Please post your biased opinions :)

[kris4647]

I started a thread in the Filtration forums considering the relative merits of KZ and ATB.

I'm not sucking up to you guys, my preferance is ATB considering Victor's customer service is a step above the competition and the product design is solid as I've seen since I bought my BK.

I'm sure though all of you saw the KZ threads out there and would like your candid opinions of why you chose ATB and not KZ considering the design similarities.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1360158

Love to see Hahn in there if you wouldnt mind sir :).

I'd also like an external please Victor ;)
Thanks for your time
Kris

[GSMguy]

the KZ does not work correctly out of the box it requires you to replace their cheap beckett with a better one and the pump that they supply has restart issues.

the ATB is simple we know how much air they are pulling and they dont take days to start up after feeding the tank.

Besides the cone shape their is not much in common.

[victor90]

Kris @ the end of april we will get the external test samples. Hans will have the xl external
Greg Carroll will be testing the large external
Thanks for the comments on the customer service like yourself i'm a little crazy hobbyists and still a consumer so I always treat people the way I would like to be treated as a customer

[kris4647]

PM me if you need another Large tester :).

[recife111]

Kris @ the end of april we will get the external test samples.
Do you have any photos what it looks like??

[victor90]

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee95/atbusa/DSCN5448.jpg
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee95/atbusa/abc_DSCN5438.jpg
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee95/atbusa/abc_DSCN5428.jpg

[recife111]

Looks like a very nice solid skimmer, Only thing is that the pump takes up lots of space,

[hahnmeister]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12235056#post12235056 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by GSMguy
the KZ does not work correctly out of the box it requires you to replace their cheap beckett with a better one and the pump that they supply has restart issues.

the ATB is simple we know how much air they are pulling and they dont take days to start up after feeding the tank.

Besides the cone shape their is not much in common.

The KZ's were no doubt designed for 220v/50Hz, but when going 110v, the pumps lose out on startup torque so much, which is why they have startup problems. You end up having to remove the pump when starting, then putting it back on after it gains 'momentum'.

The ATB's have bubble plates, KZ's dont.

Due to the US KZ's being 20% faster (when they do get started), the motoras have a higher throughput, so some have complained about microbubble problems.

Both have cone bodies though, so benefits there are similar.

I do like the 'waterlock' neck on the KZ's... its actually alot like the system tunze uses on their master DOCs. It uses the water pressure itself to create a seal around the neck, so as long as the waterline inside the body isnt higher than the bottom of the cup, its sealed just by gravity... no o-rings or unions... just lift the cup off the skimmer body. I have suggested such a system in the past to Anton to eliminate the need for o-rings all together, esp on the internal models. Who knows...

What I think it has really come down to is that ATB actually went through a redesign for the US market, so things all match up well. In the process, the 220v line ended up getting improved as well so it was a win-win, but really, you dont have to worry about all the 110v-220v transition problems since the skimmers were just redone all together. KZ OTOH, bought the skimmers in bulk from Taiwan, so there will be no 'redesign' going on for the US skimmers until the 'thousand' skimmers they currently have are sold... not likely any time soon. Last I looked, Thomas was looking for a different pump for the US KZ's... its been a while and I havent heard anything though.