My new ATI BM200 with tons of photos

[africangrey]

After a few months of planning and researching through many RC threads, and numerous email exchanges with my local dealer Ed Lum at KM Associates Int’l, he helped me to finalize on a Bubblemaster to go on my 120gal heavily stocked SPS reef to replace a fully moded but under performed ASM G3.

Though there is a price increase on all ATI line of products imposed by Reef Geek due to ever weakening US dollar, Ed decided to eat the cost and sell me the unit for $549.00 instead of $599.00 out of door. There was a delay of shipment because Greg at Reefgeek was having difficult time searching a suitable packaging material for the skimmer. As shown on the photos, they did a beautiful job to insure the skimmer is snug fit in the box and all parts are able to withstand the stress caused from shipping and rough handling.

Once the BM200 arrives at KM Associate at San Francisco, Ed helped to break in, test and fine tune the unit for 10 days in his tank and to insure everything is working flawlessly. He also trimmed down the meshwheel and added an air valve to tune the skimmer based on my bioload and to ensure the unit is plug and play with minimum tweaking on my part

He even went far beyond the call of duty by personally dropping off the skimmer to my work in Fremont and spending time to explain how everything is suppose to be installed. .
Look at the packing material, Greg at Reefgeek did a great job to customize it.




The pump and my puppy named JoJo was trying to help out




Gatevalve is so easy to dial as compared to the previous version


Air silencer with the customized air valve


The skimmer is working right away and producing a thick foam head, so glad I didn’t have to wait weeks or months as compared with some other reefers who purchased the similar model. Kudo to Ed’s excellent and personalized customer service.

[rleechb]

That is one sexy skimmer Spencer!

*jealous*

I'll have to swing by soon to have a gander

[northbay-reefer]

Cool looking skimmer, looks easy to build though, the only thing I would need is that pump is it an aquabee pump ?

[kurplunk]

Wow Spencer, I wish my skimmer looked that cool. You always have all the cool toys.

[CruzinKim]

Wow, that is nice, makes my BM160 look like a toy. He delivered it? That's pretty unusual for a vendor to deliver anything except maybe a tank and stand.

[raddogz]

Scicci pump and they are bad arse - Woo hoo

I'm using one on my 155 at work at it doing a hecka of a job.

[Sparkss]

nice looking skimmer Spencer . You tank was crystal clear the last time we stopped by, I can only imagine what you will be able to achieve with this skimmer now

and that pump is so kawaii !!!!!

[raddogz]

Apparently iPhones don't take nice shots

Anyway ...



I cleaned the front of the tank and the skimmer cup on this BM200 was three-quarters of the way full.

[africangrey]

Hi Ray,
I am more jelously of your colorful tank, one of the reason I shelled out $550 is to get my acro to grow vividly as yours. But only time will tell.
I haven't notice any increase in ORP after the switch, hopefully it will strip out the excess organic material and elevate my ORP into 350 without use of ozone.

Northbay-reefer, the pump is from Scci (sp?) but sounded like an Italian name, as said on labelled it only consumes 40w of energy, a pretty efficient pump for sure. I was also informed by Ed, the pump cost about $175 from Reefgeek, but they require you to return the defective pump to prevent people from DIY the skimmer themselves.

Thanks everyone, I will be posting more pics on the progress especially the those nasty skimate.

[CruzinKim]

Looks like a great deal just for $100 more than the BM160, then you need the tank size to go with it.

[africangrey]

Eileen, is that an H&S next to the BM. Ed talked me out it one because I don't the height, second the A150 isn't effecient compared with BM200.
Spencer

[Lumamae]

Originally posted by africangrey
Eileen, is that an H&S next to the BM. Ed talked me out it one because I don't the height, second the A150 isn't effecient compared with BM200.
Spencer

I would say it depends on the tank setup you're putting the skimmer onto. In my discussions with Ed before I purchased my BM160, he says either the BM160 or the A150 would be a great fit for my 90g mixed reef. The BM200 would be way overkill and not perform well unless you have at least a 100g system. As for 100g - 200g system, either the A150 or BM200 would work well, but the BM200 will do better because it is equivalent to the Deltec AP701, which is a single Eheim skimmer model. So, the BM250 is probably equivalent to the Deltec AP702 if you use the same reasoning. So, yes, your new BM200 looks awesome and it probably performs between the H&S A150 and H&S A200.

[raddogz]

Nope Euro Reef 6-2+ - I will be taking the ER home once the Bubblemaster breaks in a little bit more.

[mdt178]

Originally posted by africangrey


Northbay-reefer, the pump is from Scci (sp?) but sounded like an Italian name, as said on labelled it only consumes 40w of energy, a pretty efficient pump for sure. I was also informed by Ed, the pump cost about $175 from Reefgeek, but they require you to return the defective pump to prevent people from DIY the skimmer themselves.

Sweet looking skimmer!

The Sicce PSK-2500 pump and mod kit can be purchased from the folks who make Orca skimmers, for around $120. It can easily pull 1200lph.

[Reef Sponger]

Originally posted by africangrey
Eileen, is that an H&S next to the BM. Ed talked me out it one because I don't the height, second the A150 isn't effecient compared with BM200.
Spencer

Looks like a ER to me, I've owned enough of those in the last 7 years. I would agree with Lumamae, tank size and bioload determines what the best skimmer for the setup. I had already made a decision to buy the H&S A200, but when I talked to your local dealer, Ed, he said I didn't need it and talked me right out of it and into the next size smaller model, A150. Even the BM200 would have been too much skimmer for my 180g fish only tank. But for your 120g SPS tank, it's a perfect fit. Good luck to you, that new version BM200 is pretty sexy.

[asmodeus]

my 250 is the same other then having a dual pump on there .. Does the Euro reef valve make a differance on the skimmer I have them sucking full along with I poked another hole in the plastic cap on the top to have ozone....

ozone I take it is ok to use right im using around 25% out of the 200 model I have it on a timer to go on from 05:00 -12:00 every day...

[sfsuphysics]

Wonder how long it'll be until this skimmer is "garbage"

[stubbsz]

Anyone else hate the way the collection part fixes to the main body of the skimmer. I do not like removing it to clean. ( i have the bm160, but the connection is the same.)

[CruzinKim]

Originally posted by stubbsz
Anyone else hate the way the collection part fixes to the main body of the skimmer. I do not like removing it to clean. ( i have the bm160, but the connection is the same.)

I have a BM160 too and the collection cup connection is a little snug, have to be very careful when the cup is full. The neckless design on the BM160 only requires about 1/2" to remove the cup for cleaning. If you look closely at this photo of AfricanG's, it looks like there's a 1" lip on the cup that inserts into the skimmer body neck.

[africangrey]

Stubbzs, are you talking about the pump that connects to the body or the collection cup attachment.
I would say the weakest link of the whole skimmer is the pump to body connection, besically the pump is just pushed in and loosely hang onto the body, I am just afraid of that it would get disconnected overtime.
As for the removal of collection cup, it is much much easier than my ASM G3. All one needs to do is lift it up and dump the skimmate in the sink. Not looking forward to it, because the hydrogen sulfate smell created from the ASM, and I imagine it would probably be worse with such efficent skimmer.

[africangrey]

A few updates post 24 hour operation.

Not a whole of skimate as compare with Eileen's, perhaps I let it run too dry, but I have been known to run skimmer on the dry side. What do you guys think, should I close up the gate valve just a bit.


Another shut of a skimmate, hopefully it will get darker as time progress. Look at the acccumulation of dirt on the neck, pretty dark huh?


A close of look of bubbles created by the Secci pump with meshwheel.


Macro shot of the micro bubble, believe me the bubbles are really tiny

[stubbsz]

Originally posted by africangrey
Stubbzs, are you talking about the pump that connects to the body or the collection cup attachment.
I would say the weakest link of the whole skimmer is the pump to body connection, besically the pump is just pushed in and loosely hang onto the body, I am just afraid of that it would get disconnected overtime.
As for the removal of collection cup, it is much much easier than my ASM G3. All one needs to do is lift it up and dump the skimmate in the sink. Not looking forward to it, because the hydrogen sulfate smell created from the ASM, and I imagine it would probably be worse with such efficent skimmer.

Actually the collection-cup to skimmer body is what I was referring to. CruzinKim makes the point that from the pictures, there is a slightly more durable connection on yours. a longer lip. Not hard to remove but a little scary. My old ETS was a pain with four screws to undo. Your skimmate looks a lot blacker than mine... are you skimming Molasses?

[CruzinKim]

I hate to be the one to clean that cup! I would recommend adjusting it up a 1/2" every 24 hours until your get the type of skimming you want. Ed taught me this and I didn't listen, so I overflow my cup a few times. That is pretty nasty in the neck there.

[CruzinKim]

African, I just notice the black air tubing, looks like you're using possibly ozone safe tubing to blend in ozone? Just in case you are, take a look at this thread warning about ozone levels that could break down foam head production. Don't know if this applies as I don't use ozone.
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...readid=1223747

[africangrey]

Thanks for the warning, CruzinKim, Ed also warned me about possibility of losing the foam head, thus dimishing the production of skimmate . I haven't hook up the Ozone yet, for one, being the reason mentioned above, two I would like to see if a BM200 alone could raise the OPR level without ozone injection. The ORP reading of ASM G3 with Ozone was consistant at about 325, but went down to 260's when I took it off line, now with BM200 alone the ORP level went up to 280-290. I will give it a week or two to see if this skimmer is good enough to clean up the water, and raise the ORP back up to 325, otherwise I will have to T is off for ozone application.

In the other thread, you mentioned about raising the gave valve up 1/2" every 24 hours, do you mean by closing the valve 1/2" every 24 hours, which will raise the water level inside the skimmer body and allow it to produce a wetter foam, correct. I thought you are supposed to open up the valve to lower the water level if the skimmer is overflowing.