SeaClone 100 - Precision Marine HOT 1+ Comparison (pic intense)

[vessxpress1]

This thread is for those of us who don't have room for a sump, need to use a hang-on type skimmer, and may be looking for a change. After a few years with my SeaClone, I was eager to try something else. I haven't ran into anybody here that has a PM HOT 1+ but I thought I'd try it anyway. If somebody here reads this and has one, please feel free to contribute to this thread. I'll take any tips I can get.

I ordered the unit online, Sunday, 6/11 from marinedepot.com along with a few other items. Everything shipped right away, except the skimmer. Skimmer was back ordered. Skimmer arrived yesterday, Monday 6/19, packed heavily in packing peanuts. Took everything out of the box and everything was there with no damage. I proceeded with hooking it up this afternoon.
Assembly was minimal and amounted to wrapping teflon tape (included in box w/ pump) around 4, male threaded ends. 2 tube ends and 2 barbed plug ends. Then screwing the two tubes in place, inserting a barbed plug in the end of one, and then plugging the Maxi-jet 1200 into the barbed plug.

Directions were OK, but I'm glad they weren't trying to describe anything more detailed. Both phone numbers on warranty sheet were disconnected. I found that to be disappointing.
Anyway, on with the pics......

[vessxpress1]

First off, here's my 2nd SeaClone I bought. Roughly one year old and filled with coraline algae. Last week I thoroughly cleaned the pump, but was still not impressed with the performance.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/vessxpress1/PM%20skimmer/newskimmer001.jpg


And the collection cup. Tank is 3 weeks removed from a water change and this should be going crazy right now after fixing the air line that has been clogged for the last couple days.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/vessxpress1/PM%20skimmer/newskimmer002.jpg

Any life in there......????

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/vessxpress1/PM%20skimmer/newskimmer003.jpg

Not really.

[Saltz Creep]

Alrighty then.

[vessxpress1]

I wasn't planning on hooking up an external collection cup yet so I decided to stuff a small part of a napkin and then some silicone in the barbed outlet to close it off for now and also make for easy removal when I want to. No biggy.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/vessxpress1/PM%20skimmer/newskimmer004.jpg

Then had supper, put the PM skimmer together, and made a final check on the SeaClone....

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/vessxpress1/PM%20skimmer/newskimmer005.jpg

Some foam development, but this foam continually was pushed up and down. It's on it's way back down in this shot...... pretty typical.

[vessxpress1]

And a few side by side comparisons.........

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/vessxpress1/PM%20skimmer/newskimmer006.jpg


Collection cups

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/vessxpress1/PM%20skimmer/newskimmer007.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/vessxpress1/PM%20skimmer/newskimmer008.jpg


http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/vessxpress1/PM%20skimmer/newskimmer009.jpg

[vessxpress1]

So then I put it on the tank and was pleasantly suprised how little it encroaches on the inside of the tank. Just a 3/4" PVC elbow and the pump is kept much higher and in the corner of the tank, as opposed to the middle where you can really see it. So then I plugged the thing in and let it fill. Immediately a leak at the collection cup! :mad2: I was not happy. I turned the blue lever back and quickly dropped the water level back down, took the cup off and called marinedepot. They say, my gasket may be bad. I had just assumed it was good. On closer inspection, I couldn't believe it. The glue used to put the acrylic together had dripped down the tube inside of the gasket and was protruding beyond the gasket!

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/vessxpress1/PM%20skimmer/newskimmer012.jpg

You can see the ring of glue inside the gasket. The whole thing needed to be ground down.

[geckofrog]

Why are you comparing these two? Clearly they are on different turf

[vessxpress1]

Another angle of the excess glue...

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/vessxpress1/PM%20skimmer/newskimmer013.jpg


Grinding it down.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/vessxpress1/PM%20skimmer/newskimmer014.jpg



This pic you see the flush side on the right, raised glue on the left

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/vessxpress1/PM%20skimmer/newskimmer015.jpg


and finally ground down flush including a glob in the corner

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/vessxpress1/PM%20skimmer/newskimmer016.jpg

[vessxpress1]

My supervisor

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/vessxpress1/PM%20skimmer/newskimmer011.jpg



Here it is mounted on the tank.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/vessxpress1/PM%20skimmer/newskimmer017.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/vessxpress1/PM%20skimmer/newskimmer019.jpg

They recommend keeping the water level at 1" up into the collection cup (I marked with a black marker). This is the area where it leaked. Not leaking now.

[vessxpress1]

Here's the pic that should have been in the last post. Water up in the collection cup. As this new pump is breaking in, it's very hard to keep the water at any given level right now.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/vessxpress1/PM%20skimmer/newskimmer018.jpg


I dropped it down to here to be safe during the break in.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/vessxpress1/PM%20skimmer/newskimmer020.jpg

Water level is controled with air intake (exactly the same as seaclone) and/or the blue ball valve on the return line. The intake is 1/2" and the return is 3/4" so right now, the ball valve is nearly half closed to maintain the water level here. It's been going up and down and this is all I have for now. No spectacular foam shots but will update over the next couple days.

[vessxpress1]

I read the thread about the Deltec MCE6000 and wish I would have read it earlier as this skimmer was shipping at the time I read the post. I might have just saved up and tried the Deltec, but I'll give this a chance.
Initial reaction to this skimmer is I'm reasonably happy so far. Despite the glue problem and using the exact same pump as the seaclone, this skimmer is much larger and I think a lot better design. The pump is located higher and closer to the skimmer and the intake is much higher on the side, which should help in having enough power to push more foam up the tube. I'm curious if there might be a different, better pump to use with this skimmer. I'm sure there probably is.

This is nothing new to most people here but the SeaClone, just analyzing it from my own perspective, really isn't a very good design. I think the tube in the cup going all the way up to the lid is detrimental for one. The junk collects very fast in this area and the foam is almost repelled back down the tube, instead of spilling over. If you'll notice on the PM, the lid is much higher and will not interfere with the foam spilling over.

The water also has to be pumped much too far on a seaclone and I question how practical of an idea it is as to how effective the tornado of bubbles is that it creates. It would seem that all of the bubbles are packed tight in the tornado having a lot of contact with each other and not necessarily enough contact with all of the water within the chamber. I think the water is also too quickly moved through it to be effective.
Anyway, we'll see how this PM pans out in the next couple days.

[vessxpress1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7598158#post7598158 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by geckofrog
Why are you comparing these two? Clearly they are on different turf

It's probably more of a review of this PM skimmer and what to expect if anybody out there was thinking about getting one. I used the SeaClone mainly as a size difference comparison. I'm guessing a lot of people may be in the same boat I was, as in owning a SeaClone (they are pretty common) and maybe looking for an upgrade. It's just intended to be a helpful review for a skimmer I haven't seen reviewed here. If I would have bought a CSS, I wouldn't have done a review.

[reefnewbie54321]

If you were looking for a good hang on skimmer why not try the Aqua C Remora Skimmers? I have never had one but I hear they are some top notch hang on skimmers. Atleast you ditched the Seaclone ... Thats a big step in the right direction.

[vessxpress1]

After the first 24 hrs, the skimmer is still simmering (24-48 hr break in stated in the directions) but the foam is starting to hold together a little better. The water level is starting to become a little more controlable. I bumped the water level up to the bottom of the top portion of the collection cup. The actual collection cup, as you may have seen, is a pretty large assembly and I was not sure what the directions meant by 1" up in the collection cup. I thought where I placed the black line was where they were talking about but I could be wrong. It seems to work better with the level bumped up to the bottom of the last tube in the collection cup.

I'm really happy with how the return works on this unit. Really good design. It's very hard for any micro bubbles to enter the tank. As you can see in the side-by-side comparison posted above, inside the skimmer, the return line has that 90 degree elbow at the very bottom, pointing down. So the whole canister is full of microbubbles but for the most part, no bubbles go down in this area at all, even though they're bouncing around in there. I haven't seen any go back to the tank.

[Jeffie]

Looks like it's not pulling in very much air?

If anyone ever has a new skimmer they want to break in quick so they don't have to go thru the break in cycle. Throw it in a tote of SW and dump a quarter cup or more of skimmate into it and let it run for a few minutes. This will almost instantly jump start the skimmer or squirt some skimmate with a turkey baster by the intake of the pump or pour some into the body of the skimmer

[Lunchbucket]

i wish you luck w/ the HOT-1. haven't heard much good out of them in years. then aqua-c came out w/ the remora and blew them out of the water.

keep posting pics of the reaction chamber...there really doesnt' seem to be much for bubbles in there

Deltec seems to have the best HOT skimmer from what i have heard. there really isn't much out there for the HOT people :( i guess one more reason to get a sump...you can get a great skimmer easier.

Euro-Reef is coming out w/ a HOT skimmer soon i believe

Lunchbucket

[vessxpress1]

This is my next skimmer for now, and I'm sure won't be my last. There's a lot of adjusting on this thing between the blue ball valve and the air intake. There are more bubbles and foam in it now. I'll post pics tomorrow. That pic was about 10 min. after I put it on the tank so I was still messing around.

Will be interesting to see what Euroreef comes out with for a HOT model. I'd think that'd be a nice market to corner if it were possible, given the somewhat limited availability of decent models.

[steve the plumb]

I had the remora pro(its sitting in a bucket with my old skimmer secloneand some other skimmer I have ).I am running the deltec mce 600.Its a much better skimmer than the remora.I also have a pacific coast skimmer in my sump.Its a copy of the super skimmer.I find that skimmer works well and works better than my remora.So far deltec works the best and is the most consistant skimmer.My pc goes nuts when I shut off the skimmer and restart.The deltec only did that in the first 3 to 4 weeks after that it remained stable.I worry about a power failure because I don't want the pc to overflow.It has to be cleaned every 3 dor 4 days to prevent this problem.I also find that the water level changes sometimes after feeding or when its shut off.It needs to be adjusted a few times after being shut off the water level changes for some reason this is wht the collection cup must be clean.This doesn't happen with the deltec.

[vessxpress1]

Day 2


Well, 48 hrs later and I'm very frustrated. The directions say have patience but I'm running out. I've left the tank very dirty in order to help see this thing start working and I'm not impressed.

It's still impossible to set the water level anywhere. I came home and the level is clear down at the label:

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/vessxpress1/PM%20skimmer/newskimmerday2001.jpg

I still don't know where to set it at if I could. Either here:

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/vessxpress1/PM%20skimmer/newskimmerday2002.jpg

Or here:

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/vessxpress1/PM%20skimmer/newskimmerday2003.jpg

Once you get the water level up there, foam starts actually going up the tube in the cup but.....it won't leave the tube! You get a big mass of foam, then a large bubble starts forming behind it and looks like it's going to push it all out. The bubble gets larger, then pops, and the foam falls back in the tube.

In this pic, the water level is all the way up in the collection cup tube:

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/vessxpress1/PM%20skimmer/newskimmerday2004.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/vessxpress1/PM%20skimmer/newskimmerday2005.jpg

None of this foam came out of the tube. Within a minute the water level is dropping again:

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/vessxpress1/PM%20skimmer/newskimmerday2006.jpg

Air adjustment is at 1-1/2 revolutions open. Blue ball valve is over half way closed. I don't feel this thing is precise enough to be able to 'tweak' one way or the other in order to maintain a water level. The pump's got to be fluctuating a lot. You can mess around and mess around with them both and the level will increase or decrease but never stay put.

There's also a high possibility of having a flood with this skimmer. The water lever is controlled by closing off the much larger return line, down to over halfway closed. So if the air line ever clogs up with calcium deposits, like it did with the seaclone, pure water will be pumped into this skimmer faster than it can evacuate. This could be a real danger. The air line will need to be replaced frequently in order to keep a tight fit. The seaclone at least couldn't flood.

[vessxpress1]

Man, sorry guys. I very stupidly deleted a bunch of the pics in photobucket to try to reduce the clutter, not realizing they'd be deleted here.

[vessxpress1]

Just got off the phone with customer service at marinedepot.com. They say the optimum water level is all the way down at the grey flange, below my 1": mark:

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/vessxpress1/PM%20skimmer/newskimmerday2006.jpg

With this being the case, this skimmer has a long way to go before it's broken in. They also told me the plastic can have oils on it from the manufacturer and may take 1-2 weeks to break down, and then it should start working like a charm. So, I guess I'll wait to update until something starts happening.

[Jeffie]

We run 6 different PM skimmers on 5 different tanks for our 10,000 gallon system. call up PM. Ask for Michael sigman( the owner). He generally answers the phone. He is a great guy to talk to and will help you get your skimmer working right. Still looks like it is not pulling in very much air. he'll probably have you send him the pics. He WILL help you get it working correctly...Definitely worth a call..

http://www.precisionmarine.com/index.html

[Jeffie]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7610196#post7610196 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by vessxpress1
Just got off the phone with customer service at marinedepot.com. They say the optimum water level is all the way down at the grey flange, below my 1": mark:

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/vessxpress1/PM%20skimmer/newskimmerday2006.jpg

With this being the case, this skimmer has a long way to go before it's broken in. They also told me the plastic can have oils on it from the manufacturer and may take 1-2 weeks to break down, and then it should start working like a charm. So, I guess I'll wait to update until something starts happening.

Do you have any skimmate you can pour into it or a frind somewhere close that may have some? This will break it in instantly...