AquaEuro USA AE Skimmers

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I just got my AE 400 hooked up this past weekend, and I am very impressed with the performance so far. Each pump is only pulling 28 watts, which is a huge improvement from the 420 watts my previous skimmer required!

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jpatrician said:
I just got my AE 400 hooked up this past weekend, and I am very impressed with the performance so far. Each pump is only pulling 28 watts, which is a huge improvement from the 420 watts my previous skimmer required!
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looks like the pics didn't work. Can you give it another try por favor :)
 
I ordered my AquaEuro 135 earlier this week... hopefully it will get here soon..!!! I have heard good things about these skimmers.. I know they are very similar to the octopus skimmers, but a good amount cheaper... hopefully it will hold up to everyone's good comments...

Jester
 
hey guys, having a little trouble with my AE 135, its not producing microbubbles but instead producing huge giant bubbles. Can anyone help me out?
 
moo0o said:
hey guys, having a little trouble with my AE 135, its not producing microbubbles but instead producing huge giant bubbles. Can anyone help me out?
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is it new?
is it in saltwater? or are you cleaning it out in fresh water??

or is this running in your sump?
have you totally checked your pump and air line?
just throwing stuff out there...:)
 
Alright, I've decided to take the plunge, and have ordered the Classic400. It will be going on a 120, so hopefully overkill is my friend. :) Like others here, I'll keep everyone posted. However, this is a new tank setup, and probably won't see water for about a month, so don't hold your breath yet.
 
Sherman, I took the pump down to Mark (skimmerwhisperer) and the Euro Reef parts are direct replacements. The impellers/venturi will attach right on to these pumps. Something to consider since the ER venturi is much better and will slap right on for you :) I'm probably going to try the ER pinwheel and mod my venturi to see what I can get out of it. I would use the ER venturi but it would be much more difficult since my skimmer is being run external and the venturi would have to attach to the skimmer body.
 
jpatrician said:
Each pump is only pulling 28 watts
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Did you read that, or measure it? I used a Kill-a-Watt, and measured my pumps at 51w each, for a total of 154w.

So, I'm all excited. My Classic400 arrived, and the first stop was into the bathtub, because it was the only place I had that could hold this large of equipment. I added 3-4 drops of dish soap to the 10-12" deep water, and here's what happened in only a few minutes! I'm hoping it helped clean off some of the manufacturing oils.
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Here are some more photos. I was very impressed with the fact that these come with 15' power cords. Who needs a dedicated circuit, I can probably reach another room! :)

Here's the whole skimmer, assembled.
skimmer1.jpg


Here's the collection cup removed, and more about the skimmer starts to make sense. The collection cup simply sits on top of the body, no seal, no fittings. You can see how it's "sealed" with water in the next photo. The black flange is cut exactly to size and glued/bonded/whatever to the inside of the 10" cast body.
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Here's the bottom of the collection cup. The area above the flange, up to the hole becomes filled with water and this creates the air tight seal for the collection cup. This skimmer will never, EVER, "pop" off or be difficult to remove, since it's just gravity and a routed groove in the cup that keeps it in place.
skimmerneck.jpg


One of the most difficult times I had when looking at these online, is no one had this shot. I wanted to see HOW it worked, and what was going on. The unions are glued into the body and the black "uni-seal" around them is actually hard acrylic, presumable bent to shape and glued in for strength. There are three pumps, at 590gph each. All the fittings/threads are metric, so that may pose a challenge to someone with a modification in mind. I do intend to mesh-mod these pumps, but metric/SAE won't matter there. The way the outlet dumps right back on top of the pumps almost makes this thing into a recirculating skimmer. :)
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I can't wait to get the tank set up now, just to see this guy go!
 
Nice pics of that beast. As a recommendation, I would not mesh-mod the pumps. I've tried two different mesh mods and swapped the impeller/venturi with Euro Reef parts/pumps and there is no improvement in air flow. I would leave it as-is and just skim away. The weak part of these skimmers seem to be the pumps so I'll wait for others on RC to mess around with a fix if possible.
 
I would probably prefill that little chamber area with rodi water. I can see tank water becomming stagnent real quick. I could be wrong but I think it would get foul after a few weeks.

Don
 
Rick, coincidentally enough, I just read a lot of the same today. It seems some people are starting to swap the pumps over to OceanRunners with a mesh mod, and seeing drastic improvement. So, for now... I'll run it stock. But that's just so booooooring. :)

Don, I'm on the same page with you. I envision cleaning that thing out every few weeks, as well. Time will tell.
 
Sherman said:
Did you read that, or measure it? I used a Kill-a-Watt, and measured my pumps at 51w each, for a total of 154w.
Click to expand...

I just wanted to post a public correction:

I made a mistake when measuring the wattage of these pumps. When I used the Kill-A-Watt again, I measured all three pumps to a combined 92w. I later realized the 154w was with the airlines submerged under water, so the pumps weren't sucking air at all.

One pump measured 30w, and 2 measured 31w, for a total of 92w with the air tubes actually in the air, as it would be run normally.
 
Thought you guys would be interested in this. Ryan from Reefnut sent me an e-mail this morning... he said

"AquaEuro is currently anticipating the arrival of all of their skimmers with the
new pumps. Having to change the pumps has taken longer than expected but they should be arriving this week or next week, including the Classic 400. I will update everyone asap as to when they are available, and when current orders will ship."

Thought you all might be interested.

I don't have any further details beyond this.
 
Also, just to clarify, in case anyone hadn't heard, AEUSA put out a recall on their pumps. Apparently, there was a manufacturing error, and the epoxy that seals the pumps insides wasn't correctly applied, or something, and some of the steel is exposed. They are replacing them without question, I understand.

They've asked customers to call:
1-800-978-3480, ask for Johnnie.
 
if they would just put gen -x pumps on these things the problem would be solved, and they are the exact same company that MAKES those gen x pumps, so i dont know why they wouldnt do that.
they can be replaced right out of the box w/ the gen- x 2400's, all the same exact fittings fit/screw right into the pump.

i replaced the pump on a aqua euro 55 (the small one) with a sedra 2500 needle wheel pump, then mesh modded the pump, all i can say is WOW!!

i also replaced one of the pumps on the smallest calcium reactor with a gen -x 1000, it as well fit right in perfectly with no modification.

i only bother to do all this because the skimmer and the CArx bodies are awesome
 
Hello,
Is there any update on these skimmers? Are they still running well and would you recommend them? How about the recirculating models?
-chris
 
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