Ordering an ORCA skimmer, final ??

[allykahn]

Been super busy but I am back on my skimmer mission.

I think that I want to do the following:
8.5 recirc body, 25" height, 1" gate valve, 4.5 neck and two aqua bees; with the option of adding a third pump. Shan says that the Aqua Bees are German made and they are better built, use less wattage (38w) and will surely last longer.

Shan also mentioned that they have a few Sicce (spelling?) pumps in that they are testing, but it will be weeks befor they order then due to testing.


Also, how do you determine the SCFH from LPH?

[hahnmeister]

The Aquabees will draw about 23 watts a piece when used as needlewheels, not 38. And yes, they are rather quiet.

The Sicce pumps could be interesting, but as per Sicce, they are not intented or rated for external use... only submerged. FWIW, when I get my hands on my Sicce pumps later today, I will compare to the Quiet One 3000 pump, which I believe is the identical pump (also made by Sicce). We will see... but the QO 3000 looks like a version of the Sicce PSK pump that ATI/Tunze uses...
http://www.pentairaquatics.com/produ...e/Q1_3000.html
And it would be much cheaper.

The comversion I do to go from lph to scfh is divide by 1000, and multuply by 35. To do scfh to lph, divide by 35, then multiply by 1000. 1000lph equals about 35 scfh. So 28 scfh is about 800lph of air, and 120 scfh is about 3400lph.

[kdblove_99]

Allykahn,

I also have a 180 gallon.

Gonna have orca build me a skimmer with the 3 aquabees 8.5" diam, even though i think i might go up to the 10" diameter.

Also 25" tall, bubbleplate and wetneck.

[ChrisB]

In reference to skimmer height.... is taller better if you have the room? or are there other things to consider?

kdblove_99 - what does the bubbleplate do and are you going to have a box built under yours?

I'm not sure the advantage of one of those boxes as opposed to the standard circular base. Anyone???

[rfields]

Just put my order in for an Orca 8.5"diam X 26" tall with 2 aquabees and have it drilled for a third. Shawn is great to work with and asked for all specs that I wanted and then came up with a few things that I never even thought about.

Rod

[rykwong]

Originally posted by davidabrown66
I'm reposting this here to see if anyone can help. I have a Gen-x 4100 with SP4 from ER as a replacement for the OTP-3000 for my DNW-200. I also have the volute and venturi for the Gen-x from ER. I first tried all the components together a couple of days ago, and my air meter said 18 SCFH. I was expecting better.

So, last PM I tried 3 layers of mesh after snipping off all the small nw's of the ER impeller and leaving the larger ones to keep the mesh from slipping. I'm now getting 22 SCFH, but I think the pump is cavitating, b/c the output is weak, and pump is extremely noisy.

Overall, very disappointing from what I thought was going to be 900 LPH stock using the ER NW, volute and venturi. I'll have to cut back on the mesh, and see if I can improve the #'s. I did try and restrict the air input by using ro line inserted into the 3/8" airline, but that didn't do anything. The pump is sitting in a 5 gal bucket of saltwater without any plumbing attached, and the performance doesn't even compare to what I'm getting with my OTP 3000. So far this is a very expensive dud of a mod. I must be doing something wrong, b/c I've heard over an over again that the gen-x 4100 is supposed to rock. I'm going to also try and make my own venturi from 1" pvc to 3/4" back to 1" again, and insert a JG fitting at the 3/4" restriction just before it transitions back to 1", and then grind down the edges of the 3/4" plumbing so it transitions well.

As a side note, I bought the ER volute that has the venturi already attached to it. It looks like the venturi might have been put on wrong, b/c the air intake is located closer to the input of the venturi rather than the input to the volute, but it's already glued together. Not sure if this is right.

Anyway, I have a stock volute which is the same as the other one, and I'll try my own venturi to see what I can do.

Could my SCFH meter be off? B/c my numbers should be higher for my OTP-3000 as well. It just seems strange that I can't get more than 500 LPH of air out of a Gen-x 4100 with ER SP4. Any ideas?

I just wanted to be clear. Is this a SP4 pump that was bought directly from Euroreef? Which impellar are you using with this pump? Is it the newer black impellar directly from Euroreef? Basically, is it exactly the same as the SP4 that comes with the new Euroreef skimmers?

[davidabrown66]

Originally posted by rykwong
I just wanted to be clear. Is this a SP4 pump that was bought directly from Euroreef? Which impellar are you using with this pump? Is it the newer black impellar directly from Euroreef? Basically, is it exactly the same as the SP4 that comes with the new Euroreef skimmers?

It is from Euroreef. I bought the volute/venturi as one piece that ER sells for the 4100 and the pinwheel impeller from ER. The stock air for those three parts was 18 SCFH. The pinwheel (not needlewheel) is grey, and has needles of different sizes on it and four holes. I didn't like the results from the needles so I took them off to apply the mesh. So far, the ER volute/venturi has given me the best performance of all the other venturi's I've put together including a ball valve with a 3/8" barbed nipple drilled into the ball valve just before the pump input. I bought another pump and have been toying with the NW impeller, but that's still only giving me 22 SCFH.

[GSMguy]

Originally posted by steve the plumb
I am waiting for the dart NW skimmer from ORCA.He is still in process of designing the skimmer.I am going to talk with him Friday about a tank I am getting so I will ask him about the dart skimmer.He does great work from what I see and I spoke with him several months ago about the skimmer with a dart pump.It will be nice to see when the product is finished

isnt that the reeflo orca skimmer
not the Orca

the reeflo orca is made by reeflo not orca

[JRaquatics]

Originally posted by GSMguy
isnt that the reeflo orca skimmer
not the Orca

the reeflo orca is made by reeflo not orca

It is a Sequence skimmer. The name is very misleading. Infact if I ran Orca, I would complain.

[steve the plumb]

Not the same.Orca is building a Dart NM skimmer for me using the Sequence Pump.The pump is called the orca.The skimmers are using the same pump but not the same builder.

[porthios]

'Could my SCFH meter be off? B/c my numbers should be higher for my OTP-3000 as well.'

if it is, mine is as well. got the same numbers for my new otp-3000.