Pies Posted October 12, 2005 Report Share Posted October 12, 2005 I've been playing with my skimmer. And thought i'd share what i've been up to. First off - Deltec AP902. A fairly large skimmer by most peoples standards, 2 Ehiem needle wheel pumps. The skimmer is fed via a 25mm fitting which in my setup is fed directly from my overflow. It exhausts water from a 32mm fitting directly into the surface of my Refugium. I am going to try a few different configurations: The skimmer was cleaned on Sunday evening, the 2nd October. The neck assembly was cleaned out with hot water and the inner black flange was cleaned with paper towels. 10 days later, Tuesday evening the 11th October the skimmer looks like this: I wanted to see how long it takes to fill the collection chamber. In this test I am skimming as 'wet' as I practically can. The water level is up the neck of the skimmer about equal with the level of the bottom of the collection cup. If I skimmed any wetter than this i'd be pulling tea coloured water and emptying the skimmer daily. Lets have a look at the consistancy of the skimate: This was wiped from the inside (the neck) of the skimmer. It was approximatly 3mm thick. Its waxy and about the consistancy of slightly dry toothpaste: How much skimate: So thats just over 2.6 litres in 10 days. Its hard to show in the photos but the consistancy is dark, but not thick. maybee as dark as a black coffee. I would consider this 'wet' for a Deltec skimmer, although its probably darker than many other skimmers i've seen running (no disrespect to any other skimmer owners out there). Thats it. Whats next? Same experiment, but reducing the water flow through the skimmer. Currently its getting as much water as I can force through it, which I guesstimate to be approx 4,500 litres at hour. I've slowed it up by about half, so this time I will call it about 2000 litres per hour. Why? I am hoping to learn something about dwell time effecting the performance of my skimmer. Even though the manifacturer has reccomendations, I belive that each tank is different, so I want to tweak the skimmer for my own systems, and my own requirements from the skimmer. Stay tuned. Pie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted October 12, 2005 Report Share Posted October 12, 2005 Interesting. The crap that builds up on the inside of the neck in these skimmers is sick! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted October 12, 2005 Report Share Posted October 12, 2005 That is some serious crap. i cant produce that in a month. Must be time for a bigger skimmer . will clean mine tonight and see what that does in 10 days Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted October 12, 2005 Report Share Posted October 12, 2005 So you'd be in the market for a bank of these then reef? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted October 12, 2005 Report Share Posted October 12, 2005 good job mate, interesting to see the differences. make note if you do any water changes etc between tests That is some serious crap. i cant produce that in a month. Must be time for a bigger skimmer it is alot - must be wellies seawater however, as pies says Its hard to show in the photos but the consistancy is dark, but not thick how thick is your skimmate reef? do you run more wet or more dry? i run about half that "wetness" although the build up of "sludge" from the neck is similar consistancy. Must be time for a bigger skimmer . :lol: didnt think deltec made any bigger!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted October 12, 2005 Report Share Posted October 12, 2005 didnt think deltec made any bigger!!! they do ones over 5ft. how thick is your skimmate reef run the same as pies with water level almost halfway up the cup. neck is cleaned every hour by self cleaning head, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted October 12, 2005 Report Share Posted October 12, 2005 neck is cleaned every hour by self cleaning head speaking of which, pies i see a coralline build up in your skimmer. i'd clean that thoroughly (after your testing) if I were you. the smoother the surface the better the bubbles can attach to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted October 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2005 speaking of which, pies i see a coralline build up in your skimmer. i'd clean that thoroughly (after your testing) if I were you. the smoother the surface the better the bubbles can attach to it. I'm not actually convinced it makes much if any difference. There is no doubt that cleaning the neck of the skimmer (the exhaust for the non-submerged bubbles) makes the skimmer skim better, but in my own experance i've notice zero difference to the way the skimmer performs when covered in growth. It looks better when its clean though. Its part of my annual maintenance routine. Pie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feelers Posted October 12, 2005 Report Share Posted October 12, 2005 I had a look at the deltec site, to see what could possibly be in the far far distant future for myself, and found they have an enormous $6619 USD skimmer with 6 eheims pumps on it, that would be very cool....., 3000 gallons is a big tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted October 12, 2005 Report Share Posted October 12, 2005 That's the US site. Ignore the pricing on there, it's so far out of wack with the rest of the world. They are no where near that expensive here. Layton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted October 12, 2005 Report Share Posted October 12, 2005 if you ever plan on upgrading your skimmer pies, i'll buy yours off ya unless I get an AP902 before that happens!!! still looking, just hellishly expensive. prefer cheaper 2nd hand if anyone has one for sale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveA Posted October 12, 2005 Report Share Posted October 12, 2005 One thing I find interesting is that one week I will get similar quantity and quality of skimmate to what Pies showed above and then the next week get the same quality but only 1/4 of the volume, without any obvuous change taking place in the tank or making any plumbing change. At the moment I am putting it down to different food combinations thru the week ( I feed heaps) Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted October 13, 2005 Report Share Posted October 13, 2005 One thing reading this thread it's one of the best advertisements for not going skimmerless! Who'd want to tip all that back into their tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted October 13, 2005 Report Share Posted October 13, 2005 I agree wasp, get a large high quality skimmer to strip out as MUCH crap (yes, even the good stuff) as possible then add back in what you take out. Benefit of this is you can control addition of good trace elements back to your tank by way of water changes, calcium reactor etc This is way easier than trying to take only the bad stuff out of ya water Berlin method is the go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted October 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2005 One thing reading this thread it's one of the best advertisements for not going skimmerless! Who'd want to tip all that back into their tank? I know, its hard to belive that you would get almost 8 litres of that out of the tank in 1 month! Skimmerless? Scary. Pie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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