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02/01/2016, 08:23 AM | #101 | |
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Regarding nitrates, the skimmer is only one part of the equation. The skimmer removes dissolved solids from the water but it doesn't remove nitrates. Removing dissolved solids will help reduce nitrates but nitrate removal is a function of bacteria in the tank. Things like sufficient live rock and or sand that provide sufficient bacterial surfaces play the biggest role in nitrate reduction. Flow in the tank also plays a big role as it will help prevent waste from settling so that it can be sent into the overflow for the skimmer to remove but again, the function of nitrate reduction is comes down to bacteria in your tank and the skimmer can only reduce some of the dissolved organics that contribute to nitrates. . When you press the button on the controller, the first number you see is percentage of power. Then it reverts to the actual wattage for that power percentage. As for your wedge pipe being closed that much, if you raise your sump level, that will allow you to open your wedge pipe more. You load is VERY low for this skimmer and because of that, you will have to run the skimmer in deeper water or with the wedge pipe more closed but it sounds like you wedge pipe is more closed that it should be. While that won't impact the foam head, it will impact the balance inside the skimmer and could contribute to surging where the water goes up and down inside the skimmer. 36 watts is pretty high for that skimmer. I normally suggest 27-30 watts for an appropriately stocked tank. You tank is lightly stocked for this skimmer so 30 watts would likely result in better performance.. If you do choose to lower the power, you will need the skimmer in deeper water meaning you will need to raise the sump level or lower the skimmer if it's on a stand. The reduced power will increase your contact time and decrease the bubble size which will help it remove more dissolved organics more efficiently. If you read through the setup and tuning thread, I discuss a lot about the setup and tuning of these skimmers and it will give you a good idea of how to go about fine tuning yours. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2546139
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02/01/2016, 10:26 AM | #102 |
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Hi,
thanks for the detailed reply. I've lowered in the sump now by a couple of inches and will give it a bit of time to adjust. Now, when I open the wedge pipe fully the water inside the skimmer is about halfway up the collection cup. The bubbles look quite wet at the moment and there's no foam head forming, but I'll check it in a couple of hours and see what it's like. |
02/01/2016, 11:19 AM | #103 | |
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It will take some time to settle in. That said, I wouldn't have dropped your sump level. That is counter productive as the lower power setting will decrease the water level inside the skimmer. From the sounds of it, you didn't lower the pump level? The 36 watts you are running will result is fast bursting bubbles that will generate very wet skim and not very efficient organic removal. As I said in my original post, I would decrease the pump speed to 30 watts and you will likely need this skimmer in deeper water and by lowering your sump level, you made it shallower. As such, I would raise the water back to 8" or even 8.5", lower your pump speed to 30 watts. I would also suggest opening the wedge pipe so that it's wide open and give it several or more hours to settle in. Then check where the water/bubbles start to turn to foam. If that transition is just above the base of the neck, let it run for a bit and see how it produces. If it's not, close the wedge pipe some but try not to exceed half closed. If you need to go more than 1/2 closed on the wedge pipe, open the wedge up all the way and raise your sump 1/4" and let it settle back in to see where the level is in the neck. If the foam level is still low, close the wedge pipe some to see if you can get it up into the neck without having to go past 1/2 closed on the wedge. Continue to do this until you find the right sump level. You have a very low load for this skimmer so you will need a higher sump level that others but the slower pump speed will result in much better foam which is what you are after.
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02/01/2016, 12:27 PM | #104 |
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Sorry, I didn't write that very well. What I meant was that I've lowered the skimmer in the sump, so that its' sitting deeper in the water, it's about 9.5inches deep now whereas it was 8 inches before.
I also dialled the pump down to 30w and opened the wedge pipe about 7/8ths open. Since I did this, which was about 3 hours ago, the dense foam head has returned and foam is just trickling slowly over the top of the skimmer neck into the collection cup. I realise I've changed a lot of things all at once, but I think I've now got it close to how you suggested and it seems to be working. |
02/01/2016, 12:38 PM | #105 | |
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Gotcha. Then it sounds like you are on the right track. You may end up needing to lower the sump level a bit but keep an eye on it. If you do need to lower it, I would do so in 1/4" increments but it sounds like you are really close now. In fact, if it turns out you need to lower it, you might bump the pump speed down 1 increment. That will thicken the foam a bit more and increase contact time while also lowering the level slightly in your tank. My suggestion is that you experiment a bit with that. You really won't need to go over 30 watts but might find a slightly lower speed will result in even better foam consistency. Either way, I suspect you will be really pleased with the results from this change. Let it ride as it is for the next several to 24 hours and report back. That said, it might be best to post the update in the other thread for that so we can keep this thread more about final settings. I will probably ask moderators to move these posts into the other thread any ways that way we have one thread that people can refer to for what is working for people and another thread covering how to setup and trouble shoot. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2546139
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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 |
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02/01/2016, 12:42 PM | #106 |
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Ok, will do and thanks for your help. Feel free to move this to the other thread, I wasn't aware that one existed until you mentioned it.
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02/19/2016, 09:31 PM | #107 |
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Bubble King mini 200 slim with RD3
I have a Bubble King Mini 200 slim with RD3 pump running on my 150 gallon mixed its in my sump which is a trigger system emerald 39 depth is set to 9" and pump runs around 38. I think I've had it for maybe a year or so love the skimmer its really awesome i love it even more because i use to travel allot for work so i really haven't sat down and dialed it correctly like i have the last few weeks cause i finally got a job where im home now and i gotta say im even more impressed!! The pic shows maybe a day, day and half collection and i can see the chunks its pulling out with the foam actually forming down the neck into the collection cup, before i really didn't get that unless when i cleaned it and forgot to seat the neck back down properly. So i look forward to weeks collection and see if it smells like death like it usually does when i dump the cup.
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03/01/2016, 09:15 AM | #108 |
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Ac BK SM250 running 130G sps dominated tank with 2 small tangs, 2 anthias , queen angel and 3 nemos. Also 5 firefish and one borbo . Skimmer sit at 8" water level. Edge pipe closed 60%.
Should I pull it down 8.5" ? Thats 5 days worth of skimmate. Thanks Hendrik Last edited by reefid; 03/01/2016 at 09:23 AM. |
03/01/2016, 10:43 AM | #109 | |
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This skimmer is very large for your system size, sounds like you have a mid size bio load. I'd bring it down to 8.5", run around 37w on the pump, and see if this will help., You're running the skimmer pretty dry, and may benefit from running it a little more wet.
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03/01/2016, 10:57 AM | #110 | |
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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 |
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03/02/2016, 10:19 AM | #111 |
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Thank you Slief and ReefClomMIA,
I will to increase the water level. Yes Slief was right mine is normal red dragon pump. Anyway just realised this thread designed for ppl to post their skimmer. Will post in the tuning thread Thanks Hendrik |
03/02/2016, 12:54 PM | #112 |
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I've had my skimmer setup on PVC pipes, to raise it to the proper water height..
Figured it was time to ditch the PVC pipes! Before: Build this: After:
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03/03/2016, 09:00 AM | #113 |
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That stand is amazing, thanks for sharing.
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03/03/2016, 03:52 PM | #114 | |
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That's funny you mention that. I have my DC250 running at 37w, and I have it in 10" of water, and I have the output closed around 90%. Skimmer doesn't surge, but I tried lowering the skimmer even more, and it didn't matter. I still had to run the pipe closed 90%. Side note. My skimmer works great, and skimms very consistent. Just boggles my mind why the pipe has to be closed so much. |
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03/03/2016, 05:04 PM | #115 | |
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03/03/2016, 05:11 PM | #116 | |
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Yea that's kind of what i had figured. Oh and to be clear, I am in no way complaining. I love my skimmer. I wish I had done a little more research, I always assumed go big or go home when it comes to skimmers and what they are rated for. My display is 250g, and I have maybe 20 fish. (And they are smaller fish). I think I would have been better off going with a bubble magus....hahaha. Gotcha. No but seriously, I think a DC/SM 200 would have fit my tank better. And I'm glad I posted this, hopefully someone reading this won't make the same mistake. Bigger is not better with Bubble King. These skimmers are no joke. I dose potassium nitrate weekly to try to keep my nitrates at 1ppm. Quick snap of tank and skimmer |
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03/03/2016, 05:34 PM | #117 |
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Good god.. Your tank is gorgeous and your skimmer looks like it's performing amazingly well given the size of your display. I wonder if your dosing has something to do with the skimmers performance given the light load??? I wouldn't expect that good of foam consistently given the skimmer size in relation to your load. I run mine wet so I don't see that kind of foam making it's way into the cup despite my heavier load. Then again, the Supermarin's are really great for wet skimming anyway. I just took these now. This is about 5 days of worth of skimmate. Running at 37 watts and 8.5". Wedge pipe is just shy of 1/4 closed but again, this is the SM250 on a much heavier load.
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03/03/2016, 05:35 PM | #118 |
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Bubble King Skimmer Users. Post your pictures and skimmer setup here!
That's when I first set it up. I no longer get buildup on the neck area |
03/03/2016, 05:36 PM | #119 | |
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Looks tasty lol My skimmer doesn't consistently foam like that. It comes in waves. Some times it foams like crazy, and sometimes it just cruises by not foaming much. I consider that consistent with my bioload |
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03/03/2016, 05:39 PM | #120 | |
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That makes sense and is in line with what I would expect under the circumstances. Yea, mine looks tasty all right.. I drain it every week or so into a 1.5 gallon jug. I dump the jug down the toilet when it gets full. That is the one chore I don't like because as you might expect, it's pretty rancid smelling.
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03/03/2016, 05:51 PM | #121 | |
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In the past year and half, I have NEVER manually drained my collection cup. I have a dosing pump hooked up to my collection cup drain line. It goes out the side of my house, and into a drain on my side yard. I push a button on my apex, and out goes the fish poo. I still pull the collection cup and clean it once every couple months. This has made my life so much easier. Never worry about my skimmer stinking up my house. Next to my ATO, this is my second must have fish tank gadget. |
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03/03/2016, 05:57 PM | #122 | |
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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 |
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12/15/2016, 12:58 AM | #123 |
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This is one week on an SM250!
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12/15/2016, 09:56 AM | #124 |
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Good grief!! That is a LOT of skimmate! You must have had a lot of DOC's in your water. How long have you been running that skimmer?
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12/15/2016, 07:12 PM | #125 |
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my modest setup on a reefer 350....just broke down skimmer and cleaned.
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