Bubble Master Skimmers more info wanted???

JohnL · #1 03/14/2007, 10:56 PM

This thread was automatically split due to performance issues. You can find the rest of the thread here: http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...54#post9479554

chercm · #2 03/14/2007, 10:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by sjm817
It sits in 7.5" of water, no turbulence near the pumps. Very calm. I have dual drains that come into bubble towers. The sump is a 75G. The skimmer section is 18"x 30" x 12" deep. The skimmer is on a platform to raise it up. I do have a 30G fuge chock full of macro.

The ER skimmer sat in the same spot

any pics?

sjm817 · #3 03/14/2007, 11:02 PM

Two digital cameras with dead batteries! Let me charge one up a bit

mavgi · #4 03/14/2007, 11:05 PM

This thread split all the time

sjm817

i wait to see picture to .

sjm817 · #5 03/14/2007, 11:11 PM

mavgi · #6 03/14/2007, 11:31 PM

sjm817

can you post picture for the other side of the sump ?

and where is the water from the fuge drain (is it behind the 2 tower )

sjm817 · #7 03/14/2007, 11:33 PM

This was with the ER skimmer. When i ran the ER, I had filter socks. I took them off and replaced with bubble towers when I put the ATI skimmer in. I could not change them without knocking the pumps off the BM skimmer.

jimdogg187 · #8 03/15/2007, 12:05 AM

Very nice sjm!!!

mavgi · #9 03/15/2007, 12:07 AM

i don't know if you want to do it but if yes try this :

put the skimmer opposite the pump near to the baffles .

if you can put a temporary baffle (put just in 2 point silcon to catch it ) after the 2 tower make the skimmer area more smaller .

the water that drain from the fuge direct to the return pump area
and let it run one week and see if you got better result .

you can try first to change the skimmer position , but i believe after you will add baffle you will get different result you will see it in the color of the skimming .

i find out when i run the skimmer in small area (almost the size of the white acrylic base) i got the darker skimming color and thicker one .

i change back the position because i make all the time test and i don't have a place to work on this side .

sjm817 · #10 03/15/2007, 12:16 AM

Not sure I understand what you mean. Turn the skimmer around 180 so the pumps face the baffles? I can do that easily enough. I thought it would be better to have the pumps near the drains. Moving the fuge drain to the return section is not really something I want to do. Why would this matter?

Honestly, My ER skimmer worked very well in this same sump configuration and I dont see why the ATI shouldn't do the same.

chercm · #11 03/15/2007, 07:32 AM

how come my BM 250 does not have so much foam at all ?

sjm817 · #12 03/15/2007, 07:47 AM

Ok. I turned the skimmer around 180. I put together a pipe coming off the output to move it farther from the baffles.

Baalz · #13 03/15/2007, 08:14 AM

Your water level is much higher in your skimmer then mine. Since the Tee hits the collection cup I cannot raise the stand pipe any higher to bring my water level up. That in my opinion is a very poor design. Why add an adjustable standpipe only to have it top out because it "hits" the collection cup.

Yes so far I agree my needlewheel skimmer outskimmed this skimmer by far. But I will give it the benefit of the doubt to see if it improves over time.

chercm · #14 03/15/2007, 08:25 AM

how high did u raise the neck ?

my2girls · #15 03/15/2007, 08:28 AM

I received my BM200 a few days ago. It is still breaking in so I can't judge it yet. My Deltec took one day to kick in, while the BM200 is on day 3 and nothing yet.

Can it be possible that no one "mesh" wheel is the same? Mine did not look very dense [very thin mesh that you can see through]. Conversely, all Deltec tradition needle wheels are almost identical. Hence more consistent performance from skimmer to skimmer.

Baalz · #16 03/15/2007, 08:44 AM

my2girls
It will improve. The way it was explained to me is that the skimmer needs to build up a good bio film to allow the foam to rise.
Mine has improved over the last week but I still am not impressed.. yet.

Creetin · #17 03/15/2007, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by my2girls
I received my BM200 a few days ago. It is still breaking in so I can't judge it yet. My Deltec took one day to kick in, while the BM200 is on day 3 and nothing yet.

Can it be possible that no one "mesh" wheel is the same? Mine did not look very dense [very thin mesh that you can see through]. Conversely, all Deltec tradition needle wheels are almost identical. Hence more consistent performance from skimmer to skimmer.

I would say wait it out, and yes no 2 mesh's are exactly the same. There are variences on thickness, and maybe a titch on radius's, But nothing major.
I know my orp is around 400 Mv all the time now which it would normally be around 320 Mv with my old beckett, Also my po4 is 0.02 steadily now with no po4 removers, Which i always struggled before around 0.07 I feed daily, and added 2 more fish recently a dej tang and a black trigger. Nothing has changed, and they get a good belly full everyday.

koraltek · #18 03/15/2007, 10:50 AM

sjm817,
in my humble opinion, i think you have your skimmer on too high of a platform, i have noticed that if we run our sump level right at the bottom of the white output hole, that we get waaay better performance out of the bm 200/250's.

Baalz · #19 03/15/2007, 11:04 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by koraltek
sjm817,
in my humble opinion, i think you have your skimmer on too high of a platform, i have noticed that if we run our sump level right at the bottom of the white output hole, that we get waaay better performance out of the bm 200/250's.

Could you measure the depth your talking about?

sjm817 · #20 03/15/2007, 11:05 AM

Thanks for the advice. I can certainly try that. I went with the recommended 7" - 8" depth. Will I be able to get the adjustment low enough? I have the wingnut style adjustment.

koraltek · #21 03/15/2007, 11:07 AM

i'll take pics tomorrow and measure the exact level, i cant remember where the wing nut adjuster is set at...

jefathome · #22 03/15/2007, 03:45 PM

OK... I have waited a while before I posted any reviews b/c I wanted to give the skimmer a chance to break in first. Tomorrow will be the end of week 3 though, so I feel confident posting something.

I have a BM200 (from K&M). It was tested 5 days up in SF before it was shipped to me here in SoCal.

First a little bit about the tank. I've got a 70g Tall (36w X 16d X 30in Tall) and a 30g sump... so about 100G total. IMO it is pretty heavily stocked with 5 wrasse (mix of fairy, flasher, and Leopard), 2 clowns, LM Blenny, yellow tang, and a fire fish. It is also PACKED with coral.

I feed heavily with Prime-2 Flake and a mix of frozen that I DIY'd from the asian market. 1 cube of frozen and about 2-3 pinches of flake per day. For the Corals, I use Reef Chili or Liquid Life Bio, and Coral plankton nightly.

Now, for the BM200...

Week 1
I got about 1 cup of skim that was dark tea colored. Rinsed the neck and put it back in.

Week 2
(actually about 8 days) I only got 2c of a coffee colored nog. Starting to get a little worried here...

Week 3
(this week) I got maybe a cup worth over about 4 days. light Coffee colored again. Now I'm really worried that I wasted my money, or that I should have heeded the advice of YoucanDoIt and went with a smaller model.

Then I decided to re-read the entire thread before I went and spouted off about how it sucks. What I had forgotten was that I had set the standpipe all the way down on day-1 b/c all the 1st round people were talking about how it would overflow all the time.

After setting the standpipe as high as I could (right where it would hit the collection cup), things were much better. I got skim within about an hour of emptying the cup and cleaning the neck. Within 24hrs, there was at least a cup or more of a medium/dark green-tea colored skim.

This skimmer CAN skim dry, but I think it prefers to skim a bit wetter (Duh.. like that hasn't been said before)

Anyway, I am 100% satisfied with the skimmer. It just pulled out in 1 day what my Remora took over a week to get. I'll bet there are a ton of DOC's in my tank right now from a year of remora use. Now the BM200 can start to kick some organic butt!!

cweder · #23 03/15/2007, 04:37 PM

When the recirculating models come out some time this year. What will be the expected advantages.

Creetin · #24 03/15/2007, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by cweder
When the recirculating models come out some time this year. What will be the expected advantages.

I doubt there will be any besides having more room inside your sump.

I bet it still reacts like it does with hands in the tank. My beckett was external and did the same thing my bm250 does.
I just think they react much faster than the other comparable skimmers much like the becketts react. I think bubbles get greatly interrupted with oils and such from food and hands.

jefathome · #25 03/15/2007, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by cweder
When the recirculating models come out some time this year. What will be the expected advantages.

I have no experience with externals, but from what I have been told, they have greater efficiency. Like if an in-sump is rated to 100G, the re-circ could ptobably handle 150g.

Or a 200g capacity in-sump = 300g Re-circ.

Just remember though, if it is external and it goes crazy and overflows (from say some Epoxy of red-slime remover) you will have a wet floor.
That is what happened to me with my old HOB Remora.