SWC vs. RO

[Skimmy]

Hi skimerwhisperer,

Do you thinking the SWC Xtreme 200 would be a good choice for my system. I have a 180 with a 55g sump/fug and will eventually make it an sps dominant system. Right now I have a low bio load and am also thinking for doing zeovite at some point. Thanks

an extreme 200 would be good for that size... especially with zeovite...your tank should be pretty damn clean.

 

[NaTe R]

Skimmy,
You need to come to the midcolumbia club Xmas party. It would do us both good.
I want to learn more about your line of skimmers and I think the people in Tri-cities need to learn more about skimmers available.

Ed how many active member do you have in the area? I think there is three of us up here in the yakima valley that i know of

 

[Ed Hahn]

Ed how many active member do you have in the area? I think there is three of us up here in the yakima valley that i know of

Lots of members, they just do not talk on the forums.
Xmas party is on December 11th. Its a good time if you want to visit holler.

SWC has sure caught my eye with their improvements. Please keep us up to date Mark.

 

[Rhodes19]

an extreme 200 would be good for that size... especially with zeovite...your tank should be pretty damn clean.

Cool beans. Thanks.

 

[Rhodes19]

Well, its time for me to step up and join the skimmer club. I ordered the SWC 200 Xtreme
from Mark and I'm looking forward to getting it in my tank. After reading everyones comments and experiences with SWC, I think I'm going to be very happy with it. And thank you to Mark too, he was great to work with.

 

[Rhodes19]

Woo Hoo! I got my skimmer from skimerwhisperer the other day and its in the sump up and running. I like it. I still need to play with the flow so I can get the foam where I want it but its easy to do. I put it together within just a couple of minutes. I am amazed at how quiet it is. My wife is calling it an atomic weapon for the tank. LOL!!

 

[Frankie]

Does anyone see anything wrong with this picture? I went over to Rhodes last night to check out his new skimmer and the bubble count seems to be very low. I raised the water line up to the cup level but saw very little foam production.
The skimmer is well built but I am questioning the pump running it and the amount of air pull.
Does the water level in the sump look right for this skimmer? I would say there is about 10" of water from the bottom of the skimmer to the water line outside the skimmer.

 

[NanoReefer411]

I just got the SWC 250A and it immediately had foam raising into the neck. That foam production doesn't look right. Sicce pumps.............don't like them. Rhodes it is Gina. I am MarineGirl411.....if you get the SWC 250A you will not regret it. If that Sicce is running mesh, it is going to be a PITA! I have had the Sicce before on a Bubblemaster....pain in the arse. I hope it ends up working out for you though. I have my skimmer in about 7 inches of water. The company I bought mine from said 6-8 inches should be the amount of water the skimmer runs in. HTH.

 

[Skimmy]

Does anyone see anything wrong with this picture? I went over to Rhodes last night to check out his new skimmer and the bubble count seems to be very low. I raised the water line up to the cup level but saw very little foam production.
The skimmer is well built but I am questioning the pump running it and the amount of air pull.
Does the water level in the sump look right for this skimmer? I would say there is about 10" of water from the bottom of the skimmer to the water line outside the skimmer.

well, i'd say let it break in first... 9-10" should be good for the sump level, and if you raised the internal water level to the bottom of the skimmer cup, then i wouild leave it there for a several days to break in. also, the pump may have started backwards, you may want to try unplugging and re plugging it in to see if you get a power increase. otherwise not too uncommon for a skimmer while still breaking in. im guessing that it didnt get a hot bath first to rinse is all.

 

[ac7av]

You really need to raise the internal water level with the output adjustment pipe. Get the water level at first to the level of the beginning of the taper part. After a couple of days you can adjusted it again to get the foam to the top opening of the cup with out the foam pouring into the cup. The way it is now looks like you have the output wide open and it will not do much like that. I run mine in 10 inches of water and it rocks but if I let the level of the water go down an inch it doesn’t do anything. I have not needed to re adjust my skimmer since I set it up. It stays perfect all the time and I’m coming up on a year soon.

 

[Maxx]

Is the output side of the skimmer supposed to be underwater like that? Its causing backpressure on the pump which is going to cause it to work harder.

Nick

 

[Rhodes19]

I just got the SWC 250A and it immediately had foam raising into the neck. That foam production doesn't look right. Sicce pumps.............don't like them. Rhodes it is Gina. I am MarineGirl411.....if you get the SWC 250A you will not regret it. If that Sicce is running mesh, it is going to be a PITA! I have had the Sicce before on a Bubblemaster....pain in the arse. I hope it ends up working out for you though. I have my skimmer in about 7 inches of water. The company I bought mine from said 6-8 inches should be the amount of water the skimmer runs in. HTH.

Hi Gina,

Its good seeing you here. Thanks for the info. This is my first big skimmer (other skimmer is a Remora Nano) so I have a little leaning curve but I think I have it figured out. I was playing with it and got the water level to move up and down. At the moment, I am getting some dark skimmate out of it. When I get home this afternoon I'll open it up a little more for a little more foam production. The wheel is a back needle wheel and its making bubbles. Right now I have the bottom of the skimmer sitting in 10" of water sitting on top of one of my wife's Tupperware (what she don't know won't hurt me ). I'll make a pvc stand for it later. I have the SWC 200 and I like it. It looks very well made.

 

[Rhodes19]

well, i'd say let it break in first... 9-10" should be good for the sump level, and if you raised the internal water level to the bottom of the skimmer cup, then i wouild leave it there for a several days to break in. also, the pump may have started backwards, you may want to try unplugging and re plugging it in to see if you get a power increase. otherwise not too uncommon for a skimmer while still breaking in. im guessing that it didn't get a hot bath first to rinse is all.

Hi Mark,

I have it at 10" of water, but I'll have to check the internal water level (having a hard time differentiating between water and bubbles). When I plugged it in for the first time it made some rattling noise so I unplugged it and plugged it in again and the rattle was gone (must have started backwards). I didn't give it a hot bath first so that may have been an issue, I didn't know I had to do that. Should I take it out and give it a hot bath now or am I beyond that stage now? Thanks.

Chris

 

[Rhodes19]

You really need to raise the internal water level with the output adjustment pipe. Get the water level at first to the level of the beginning of the taper part. After a couple of days you can adjusted it again to get the foam to the top opening of the cup with out the foam pouring into the cup. The way it is now looks like you have the output wide open and it will not do much like that. I run mine in 10 inches of water and it rocks but if I let the level of the water go down an inch it doesn’t do anything. I have not needed to re adjust my skimmer since I set it up. It stays perfect all the time and I’m coming up on a year soon.

Hi ac7av,

Thanks for the info and help. When I first turned it on I had it wide open (didn't know how to adjust the water level) but I figured it out the next day. It's been running since Tuesday night and on Wednesday night Frankie came over and we adjusted the output adjustment pipe to bring the water/foam level up. As of this morning, I have about a 1/4" of dark skimmate in the collection cup and the foam is just going over the top into the cup. I think folks call this a dry skimmate??? I'm really excited about having the skimmer and getting a lot of junk out of my tank.

Chris

 

[Rhodes19]

Oh, on a different note, what do most folks do as far as collecting the skimmate? Do you prefer taking the cup off when it's full or do you prefer to have it drain into a container out side the sump and replace the container (I'm thinking 2 L Coca bottle or a gallon milk jug)? Any big pros or cons? Thanks.

 

[Rhodes19]

Is the output side of the skimmer supposed to be underwater like that? Its causing backpressure on the pump which is going to cause it to work harder.

Nick

Hi Maxx,

The out put side goes down to almost the bottom of the skimmer. I took it off the other day and to be honest, I really couldn't tell any difference. This morning before I left I put it back on because I was noticing some salt creep on the side of the sump and the sump light that hadn't been there before.

 

[ac7av]

Hi Maxx
its not closed at the top of that sections so it doesn’t cause back pressure. The tube goes to below water to act as a internal baffle and reduce or eliminate the micro bubbles coming out the exhaust.

Hey Rhodes
glad to see you got it dialed in. The way you skim Is all just a preference whether it be dry or wet. I go for a tea color in mine but that’s just me. I guess you could call it on the wet side. The sides of my sump are higher then the bottom of the collection cup bottom so I have to pull the cup and dump but be carful about the 2 liter bottle. This is where people get into flooding trouble especially if yours is not broke in yet or is not in a stable water level. If you do use a container to catch it from the skimmer try and have it in a place that will not matter if the bottle overflows

 

[NanoReefer411]

Rhodes-I am glad you got it pulling skimmate! The pinwheels will definitely be better than the mesh!! If you check out the member's showcase forum, I took some new pictures of the tank. =) I dumped my first cup of skimmate. I am thinking of using the drain though. Hey, good use of Tupperware! =) I used a milk crate cut in half. It does the job!

 

[Rhodes19]

Hey Rhodes
glad to see you got it dialed in. The way you skim Is all just a preference whether it be dry or wet. I go for a tea color in mine but that’s just me. I guess you could call it on the wet side. The sides of my sump are higher then the bottom of the collection cup bottom so I have to pull the cup and dump but be carful about the 2 liter bottle. This is where people get into flooding trouble especially if yours is not broke in yet or is not in a stable water level. If you do use a container to catch it from the skimmer try and have it in a place that will not matter if the bottle overflows

Thank Erik,

Mine was rather dark until I turned off the return pump to feed the fish and when the water level raised in the sump, it did the same in the skimmer!!! Water was pouring over the top of the collection cup!! LOL Just another speed bump in the learning curve. the bottom of my collection cup is below the top of my sump as well by about 2". I suppose I could make it work but after flooding the cup I may hold off.

 

[Rhodes19]

Rhodes-I am glad you got it pulling skimmate! The pinwheels will definitely be better than the mesh!! If you check out the member's showcase forum, I took some new pictures of the tank. =) I dumped my first cup of skimmate. I am thinking of using the drain though. Hey, good use of Tupperware! =) I used a milk crate cut in half. It does the job!

Hi Gina,

I might have an unused plastic milk crate hanging around some where. I'll have to see if I can find it. My wife found her Tupperware last night. Ops. She was ok with it but I'm doing the dishes and laundry for her today!!