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10/20/2019, 04:00 PM | #3026 | |
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That said, the Deluxe wet skims as well as it dry skims as it has 2 separate adjustments for the internal levels. The telescope tube and the wedge pipe where as the SM only uses the wedge pipe. The body design is also slightly different which allows for better dry skimming. Both are made of very heavy acrylic and have a hand welded body. They are both our flagship lines though the Deluxe deals with lighter loads a bit better due to the wedge/telescope tube combo and body design. SM on the flip side is a GREAT skimmer but does prefer heavier loads and is best suited for wet skimming. In your case, you could just run it wetter if you want to strip more dissolved organics. That said, with your load, the Deluxe 500 would be way overkill and may perform inconsistently which would be counter productive for you. If anything, a Deluxe 300 would be a better choice unless you really planned on increasing your load substantially. Hope that helps!
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10/20/2019, 08:42 PM | #3027 |
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Slief,
I would like to add more fish in my tank but I do not feel confident in adding more now since NO3 keeps on rising with my current load, fish keep on growing in a big tank and I have to feed them. I would not like to increase more and more my carbon dose. My tangs are extra large I have ten and all are between (10-12 ") and they mega pop ... I feed 3 sheets on nory per day and I can see a lot of nori particles in water column from the heavy pull that tangs do to the nori clip. I also feed frozen everyday. My system is mainly for acropora. I would like feed heavy and heavy export I though that the Deluxe skimmers were build mainly for dry skimming? do they perform consitently for wet skimming? they do not have the RD3 pump with the controller correct? do the pumps in the deluxe are always at same speed? the spec of the 500 deluxe says for aquariums from 2200 to 5000liters, so I guess I could not go wrong with it and it would be help me as I load my system with more fish? I do not want to be using filter socks or any other export mechanism and rely purely in my oversized skimmer, this is why I insist waiting for your response best regards
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10/20/2019, 09:17 PM | #3028 | |
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Yes, they will wet skim just fine. You just have to fine tune using the wedge pipe to raise the level inside the skimmer so you are skimming wetter. And yes, that is the conservative range but you’d want at least 250” or so worth of fish to keep that skimmer happy. Granted girth of larger tangs and feedings does play a roll so you’d likely be fine and have good consistency. And a skimmer alone is NOT necessarily going to keep your nitrates down. As I said above, the most the best skimmer will reduce dissolved organics is about 30% so that leaves up to 70% dissolved organics left in your system. So you might still need some other form of nutrient reduction whether it’s socks, refugium, turf scrubber, carbon dosing, nitrate reactor whether it’s biopellets or a sulfer reactor etc. That said, some nitrates are needed even for SPS as corals need nutrients and consume dissolved organics. The Deluxe 500 is a stupidly great skimmer as long as you have enough load to maintain a consistent foam head. And that skimmer could handle however many fish you could reasonably put in your display. And your load as it sits now is a bit light relative to that skimmer size and what it can handle. It’s a massive beast of a skimmer and will make your existing skimmer look like a dwarf.
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10/20/2019, 09:29 PM | #3029 | |
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https://aquadriverusa.com/products/a...otein-skimmers
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10/21/2019, 06:40 AM | #3030 |
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Thanks Slief,
if you were to choose between a SM300 and a deluxe 400 that are rated for the same aquarium size, which one would you choose and why? In addition, I have never had an external skimmer, not sure if they leak easily and it is better to always go for internal skimmers?
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10/21/2019, 07:20 AM | #3031 | |
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10/21/2019, 07:48 AM | #3032 |
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Slief,
Why would you choose the deluxe 400 vr the SM300?? what is the benefit of one vr the other one? price is almost double in the deluxe and it is rated for same aquarium size, so that is a contra of the deluxe. In addition, the deluxe has two pumps and would be more pumps to clean every 45 days SM has only one pump and is a RD3 with the controller. I can not see any benefit in the deluxe 400 vr the other one.
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10/21/2019, 08:08 AM | #3033 | |
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The AC pumps should be cleaned every 5 to 6 months. No need to clean them every 45 days and those pumps are proven to last 10+ years so there is nothing wrong with those pumps. They are set it and forget it other then initial tuning via the adjustable nozzles.
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10/21/2019, 09:04 AM | #3034 |
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Thanks a lot for your answers Slief,
one last question: I believe that the recommended cleaning skedule for the SM250 pump is monthly is not it?? why is the cleaning time of the deluxe pumps different ( 6 months)?
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10/21/2019, 09:43 AM | #3035 | |
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10/22/2019, 09:50 PM | #3036 |
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Slief,
the usual maintenance I do for my BK250 is cleaning the pump and the venturi, but I have never cleaned the resonator. is it necessary to clean it as often as the pump? How do you clean it and what do you inspect? how do you disamble it? will not cleaning the resonator lower the performance of the skimmer? Thanks
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10/23/2019, 12:06 AM | #3037 | |
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11/01/2019, 07:12 PM | #3038 |
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Slief,
I got the SM 300, can you tell me the sweet spot for the RD DC pump? Thanks
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11/01/2019, 08:35 PM | #3039 | |
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11/02/2019, 09:48 AM | #3040 |
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Thanks Slief,
the recommendation of running sump level higher is to have more water to air mixture if needed? is the RD3 pump in the SM 300 exactly the same one used for the SM 250? I run my SM 250 at 38W, not sure if increasing flow would help skim more in that one? Thanks again
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11/02/2019, 08:44 PM | #3041 | |
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The pump speed has to do with contact time and sufficient flow for the size of the body. The 300 comes with a 60w pump. If your SM250 has the white pump cover/volute, then they are the same pump. And increasing flow doesn’t result in skimming more. Increasing flow results in less contact time depending on the size of the skimmer which can result in less efficient skimming. Again, as I said above, use the pump speed to get the most dense foam. The range is a guideline but how the skimmer reacts to increased or decreased pump speed has much to do with the amount of dissolved organics. The greater the dissolved organics, the less pump speed you need to maintain a good solid foam head. You are using the pump speed to tune the foam density and the wedge pipe to tune from wet to dry skimming. Best advice I can give you is to experiment with the speed and see how the foam looks. I gave you some guidelines. You want a thick frothy foam that doesn’t have bubbles bursting at the surface. This of course is in an ideal world where the skimmer isn’t oversized for the load. If your skimmer is oversized for your load, tuning the skimmer and getting that thick dense foam will be more difficult since there won’t be enough dissolved organics in the water to keep the neck filled with dense foam. Thus you’d have to run it wetter by using the wedge pipe and sump level to raise the line where bubbles turn to foam (break line) up higher in the body or even up into the neck. Remember, it’s the dissolved organics/proteins that allow the bubbles to bind together into the chains that form foam. In the absence of enough DOC’s, you get bubbles that rise quickly and burst at the surface. If there is plenty of dissolved organics, then you make thick foam and can run the break line lower below the point where the cup attaches to the body. This is also why I am so adamant about not oversizing BK’s. They are very conservatively rated and the SM’s in particular require a heavy load relative to their tank size rating. They are big skimmers with large volume necks that require plenty of DOC’s to keep the necks consistently filled with foam in order to maintain consistent skimmate production. Thus, erring on the side of caution when it comes to sizing is always best. Without knowing your load or the next person reading this thread, I figured I’d point that out.
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11/03/2019, 12:00 PM | #3042 |
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Thanks for your thorough explanation, it helps a lot in understanding the skimmer!
I also thought that the height of the water in sump also impacts the head pressure over the pump, so a higher level of water would cause the pump to pull and inject less air to the skimmer?? but I understand that this would not matter and what we are trying is to have a higher level of water in the body of the skimmer to avoid closing the wedge pipe to much, correct? would it be to much if I have a level of 11 inches in sump? 11" favors me because I need a additional sump to put the 2nd skimmer and I want the new sump to overflow by gravity to my main sump and with this measures everything fits under my stand. please let me know what you think
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11/03/2019, 12:14 PM | #3043 | |
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The additional sump depth doesn’t really impact the head pressure on the pump. It’s the breakline level inside the skimmer that would impact head pressure on the pump but that isn’t even a concern as it really doesn’t impact the pumps since you tuning the foam density via the pump speed anyway. In all honesty, I would ditch the 2nd skimmer. It’s not a good idea and it IS going to impact the performance and consistency of the 300 & the 250 resulting in inconsistent performance. I run an SM250 on a 700 gallon system (500 gallon main display) with over 70 fish in it. Several of which are around 10”+ fish including a very large vlamingi and a very large unicorn tank. My SM250 could handle a LOT more load. In fact, I wouldn’t even run a SM300 on my system because it likely wouldn’t be consistent with my load and would be somewhat difficult to tune given the SM300 needs a substantial amount of DOC’s to keep it well fed and consistent. It’s more suited for a 700-1000 gallon display with a truly heavy load than it is a 500 gallon display with a reasonably heavy load. And 2 skimmers would never run consistently on my system with one being my SM250 nor do I think it will on yours. The issue is that the lack of skimming consistency results in elevated dissolved organics since the skimmers need those DOC’s to build a good foam head to fill the neck. If you have too much skimmer, those DOC’s will be removed quickly and the skimmers will idle along while the DOC’s build back up in the system until there is enough DOC’s to fill the neck with foam again at which point the skimmer (s) will skim well for again for a day or two and then stop producing. And then the cycle repeats itself. It will make it nearly impossible to tune either of your skimmers let alone maintain consistently low DOC’s. You are far better off with one properly sized skimmer that consistently works hard than having too much skimmer that hardly has to work and is inconsistent as a result. It WILL result in inconsistently low DOC’s instead of consistently low DOC’s. And due to these skimmers being truly conservatively rated, you can easily end up with too much skimmer resulting in perpetual tuning issues and inconsistent performance. Trust me, I’ve been down this path before with other customers. I’ve had oversized skimmers on my system before and fought them tooth and nail and dealt with inconsistent performance and overflows as a result of having to run them too wet to keep the consistent. 30+ years in this hobby and several years in the industry has taught me a lot. One properly sized skimmer will serve you and your system far better and result in lower overall DOC’s since you will never remove more than 30% of the DOC’s whether you run 1 properly sized high performance skimmer like the BK or 10 of them. In fact, the single skimmer that is well tuned will maintain better water quality than 2 or even 10 skimmers for the reasons I mentioned above. This is coming from decades of experience. I promise you, less is more in your case!
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11/03/2019, 01:51 PM | #3044 |
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Thanks Slief,
I want to experiment with the oversized skimming power of Berlin method. It sounds like a great concept and people have had success with oversized skimmers. I refuse to believe that you can not do it with BK skimmers. I feed 3 sheets of nori daily in addition to frozen food and my big tangs pull the nori sheet so hard that massive amounts of nori flakes get into water column, some get eaten by fish but most do not. I know it is a mayor contaminant. I need extra skimmimg power to help me pull as much as possible before they break down. I will let you know how it goes once I have them running. Thanks a lot
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11/05/2019, 07:33 AM | #3045 |
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Slief,
I have an additional question. when you close the wedge pipe to much, would you be forcing the pump of the skimmer? I have been working with my SM250 with the wedge pipe a closed more than 50% but skimmer works very well and it is very consistent, the sump level is 20 cms as recommended by manufacturer, but with your explanation I am wondering if it would be better to higher the sump level a bit and open more the wedge pipe?? or I better keep it as it is since it is working fine? please let me know what you think thanks
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11/05/2019, 09:59 PM | #3046 | |
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11/06/2019, 12:43 PM | #3047 |
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Thanks a lot Slief
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11/11/2019, 09:34 PM | #3048 |
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Hello Slief,
can you confirm if the pump of the SM300 has only 3 screws? the skimmer I ordered only came with only 3 and the white block of the pump has no hole for the 4th screw?? it doe snot seem right with only 3 srews to tighten the motor block the SM 250 I have has 4 screws, this is why I ask. please see the photos of the SM 300 3 screws.jpg white block.jpg waiting for your reply
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11/11/2019, 11:51 PM | #3049 | |
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Director Customer Support Royal Exclusiv USA For All Royal Exclusiv & Bubble King questions please refer to our Sponsor forum: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/fo...play.php?f=745 Current Tank Info: 480G display mixed reef, 90G sump, 90G refugium, 60G display refugium. Check out my build thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1783476 Last edited by slief; 11/12/2019 at 12:16 AM. |
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11/12/2019, 06:21 AM | #3050 |
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Thank you Slief,
the new SM300 did NOT come with the 90 degree elbow that connects to the red hose for ozone in the fitting that is near the wedge pipe?? SM 250 has this elbow that I am talking about. Thanks
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