My New Orca Systems Custom Sicce Recirc Skimmer

[ostrow]

Time to pull a few other threads together. I have now had for a week my custom skimmer from Orca Systems.
http://protein-skimmer.com/gallerymo...galleryid=3947

The skimmer is 10" diameter, 30" tall, with 2 PSK-2500 pumps in recirc mode. Skimmer sits in sump as these pumps need to be submerged. But that isn't a problem at all for me, I have space. 6" neck, quick union on the cup which is 8" tall.

This thing is built like a tank. 1/4" cast acrylic all around, something-or-other pvc for top and bottom of the cup and bottom of the skimmer. It is solid.

The pumps are pulling 25-27lpm at 33 watts on one, and 22-24lpm at 33 watts on the other. Not sure why the variation, could be due to differing back pressure due to location. But it's a lot of air nonetheless. I feed from my return pump as that is easiest.

Pics below. I'm delighted!

Here's the skimmer in my sump:


Here's the Chamber on Day 1:


And on Day 7:


Neck on Day 1:


Neck on Day 7:


Bubbles rising in cup day 1:


Bubbles rising in cup day 7:

[ostrow]

Foam Day 1:


Foam Day 7:


2hrs worth of gack after cleaning cup on Day 7:


Pumps in sump:



I could post pics of the Kill-a-Watt but I can't get a pic of the airflow meter. I hate it when people make claims without evidence. Everytime I shoot either the flash washes out the meter or it is too dark with no flash. Using an RMA-23, with the intake modded so zero restriction of air, water does not budge in skimmer. So I have no need to add anything to the reading, it is as accurate as we can hope for.

I love this thing. Only problem is the cup alone weighs as much as my old G5!

Sean does great work, has machined terrific parts to make this pump work in recirc, and does all the work in his own shop in Ohio. Wonderful guy to work with and I think the quality speaks for itself in these pictures.

[USC-fan]

nice skimmer!!

How hot are the pumps?

[ostrow]

They are HOT! Cute, stylish, and they really put out. Much better than what you have in your avatar for sure.

Oh. That's not what you meant.

Cool as cucumbers. Rated at 40watts, so 33 watts each is nothin. Just need to be submerged as, I believe, they have no ventilation mechanism. Then they get hot. I had a bit of a problem at first and one was running at 44 watts. But still cool. Not really a problem at all but was a signal not pulling enough air.

[E.Smith]

I am close to ordering a custom skimmer from Sean. Did you purchase those pumps then send them to him? Also what made you decide against going with Aquabee pumps or Eheim?

Your skimmer looks rock solid by the way!

Thanks
Erik

[ostrow]

The Sicce's way outperform the other two pumps, wattage per air per cost. No brainer.

I had gotten the pumps first -- long story. He had them from me for months playing with them as was I to get them to work right. Now he has them too.

[GSMguy]

I Just have to know this guy is very close to me and i would love to know .....

How much? i know Tacky as heck you can pm if you like as well.

That is a serious skimmer very cool.
can you take a pic with the air taps closed so we can see the inside of it or a pic with pumps off.

[Maximus]

Does it have a bubble plate? Looks very nice btw.

[mavgi]

nice

Joel , reduce the water level in the skimmer on picture #7 from top i see that your bubble breaking point to high .

[Paulairduck]

That is one heck of a skimmer, the rating has got to be 300gallons plus stocked to the gills

[ostrow]

Michael: I agree. Wanted some production even watery overnight. Lowered this morning.

For pricing, contact Sean. I really can't say. You can see his pump prices with the mods done are quite reasonable.

All in all his work is terrific.

I am not sure what you mean, GSM, about "air taps closed". For a pic with it off see the link at the top of the first post.

[hahnmeister]

Pretty neato.

[Deuce67]

Awesome! Yah, Im lovin my custom Orca skimmer.

[E.Smith]

Thanks for the response Ostrow! I believe I will be going with the same pumps after seeing how well yours performs especially for such low wattage use!
Do you think the bubble plate added to the performance of the skimmer significatly? If you had to do it over would you have left it out? Sorry for all the questions, but I just want my skimmer to be the best bang for the buck without regretting adding anything etc..

[hahnmeister]

I dont know about that water inlet though... seems like another 'bypass' to the exit like that Dart needlewheel.

[ConcreteReefer]

Hahn- Please explain?

Is it because the inlet & exit are so close?
Wouldn't the dual recirc help with that?

It's nice to see American mfgs. starting to produce some nice NW skimmers that can compete with the overpriced Euro skimmers (I blame the Euro, 42% higher than the US$). My next skimmer will be a US nw/mw for sure.


BTW-NICE SKIMMER!!

[ostrow]

The inlet and outlet are nowhere near each other. Inlet at 3:00, outlet at 9:00. It is not humanly possible to put them further apart from each other. And the inlet comes in from up high.

[ostrow]

I should explain why I am not saying price. I feel it is not my place. Sean will quote his prices. I can't say with confidence that what I paid in dollars is what he will ultimately charge. Reasoning is simple. He had my pumps for months, and we had hundreds of back-and-forth emails and phone conversations, with interventions by at least two others, to get the pumps configured properly. Basically, I loaned him the pumps while he figured whether he wanted to use them, and how best to build skimmers around them.

I'm not sure if he charged me more for all the hassle I caused him (man, I sure would have) or less because I was patient while he experimented, etc.

He has prices on the pumps listed. The skimmers are essentially still custom builds, though I believe he is and should continue to use the model as on mine -- minus those in-cup connectors for the airlines. Good idea, but these pumps do not like it.

Anyway, I'm thrilled with the outcome and will post more pics over time if people want.

[mavgi]

Originally posted by ostrow

I'm not sure if he charged me more for all the hassle I caused him (man, I sure would have) or less because I was patient while he experimented, etc.

that was fun...

[ostrow]

Speaking of people I've tormented!

[hahnmeister]

Okay, Ive been keeping my mouth shut, because like you, I dont know that its my place to point these things out... but before everyone runs off buying this skimmer, there are a couple things I would do differently...

The water inlet topic is covered here...
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...5&pagenumber=1

As far as I am concerned, if the water is going to be introduced in a manner for recirc/external, and not by introducing the water in some 'counter current' design, it should be like described in this thread... right into the pumps. This is how BubbleKing externals do it, and for good reason. It drops the turbulence even further in the skimmer, and it also makes sure that 100% of the incoming water goes into the pumps... no bypassing possible. It also prevents the bottom chamber from becoming a giant settling chamber for detritus like it can be now. And heck... its easier to do. All it requires is to replace an elbow on the pump intakes with a 'T' instead. No extra bulkhead/uniseal, no extra pipe, hole to drill in the acrylic, etc. Like so...
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...5#post10965025

The air inlet on the skimmer cup is also another bad idea. Skimmers perform best with fresh air. Recirculating the air over and over again will hurt performance because the oxygen levels will drop in the recirculated air. Also, humid air doesnt skim as well as dry air... for obvious reasons.

The bubble plate is taller than need be, and only takes away from the distance from the plate to the neck. The plate should be as short as possible, OR, if tall, the pump inlet should be at the top, and then you can use a 'bleeder' system to relieve pressure under the plate. Sicce PSK pumps shouldnt need much in the way of pressure relief under the plate though... not like Dart needlewheels at least.

[ostrow]

That's interesting. We'll see how it works. I will say though that I don't htink it makes sense to feed into an elbow on the pump intake. Just a hunch, but with these pumps I think it would not be good. Anyone tried that?

The other option was to feed high up, but that makes no sense as it would defeat the purpose of a bubble diffuser, no?

[Deuce67]

Here is what my Orca skimmer is pulling so far.
[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

[GSMguy]

Deuce what pumps run that skimmer?

[Deuce67]

Originally posted by GSMguy
Deuce what pumps run that skimmer?

Just 1 Sicce pump. My skimmer is only 8.5" in diameter and 28" tall.