nice CHEAP small skimmer

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Skimmy

SKIM FU
Joined
Dec 26, 2003
Messages
3,872
Location
Galactic Sector ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha
nothing new about bubble magus skimmers...
but this new skimmer design they have is great considering it's only $139.99!
new wider neck,
meshwheel impellar,
t outlet wedge,
pump in body,
bubble plate,
muffler,
500lph of air (more than the octo nw-150, euroreef rs-80, and vertex in sump-80),
6.7"x10.4" footprint, 19.6" tall

the only drawback is that the pump is on the cheaper side,
an atman 2500 that consumes 27 watts, but if you ever had
to replace it, it's only $42. havent heard of any reported issues
with these pumps.
 
I have the pinwheel version of the atman 2500 and that's actually a decent little pump. Don't let the cheap price tag fool ya.
 
They use different magnet's than the stock via aqua's. And you can get the pump for $20 all day off ebay if you needed a replacement. Only thing that isn't great about this guy is the reaction chamber is really small. But no smaller than quite a few other skimmers out there. And its a fraction of the cost.
 
LFS near me has a Red Sea Prizm Skimmer up to 100 gallons marked down from 100 to 60 and it comes with the upgrade kit for free(with purchase of skimmer) or 35 if you just wanted the upgrade kit. any thoughts on whether i should grab that one or get something else? i have a 29 gallon right now, upgrading to at least a 75 and making my 29 a refugium/sump.
 
NO... Run. Run far far away.

The Prizm isn't a skimmer. Im not sure what it is but a skimmer it is not :)
 
They use different magnet's than the stock via aqua's. And you can get the pump for $20 all day off ebay if you needed a replacement. Only thing that isn't great about this guy is the reaction chamber is really small. But no smaller than quite a few other skimmers out there. And its a fraction of the cost.

im betting they do this on purpose so that the skimmer appears "more productive"...lol
but as long as it doesnt kick out bubbles from the return then im o.k. with the smaller reaction chamber.
...it's certainly not the best design out there, but
i was just suprised to see that you can get so much skimmer for $139.99
 
Only thing that isn't great about this guy is the reaction chamber is really small.

When you say 'reaction chamber', is that the main body of the skimmer or the pump volute chamber where the pin wheel lives?

I have used the BM100 v1 precursor to this skimmer, I think it worked really good. The only thing I do not like is having the pump inside the skimmer chamber.

When you have to clean or service the pump, it's a pain to get at, unlike the other BMs ( BM150 ) where the pump is on the outside. Also, the BM100 v1 has a slot for the pump power cord to feed out the bottom, but this forces the cord to be kinked/bent up really tight on the pump. The cord is actually bent down 90 degrees out of the pump, and sandwiched up on the pump back by the skimmer chamber.

There are some other designs where the pump is under the skimmer chamber, but not within it. I think this might be a better way to save on the footprint space, but still have better pump accessibility and less kinky cords...
 
Kaskiles, when i say reaction chamber i mean between the pump output and neck. If the skimmer is only 19" tall and the pump is inside the skimmer there's only going to be round 10" of reaction chamber. Which is the area where the air bonds with doc's. Other than that and what you talk about with the inconvenience of the pump, it seems to be a nice skimmer. I'd buy one if i had a 75g or less as the price is just to cheap to pass up.
 
I've been toying with the idea of modifying my v1 BM100, since I've replaced it on my tank with the BM160.

Basically, I'd get a black rectangle of acrylic, about 14" by 6.5". Bend over two sides for legs, like on the MSX 160, and drill a hole in the top flat part off center to feed through the Atman outlet to the bubble plate. So the pump would be outside the chamber, but still under; and the bubble plate chamber would be inside the skimmer chamber. It would take four 1/4" holes drilled on the new stand to mount the skimmer chamber to it, but I'd need some nuts to hold it to the included nylon bolts. So by removing the pump from the skimmer chamber, the reaction space height would increase by about 4 inches. But the total skimmer height would also increase.

Anyway, it seems like a very easy modification, except bending the acrylic and finding the matching nylon nuts. But I'm not sure it would be worth the time...
 
the thing i would be worried about if you did that would be massive micro-bubbles going out the skimmer.... you might have to make some sort of deflector for the outlet and even then it might still get alot of micro's
 
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