too fast up and flooded the cup.....

ie.....thus it's probably better to stick to manufacturer's published air flow of 220l/hr and the 660l/hr water flow.

[roidan]

pic of the bubbles with eheim 1262 insump drawing 360l/hr of air (flooding problems)

[roidan]

Sicce Extrema insump drawing 4l/min of air (240l/hr), similar results to round 1 insump testing.

no flooding problems here.

[roidan]

pic of the bubbles with sicce extrema insump drawing 240l/hr of air (no flooding problems)

This skimmer does not have outlet flow control to raise or lower the level of water in the skimmer for tuning, this means all the manufacturer wants the user to do is to supply the recommended amount of water flow rate for the venturi to induce air suction flow rate of 220l/hr for the recommended performance of this skimmer.

[roidan]

50ml of Bane's Venom.......actually just the skimmate diluted with water from my quattro lah

water in tub (about 35litres at 1.026) before addition of Bane's Venom around undetectable to 0.5ppm of nitrates....tested using salifert.

will measure water nitrate values daily.

[roidan]

after the addition of Bane's Venom....

the skimmer started foaming crazily.....that said, i am impressed with the speed at which this skimmer picked up the foaming almost immediately. At this point, I cannot conclude if it is the virtue of the skimmer or the potency of venom.

but meanwhile, let's just leave it to the skimmer to foam away.

[roidan]

Video clip of the foaming.....

MOV00756.MPG