Air driven or beckett

trutu · #1 12/27/2001, 01:54 PM

I am currently deciding between 2 different types of skimmers for my 180 gallon system

First is a DIY airdriven CC skimmer which would be 5 feet tall and 6 inches round, run with 4 airstones driven by a tetra deep air pump.

second choice is a premade beckett skimmer, such as the myreef.

Any opinions on which would be the better choice?

sWc · #2 12/27/2001, 02:10 PM

go with the myreef

Fredfish · #3 12/27/2001, 02:25 PM

The beckett will be more expensive to purchase and maybe also to run.

The Air driven will be more maintenance (are you willing to change out 4 airstones per month?).

Both will work equally well.

Fred.

tomatoeclown · #4 12/27/2001, 02:32 PM

I had a ETS downdraft similar to the becket designs, it was a good skimmer but made alot of noise and always needed a good cleaning after a while, I just recently got myself a Lifereef VS3-36" ventury type skimmer, in my opinion this is the best skimmer out there, it is quiet, once adjusted you just leave it alone, and it pulls outthe darkest and smelliest stuff you will ever see, it is the best purchase I have made for my reef tank, and the construction of the skimmer is second to none, I am more than pleased, it is a little on the pricey side, but as the saying goes you get what you pay for, and I wasn't in the mood to throw away another $200-300 on a skimmer that would end up in my closet a year down the line, my tank is 110gal the skimmer is good for up to 500gal tank, no need to upgrade once I get the bigger tank, if you need more info on liferee skimmers go to www.lifereef.com , call Jeff and let him know what you are looking for and he will help you out, cya.

LiquidShaneo · #5 12/27/2001, 02:50 PM

In consideration that you're going to drive your CC skimmer with a *single* DW-96 pump, the Myreef skimmer is more than likely going to aspirate more air into the reaction chamber thus skimming better. Now if you said you were going to use a Medo 502 air pump or greater ( http://www.medousa.com/pdf/linear.htm ) to run your CC airstone skimmer I would have said that your CC airstone skimmer would perform much better as the 502 will inject approx 1 cfm (450 gph) of air into your reaction chamber. The larger Medo's will pump in almost 3 cfm (1350 gph) of air. I don't believe the Myreef skimmer can aspirate that much air into the skimmer reaction chamber unless you're going to use a HUGE pump. It's all about which skimmer can push more air into the reaction chamber.

FWIW, this is a good read: http://www.hawkfish.org/snailman/skimmer101.htm

Also, remember that becketts do require a large pump and most of the pumps recommended for becketts use pumps that draw +100 watts of power to run the skimmer. Take a look at Champion Lighting's pump specs on their website. Even the smallest Iwaki's take +100 watts. The Medo 502 pump uses about 32 watts, the 602 uses about 65 watts, and the 901 uses about 95 watts with more air being pumped into the skimmer than an equivalently rated pressure pump for beckett skimmers.

Also, if you go the CC skimmer route, I would recommend you read over KW's plans for making a better airstone: http://www.hawkfish.org/snailman/kwairstone.htm

Good luck on your choice!

Shane
'liquid' on #reefs

DC321 · #6 12/27/2001, 03:19 PM

Airstones decline in performance over time, so they are not as effective even after 1 week.

I would go with the Beckett of the venturi.

LiquidShaneo · #7 12/27/2001, 03:26 PM

Well, I find that comment interesting as I have no problems w/ them and I don't see an issue with them until about the 4-6 week mark. Same thing has been verified w/ KW and Snailman over on the DIY Forum as they change theirs out every 1-2 months.

Shane
'liquid' on #reefs

Ltspd · #8 12/27/2001, 03:42 PM

Myreef skimmer.

trutu · #9 12/27/2001, 06:46 PM

Well I like the size of the MR-2 Myreef skimmer since my stand is 36" tall i would be able to stick it in there. Whereas I would need to have the CC skimmer standing outside of the stand. Does the mag 12 pump that you can buy with it cause allot of heat exchange into the water since it is sitting in the sump? Also how often does the myreef need to be cleaned?

tomatoeclown · #10 12/27/2001, 07:37 PM

trutu you would need more than 36" clearence under youre tank for a 36" skimmer, I say at least another 5"-6" for removing the cup, or minor adjsutments, cya.

Ironreef · #11 12/27/2001, 07:40 PM

My bullet needs less than an inch for cup removel. Myreef can make it any height you want. So depending on how much clearance is needed he can give you an inch easy.= 35"?????

dsb1829 · #12 03/26/2002, 07:09 PM

Just to add a little to the discussion. The becket is capable of putting out quite a bit of air. In Chris Paris' "Latest Thoughts on Skimmer Design" he gets 150scfh using a GRI 520 pump on a becket. You can obviousley use a larger pump on the becket too and increase that value. At 3cfm the Medo is only 30scfh more than that. Considering cost of that large Medo pump and that you could add a larger pump to a becket it really isn't too strong of an argument for the air pump.

ttt if anyone cares to see this one again.

stephane · #13 03/27/2002, 12:28 AM

Becket