ASM Mini Protein Skimmer?

[pbukow]

Anyone heard anything about or used one of these before? How would it stack up to a Euro Reef RS 80? Thanks and heres a link to a pic and specs of this skimmer

http://item.express.ebay.com/ws/eBay...de=0&placeid=5

[mg426]

I would say the mini is not even close to the Euro reef.

[pbukow]

Any reason why?

[pbukow]

C'mon, no one else has ever used one of these things or has heard anything about this skimmer?

[datablitz]

i used to have one on a 46 gallon, it worked well for that tank

[pbukow]

Thanks datablitz, I'll be using it on my next nano that will have probably a maximum of 40 gallons including sump ad display.

Well I have found someone that is selling it to me for $50 . . . had to get it! So i will be using it whether or not anyone else has an opinion on it. However, I won't actually be setting my tank up for a few months at least. But when i do, I'll let everyone know how it does.

[kodyboy]

for $50 that is a great skimmer nice buy.
An ER rs80 is better, but much more expensive.

[koraltek]

buy this and mesh mod it, it will work awesome then!!

http://www.reefgeek.com/filtration/P...ASM_G-1_by_ASM

[pbukow]

Originally posted by kodyboy
for $50 that is a great skimmer nice buy.
An ER rs80 is better, but much more expensive.

Yeah no kidding, but the price is definately something i won't be able to pass up. I have a question for you, kody. Do you think what makes a euro-reef such a good skimmer is the type of acrylic used for the body? I've heard that a couple of people believe thats what it does.

Koraltek, thanks for the heads up on the pump, I've seen some of these for sale and some come with a sedra and some come with a gen-x, not sure which i'll be getting but if its not a gen-x, I'll definately be finding a sedra. No contest btwn the two for sure!

[kodyboy]

Actually I think it is more the pump, needlewheel, venturi, and volute on the pump than anything else. I can not see how the type of acrylic would matter. Also the engineering of the height, what pump to match with it and neck size makes a big difference.

[pbukow]

Yeah I guess that makes more sense huh? Thanks for the input everyone

[pbukow]

Well, here is my new ASM G-Mini Skimmer. It isn't as sturdy as a euro reef, but thats bcuz its made of a cheaper acyrlic. Other than that I am pretty satisfied on how it is setup. Just like a baby G 1,2,3 etc.

I don't have a tank anymore so i can't unfortunately test it for real, but i set up a little bucket like thing with about 1-2gallons of saltwater in it. With the normal outflow setup (shown on the box), it sounds like a trickle and is very annoying. But i had some spare pvc parts and threw it on there. Thats what you see in the pic, now the skimmer is much more quiet.

In the pics, the skimmer is completely stock with no mods other than the return mentioned. The pump is some "no-name" needlewheel that is actually performing better than I thought as far as milking out the reaction chamber and producing a good amount of microbubbles. Speaking of, the little bucket is full of em, just because I think its breaking in. (there was a lot of oil and grease on the ceramic shaft and impeller).

Well, here are some pics. Enjoy








The only problem i have with the mod i did is this is the lowest i can take the water level (I prefer to skimm dry and at this level it would not be possible), without any other mods of course. I will definately be making a mod to increase the amount air i can force into this little guy.

Sometime this week, I'm going to get some skimmate from a friend's Euro Reef and I'll be pouring it in my set up to see how my ASM Mini reacts.

[daytonreefRob]

That pump appears to be doing a better job than the one I saw before. They have changed their packaging over the last two years too.

[saltwater4life1]

Hey do you know if your model is the new or old one? I ordered one and it's all derent the pump is under the body and makes it 4" taller which won't fit under my stand..

[pbukow]

I'm not sure but i think mine is the older model which I am very pleased with. I was lookin on ebay and saw this one and one for another 10-20 bucks that was supposed to be the newer model. There weren't any pictures but i think it mentioned that the pump connects lower on the skimmer body like the one you have. I don't know why they would put the pump directly under the reaction chamber and just shoot water straight up the chamber towards the collection cup. Seems like that would really cut down on reaction time of the bubbles. Do you have any pics of your skimmer, saltwaterfish?

Also, does anyone know if ASM sells something to quiet the return from trickling and makin so much noise? Other than a longer, finer sponge?

[808-340]

I actually use this on my 60g. The only reason I went with it is because it fit under my tank and in my cabinet. It skims okay but it's not the greatest. You can obviously find better... for more money but... if you got it for $50... good deal. I would try to mod the pump or just get a bigger one

[pbukow]

808-340: I definately got lucky on this one for sure. When i actually set up my tank, a sedra 2500, meshmod, and possible venturi upgrade will definately be in this little guy's future. Did you find troulbe with the noise of the water trickling out of the return? I'm really worried about that making a racket under my future cabinet.

[808-340]

Actually very little noise in my cabinet. Most of the noise is from my overflow. I think the mod would help this skimmer though. Good luck.

[SteveOhh]

Don't waste the additional money on a Sedra, a Gen-X NW 2400 will do the job at half the cost. I've had 3 Mini G's & put a 2400 on all of them.....................skims way better then stock

[pbukow]

SteveOhh: The reason i really want a sedra is for the impeller, I have a gen x 2400 and i could only get one, maybe two layers of enkamet on it while i'm pretty sure i can get 2 easy possibly 3 layers. Also if you remove the back panel on the pump, most of them have metal exposed to the water which will rust and add more problems than i care to bother with. Plus a genx 2400 pushes like 600 gph, wouldn't that be overkill for a skimmer that comes with a 250gph pump? Not to mention all of the microbubbles right?

808-340: Good to know, thanks for the info.

[CruzinKim]

I would go with ER RS80 instead.

[pbukow]

Originally posted by CruzinKim
I would go with ER RS80 instead.

I would too, if i had $200+ to spend on a protien skimmer for my 14gallon nano that i will be using it on . . . but i don't. Even if i did, i don't think I'd spend that much on such a small skimmer for an equally small tank, anyway.

#1. Spend a couple hundred of dollars on a skimmer that works great and be able to say "I have a euro reef."

or

#2. Spend less than a hundred on a skimmer that I can modify to make it skimm almost as efficiently (if not just as good) and say "I made this skimmer as awesome as it could be and works great on my set up."

Definately number 2 for me

[pbukow]

Update:
I went to a LFS who i'm pretty goods friends with and she let me clean out what skimmate she had in her Euro Reef. Heres a pic of it in a bag:


I then poured all of it into my skimmer/bucket set up and in about 15 minutes this is what my ASM did:


Then in 30 minutes, it stopped producing foam past the water level, so I assumed that it had pulled out all of what it was going to pull. I then poured the ASM skimmate back into the same bag i brought the Euro Reef skimmate home in.

It was skimming wet, so thats why there is actually more than before, but i am still impressed as how dark it was even afte being slightly diluted. Just another thing that makes me happy i bought this skimmer