skimmer - dual beckett or large needlewheel?

[Benny Z]

curious what your opinion is regarding a skimmer for my new system. system will be a pretty heavily stocked 200g display + 100g sump.

would you recommend a dual beckett mrc skimmer (mr2 or mr3) or a large asm needlwheel skimmer (g4x or g5)?

i understand the drawback of the beckett style skimmers is that you have to run a semi-large pressure rated pump. i also understand that they have so much adjustability that they are hard to dial in.

which do you believe will skim better, though? a large needlewheel or dual becket skimmer?

[jjmatti]

I purchased the MR-2 for my 200 gallon set up after seeing it in action at 2 other members homes. Up untill that point I had all intentions on buying a Euro-Reef. I went to a 2 other peoples house to pick up some frags and when I saw the foam action I was impressed. In both cases they had replaced a Euro-Reef or ASM model skimmer with the MR-2.
Also since MRC skimmers are upgradeable it made the choice a no brainer.

As for constant adjustment of the beckett skimmers, I havent had to mess with mine all too much.. I just clean the neck once a week or 10 days.. and change the cotton ball on the silencer weekly (which takes 30 seconds). Other then that I havent found any uneccassary fiddleing needed.

[Benny Z]

good info...thanks.

i've heard from two other people who sold their asm skimmers for mrc skimmers and haven't looked back. seems to be a trend.

i have yet to hear from anyone who has gone from a mrc skimmer to a needlewheel...

[fkdenton]

You might want to pm chadfarmer in the st louis forum. He is kind of a equipment guru. He has used most of the skimmers out there.

[brad23]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7434851#post7434851 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Benny Z
good info...thanks.

i've heard from two other people who sold their asm skimmers for mrc skimmers and haven't looked back. seems to be a trend.

i have yet to hear from anyone who has gone from a mrc skimmer to a needlewheel...

Jeff did

[Benny Z]

ok, aside from upgrading to a $1k+ bubbleking.

[hcs3]

sold my beckett for a needle wheel.

went from PM bullet2 to a geo.

i have not had to adjust or clean the geo skimmer yet (minus the collection cup) and its been running over a month now. the beckett needed maintenance weekly. i'm lazy so that didnt happen and the skimmer performance suffered because of it.

[RV8tor]

Benny
I just built a NW and if you want to take a look at it you are welcome to come on down. It is a 10 in diam, 59 inches tall, the body is 44 inches with a 4 inch riser and 4 inch cone, and skimms pretty nicely so far, only been running since Sunday. and it is running a lot better than my becket mod on my ETSS ever did and uses less power. PM me if you like to look at it

[Benny Z]

hey, thanks for the offer. i may try to swing down that way soon. looks like a mr-2 dual beckett w/ pump is available locally, so i think i might just have to pick that up and give it a whirl. ;)

maybe i'll add a needlewheel down the road.

[smorrow5773]

The Beckett diy I am running works great, but is adding alot of heat to my system because of the large pump. For the past two days I have been sitting around 85 without the halides on with approximately 95 gallons volume. I never had this problem when everything was plumbed to the basement, but this system is not, and have started rethinking to do a needlewheel. Then again, this skimmer works so good that I might just put it on a timer and run it at night when it won't add to the heat much.:rolleyes:

[Benny Z]

huh...crazy.

are you running the pump in the water, or are you using an external pump?

[Bill Wann]

Heres the one I made with dual dart needle wheels
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e325/wannbill/Picture149.jpg

[Benny Z]

nice.

that looks like it's about the same size as the big one at the mad reefer.

[Bill Wann]

Never herd of that place ,where is it at ? Mine is 30 inchs od and 7.5 feet tall .

[Benny Z]

it's a newish reef shop here in bloomington.

i'll take a measuring tape in with me next time i go in.

i believe aqua medic made theirs...i'll double check that, too.

your system looks amazing. specs?

[Bill Wann]

1500 gallon main tank , 3000 gallon total . built everything myself .
Heating and cooing done with Ti heatexchange and boiler .
Iks aquastar computer , 8 400 watt mh ,2 1000 watt mh .
Dont know what eles to say .

[Benny Z]

very cool. do you charge admission? lol

any more pictures?

[Bill Wann]

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e325/wannbill/Picture017.jpg http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e325/wannbill/Picture031.jpg http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e325/wannbill/Picture054.jpg http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e325/wannbill/Picture042.jpg http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e325/wannbill/Picture042.jpg http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e325/wannbill/fishtank031.jpg

[Bill Wann]

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e325/wannbill/fishtank024.jpg http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e325/wannbill/fishtank022.jpg http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e325/wannbill/fishtank019.jpg http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e325/wannbill/fishtank014.jpg http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e325/wannbill/fishtank021.jpg

[brad23]

WOW nice setup

[lglamb]

Very very very nice.

Only thing missing is the date of the meeting.

:)

Lowell

[hcs3]

how old is the aquarium and how old are the photos of the aquarium?