AquaEuro USA Recirculating 135 - My Review (lot's of pics) - Page 3

Jester · #51 05/06/2007, 09:26 AM

I have had everything up and running for a day now... this thing is awesome.. its still breaking in, so no skimmate yet... I have the unit plumbed externally and the only leak I have now it where the piping for the outlet oushes into the ball valve... its a very small leak, but still ahs me worried... anyone else have a leak here..?? Thanks...

Jester

skwirl · #52 05/06/2007, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Blazer88
That's the plan Mark. Can I swing it down on Sunday? I'd love to swap in the ER impeller and see what difference that makes. I didn't want to drop $55 if the ER wouldn't make any difference.

lets get it movin' guys... chop chop!!!
lol
no really hows it going?

Blazer88 · #53 05/06/2007, 04:46 PM

After a trip to the LFS, it has been confirmed that ER parts make NO DIFFERENCE in performance. Now that's not a bad thing because the stock ER pump/venturi/impeller was pulling the same exact amount of air as the AE pump. We tried every configuration of pump and venturi's all with the same results. So the good news is the AE pump/venturi/impeller is basically the same as the Euro Reef Sedra 3500 (in terms of air at least). The $ to performance for these skimmers seem to be great, that's for sure. So my next, and final, attempt to mess with this skimmer is try an air pump. Now that I have an air meter, I can pump some air into the venturi and see how/if that helps with skimmate at all. I'll keep the thread updated as I try and figure something out.

JRaquatics · #54 05/06/2007, 05:41 PM

When you tried the ER parts on the AE pump, did you use their venturi?

Blazer88 · #55 05/06/2007, 05:56 PM

Yep, I tried the ER venturi on the AE pump and it pulls the same air as the AE venturi. I was quite surprised by that, I was expecting an increase of air with the ER venturi. Now I gotta track down an air pump to see if going over 240 L/hr will yield any better skimmate.

hahnmeister · #56 05/06/2007, 07:09 PM

So a sedra 3500 only does about 240lph as well?

Blazer88 · #57 05/06/2007, 10:56 PM

According to my Dwyer, it was pulling about 6 l/min (360 l/hr) since it was just running in a sump and not attached to the skimmer. My pump was doing about 6 when it's not on the skimmer, 4-5'ish when on. And I'm sure there is some airflow loss to move that little ball inside the meter, so maybe add a few to those numbers.

Jester · #58 05/07/2007, 07:27 AM

I am interested in whether an air pump adds to the performance... I have a ton of air pumps around...

Blazer88 · #59 05/07/2007, 09:16 AM

I'm finding that it's not easy to find a pump that will pump enough l/hr without getting fairly large and expensive. The Dolphin Five Star is listed at 540 l/hr which may be worth a shot since that is quite a bit more than the venturi pulls. I'm still a little confused though as it's listed at that rate but it has four outlets, I wonder if you can push it's capacity through just one output. It's only $30 so it may be worth a shot.

Jester · #60 05/07/2007, 09:22 AM

what about a pump like the tetra luft air pump..?? isnt that considered a pretty strong air pump..??

Blazer88 · #61 05/07/2007, 09:46 AM

Tetra? I can't find a Tetra Luft air pump, only a Coralife Luft air pump. The smaller Luft is only 4 l/min which is no improvement over what the venturi is pulling. Coralife has a few larger Luft air pumps (the Super Luft) but they start at $70 and the smallest one pushes way too much air (38 l/min). There seems to be a gap for pumps that are over 500 l/hr and under 2200 l/hr. I was hoping to find a pump that is 750'ish m/hr and dial it back with a valve to find which air flow works best but I'm not having much luck.

Jester · #62 05/07/2007, 09:56 AM

oops... you were right it was the coralife luft pump, for some reason I thought Tetra made the air pump... I have to high pressure luft pump... I guess its too strong...

Blazer88 · #63 05/07/2007, 10:00 AM

If you already have the pump, throw a small ball valve on the air tube and dial back the air for whatever you want. Do you have an air meter? That would be a huge help so you can dial in the exact amount of air that you want.

JRaquatics · #64 05/07/2007, 10:12 AM

I bet the AE pump chokes un modded. You may need to throw a modded impeller to push more air/water

Blazer88 · #65 05/07/2007, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by JRaquatics
You may need to throw a modded impeller to push more air/water

I'm not sure if you have read the thread or not, but I've tried four different impellers (including the stock) as well as a ER venturi/pump/impeller and they all have the same results as the AE.

JRaquatics · #66 05/07/2007, 04:40 PM

I understand that you have tried other impellers. What I am trying to say is that when you force air into the venuri with the pump as stock it chokes. I was just suggesting that you may need to try it with a venturi or impeller other than stock when testing the air pump. Just a suggestion.

JRaquatics · #67 05/07/2007, 11:20 PM

I just hooked up a cheap low pressure air pump to the venturi and the pump doesn't choke. It fills the whole mixing chamber with micro air bubbles. I placed a larger air pump and the pump couldn't handle it, it choked. So back to the low power pump. I am going to leave it on for the night and see what I wake up to. If it does hold a good head of skimate I will try the meshmod again and see what happens. I am thinking if I run the pump with the standard venturi this will give me more air, and if I mod the impeller then I will draw more water and Air. We will see...

Jester · #68 05/10/2007, 10:22 AM

The skimmer finally started pulling gunk after taking about 4 days to break-in... and then my return pump seized and burnt out the next day... so I wont get to see the the skimmer really in action until I get a new return pump... if its not one things its 5 others...

I will throw my "luft" air pump on there once I get the return pump back up and running... the luft pump is also adjustable on the actual air pump... so I'll be able to adjust the ait that was also... We'll see how it works...

ceige · #69 05/10/2007, 01:05 PM

what feed pump are folks using with the Recirculating 135?

jman77 · #70 05/10/2007, 01:26 PM

FYI: Tetra did make a luft air pump...i have two of them at home...

They are both around 11 years old

all-apologies · #71 05/10/2007, 01:56 PM

why does it need to be fed with a pump that has such low gph? For long contact time i presume...

I have a 60 gallon cube with like a 40g sump. What feed pump? Once you buy the skimmer, all thats needed is the feed pump (small and cheap) right???

i think im about to order one. It either this or the classic 135.

I like this one, as long as it can fit in my sump. Or outside i guess

How do you adjust it to work right? with the ball valve at thats it?

if its outside of the sump, how does the water get back in? Up and over thru plumbing? do u do that urself?

thanks-

kodyboy · #72 05/10/2007, 02:08 PM

all-appologies: I would think the classic 250 would do great for you unmodded.

hahnmeister · #73 05/10/2007, 02:09 PM

The ideal contact time as put forth by skimmer engineers is 120 seconds, as stated in Escobal's book. So the volume of the skimmer should have a turnover that is the skimmer volume every 2 minutes.

all-apologies · #74 05/10/2007, 02:19 PM

ok, so 30 times the skimmer volume an hour

why the 250? i see the 265, not a 250-is that what you mean?

kodyboy · #75 05/10/2007, 04:02 PM

I was just looking at your set-up, a 60 cube plus a 40 sump, probably around 80 gallons or so. Since you want it to fit in your sump I assumed (incorrectly I guess) that you wanted an-in sump unit, and the classic 250 (non-recirc) is a decent sized skimmer for little cash. It works well un-modded and with a little diy could easily be modded for a recirc unit.