Royal-Exclusiv / Vertex Cone Skimmer Club

[slief]

Originally Posted by aravindk

I want to add a neck cleaner and waste collector to my Vertex 200. However the skimmer neck outlet is situated below the sump (pl see the attached pic). I also don't have much room left inside the sump. Any idea how I can plumb the waste collector?

Looking at your setup, you have very limited options for a waste collector. You could try to suspend a 1 gallon container in the sump or add a small bulkhead to the side of your sump and use a quick release valve setup between the collection cup and the bulkhead. That will allow you to remove the cup for maintenance.

This is my waste collection setup. It's a 1 gallon Nalgene container. Those little quick release valves are made by Fluval.

[MFR]

Hello:

I have the OG Alpha 250 that I got from PA a few years back. My pump has failed. It spins and stops and then stays stopped. I've cleaned it to no avail. I have never had a problem with the pump over the years. Wher can I get a replacement/fix?

Upon further inspection I notice that the black housing where the cable attaches to the body of the pump has detached, though the visible wires appear attached.

Seems to be like the pump is spent.

Thanks for help and or suggestions.

MFR

[unze]

Does anyone have a idea how much ozone a bubble king skimmers can handle.

[xclusive252]

I have a question I think can most likely only be answered here. I have the 170 and I cant seem to get it to collect waste. The tank is a 110g with a 40g sump and a 12g frag tank. I have had it up and running for a little over a year. Its SPS dominate and I have 2 clowns 3 tangs 2 mandarins 2 cardinals 3 springer damsels and 2 wrasse. That is my bio load. The skimmer is in about 8.5"-8.75" of water. I cant seem to get the cup to get any waste in it for about 3 months now. Before it was working but now the bubbles wont even reach the bottom of the cup where you the body meets the cup. Can someone please give me some advice?

[Halfmoon61]

Air intake blocked? Pump intake blocked? I get a rogue snail in my pump intake now and then, I know it's there when I see what you're describing.

[swnoob]

I purchased one of the first batches of Alpha 200. I recently have been having issues with the motor block which was just replaced with the laguna 1500. It now seems as though i have a slight vibration.

The impeller looks fine but i did notice a slight imperfection on the shaft. Looks like it's worn out a bit at the edge of the magnet part. Maybe 1/8" diameter size. Would this cause the shaft to vibrate? If so, where can i purchase the shaft?

Thanks

[slief]

Originally Posted by swnoob

I purchased one of the first batches of Alpha 200. I recently have been having issues with the motor block which was just replaced with the laguna 1500. It now seems as though i have a slight vibration.

The impeller looks fine but i did notice a slight imperfection on the shaft. Looks like it's worn out a bit at the edge of the magnet part. Maybe 1/8" diameter size. Would this cause the shaft to vibrate? If so, where can i purchase the shaft?

Thanks

It could but I'd be surprised if the shaft is actually worn down much if any. The metal is much harder than the motor block or the bushing. If memory serves me, there is a removable bushing in the block that the impeller shaft sits in. That bushing is held in place by a small 0-riing. Pull the bushing out and inspect it. If that bushing is not inserted properly, you will get noise and vibrations. My guess is that is the root cause of your issue. Let me see if I can find you some instructions for putting the bushing back in place. There is a right way and a wrong way and if the o-ring isn't seated properly, the bushing will not be centered.

[slief]

Here is a screen shot of the bushing install instructions for the RD-1500. Be sure to pay attention to the bushing direction, o-ring placement and how to properly seat the ring and bushing into the motor block. It's counter intuitive because you insert the bushing into the block first. Then you need to make sure the o-ring is evenly inserted into the groove in the motor block. When you push the bushing in, the o-ring tends to push off the bushing a bit so you need to carefully inspect and push the o-ring into place. In the image below, you can see they show this being done with a flat blade screw driver. You may want to have a flash light handy so you can see into the block to verify alignment. This insures proper alignment and centering of the bushing. If the bushing isn't 100% centered, you will get noise and vibration. Once the bushing is properly installed, then you insert the impeller into the block.

[swnoob]

Thanks slief!

I take a look at it tonight. What I should have tried is running the new motor block with the impeller it came with and see if I get the same vibration as with the alpha 200 impeller.

I hope Jeremy chimes in about replacement parts.

[slief]

Originally Posted by swnoob

Thanks slief!

I take a look at it tonight. What I should have tried is running the new motor block with the impeller it came with and see if I get the same vibration as with the alpha 200 impeller.

I hope Jeremy chimes in about replacement parts.

Glad to help. You shouldn't need to replace anything so parts should not be a concern. Just pull it apart, remove the bushing, inspect it and reinstall it per the instructions. The motor itself which is the same as your RD motor block will not generate any vibration as there are no moving parts in it. The only moving part is the impeller and provided your shaft isn't bent which I am sure it's not, then the issue will reside in the bushing or bearing as Royal Exclusiv refers to it. That particular part usually doesn't wear out. I've seen this issue before. It turned out to be misalignment of the bushing. As such, I am almost 100% certain that is the root cause of your vibration and removing and reinserting the bushing properly (per the instructions above) will solve your issue. If you were closer, I could fix it for you in just a couple minutes.

If you end up needing parts which I highly doubt you will, send an email to sales@premiumaquatics.com. Jeremy is no longer there but I'm sure Jason, Luke or Sam will respond and get you squared away. If for some reason they can help you with parts for that pump, let me know but they should be able to get them if they don't have parts on hand.

[swnoob]

Originally Posted by slief

You shouldn't need to replace anything. Just pull it apart, remove the bushing, inspect it and reinstall it per the instructions. The motor itself will not generate any vibration as there are no moving parts. The only moving part is the impeller and provided your shaft isn't bent which I am sure it's not, then the issue will reside in the bushing or bearing as Royal Exclusiv refers to it. That particular part usually doesn't wear out and I've seen this issue before. It turned out to be misalignment of the bushing. As such, I am almost 100% certain that is the root cause of your vibration and reinserting the bushing properly will solve your issue. If you were closer, I could fix it for you in just a couple minutes.

If you end up needing parts which I highly doubt you will, send an email to sales@premiumaquatics.com. Jeremy is no longer there but I'm sure Jason, Luke or Sam will respond and get you squared away. If for some reason they can help you with parts for that pump, let me know but they should be able to get them if they don't have parts on hand.

Would it make sense to install the impeller the laguna came with and see if I get that same vibration? If I don't that means the bearing is seated properly and the issue is the impeller.

I will look at the bearing will I have the housing apart.

[slief]

Originally Posted by swnoob

Would it make sense to install the impeller the laguna came with and see if I get that same vibration? If I don't that means the bearing is seated properly and the issue is the impeller.

I will look at the bearing will I have the housing apart.

I think that would be a waste of time. I'm pretty confident about the issue. Did you use the bearing from your original pump or use the bearing that came with the new motor? I'm not sure if they are the same or not. That bearing is what aligns the impeller so that it's straight within the motor block. Either way, you will want to pull the bearing and reinstall it. It may look OK but the tolerances on that are bearing are pretty tight and if it's slightly out of alignment, you will get a vibration as a result of the impeller not spinning in correct alignment within the motor body.

[swnoob]

Originally Posted by slief

I think that would be a waste of time. I'm pretty confident about the issue. Did you use the bearing from your original pump or use the bearing that came with the new motor? I'm not sure if they are the same or not. That bearing is what aligns the impeller so that it's straight within the motor block. Either way, you will want to pull the bearing and reinstall it. It may look OK but the tolerances on that are pretty tight and if it's slightly out of alignment, you will get a vibration as a result of the impeller not spinning in correct alignment within the motor body.

I used the bearing that came with the laguna. I will pull both and compare.

Thanks

[slief]

Originally Posted by swnoob

I used the bearing that came with the laguna. I will pull both and compare.

Thanks

If they are the same, that would be a good thing as you would have a spare part.

[swnoob]

Originally Posted by slief

If they are the same, that would be a good thing as you would have a spare part.

how is the bearing removed from the motor block? it seems to be a fairly tight fit. should i try pulling it out with a pair if needle nose pliers? i'm afraid i may gouge the metal of where the impeller sits.

[swnoob]

Originally Posted by slief

If they are the same, that would be a good thing as you would have a spare part.

i believe my problem may be the bushing on the impeller. It has a lot more play than the bushing in the motor block when it sits in the shaft. It wiggles around causing the impeller so also wiggle around when assembled.

Is this normal?

[swnoob]

Originally Posted by slief

I think that would be a waste of time. I'm pretty confident about the issue. Did you use the bearing from your original pump or use the bearing that came with the new motor? I'm not sure if they are the same or not. That bearing is what aligns the impeller so that it's straight within the motor block. Either way, you will want to pull the bearing and reinstall it. It may look OK but the tolerances on that are bearing are pretty tight and if it's slightly out of alignment, you will get a vibration as a result of the impeller not spinning in correct alignment within the motor body.

i should have gone with my instinct. After messing with the bushing and o-rings for a while I installed the impeller the laguna came with and it ran like a champ. No vibrations. Almost silent. That rules out a bad bushing install.

Now i have to find an impeller. Any suggestions? Premium Aquatics does not any have in stock. Waiting to here back from Proline Aquatics as suggested by Premium.

[slief]

Originally Posted by swnoob

i should have gone with my instinct. After messing with the bushing and o-rings for a while I installed the impeller the laguna came with and it ran like a champ. No vibrations. Almost silent. That rules out a bad bushing install.

Now i have to find an impeller. Any suggestions? Premium Aquatics does not any have in stock. Waiting to here back from Proline Aquatics as suggested by Premium.

Proline would have been my next suggestion. If not the next step would be contact Klaus via PM. I'd wait to hear back from Proline. They may just have them as they are or were the US distributor for Vertex and were at one time for BK.

Now for more questions as I am having a hard time believing your impeller is bad. Did you drop the impeller? A bent shaft would be the next thing that would cause it but if you didn't drop it and it's been working well, there is no reason for the shaft to be bent. How badly marred is the end of the impeller shaft? Would some steel wool clean it up? Is the magnet spinning at all on the shaft? It obviously shouldn't but if it's starting to slip, that could cause similar symptoms. Could the vibration be the adjustable volute? The sleeves that go into volute where the nozzle threads into were a bit loose on mine and if the adjustable volute was in all the way in, it caused the pump to cavitate. Opening it up stopped that. I assume you have the volute backed adjusted and not threaded all the way in? Lastly and probably a stupid question but did you try both bearings with the BK impeller?

[swnoob]

Originally Posted by slief

Proline would have been my next suggestion. If not the next step would be contact Klaus via PM. I'd wait to hear back from Proline. They may just have them as they are or were the US distributor for Vertex and were at one time for BK.

Now for more questions as I am having a hard time believing your impeller is bad. Did you drop the impeller? A bent shaft would be the next thing that would cause it but if you didn't drop it and it's been working well, there is no reason for the shaft to be bent. How badly marred is the end of the impeller shaft? Would some steel wool clean it up? Is the magnet spinning at all on the shaft? It obviously shouldn't but if it's starting to slip, that could cause similar symptoms. Could the vibration be the adjustable volute? The sleeves that go into volute where the nozzle threads into were a bit loose on mine and if the adjustable volute was in all the way in, it caused the pump to cavitate. Opening it up stopped that. I assume you have the volute backed adjusted and not threaded all the way in? Lastly and probably a stupid question but did you try both bearings with the BK impeller?

I could not get the bushing out of the original motor block but the bushing from the new block fit the same on both impellers.

The shaft is fine. It's the ceramic part that is marred in between the pin wheel and the bushing. It has 2 unusual wear marks.

[swnoob]

Originally Posted by slief

Proline would have been my next suggestion. If not the next step would be contact Klaus via PM. I'd wait to hear back from Proline. They may just have them as they are or were the US distributor for Vertex and were at one time for BK.

Now for more questions as I am having a hard time believing your impeller is bad. Did you drop the impeller? A bent shaft would be the next thing that would cause it but if you didn't drop it and it's been working well, there is no reason for the shaft to be bent. How badly marred is the end of the impeller shaft? Would some steel wool clean it up? Is the magnet spinning at all on the shaft? It obviously shouldn't but if it's starting to slip, that could cause similar symptoms. Could the vibration be the adjustable volute? The sleeves that go into volute where the nozzle threads into were a bit loose on mine and if the adjustable volute was in all the way in, it caused the pump to cavitate. Opening it up stopped that. I assume you have the volute backed adjusted and not threaded all the way in? Lastly and probably a stupid question but did you try both bearings with the BK impeller?

The magnet is not spinning on the shaft.

The impeller has never been dropped.

The very first batch of alpha's did not have the adjustable volute.

After your suggestion about trying both bearings i gave it an additional try and finally got the bearing out of the original motor block. Same vibration. No change. It has to be the impeller being slightly worn as shown in the picture and the bushing that sits just below the needle wheel.

[Ajskennels]

hi gang, first time posting in this section so bear with me, anyways i just acquired a Alpha 170 that was sapposed to have a bad pump ( RD 1000), got it home and decided to dry test the pump to see if the block would turn the impeller, it did, so then i decided to get a 5 gallon bucket of water and put the pump in it to see if it would pump, plugged it up and it shot water out of the bucket nearly to the ceiling, so i figured id get a tote and set the skimmer up to see if it would skim, it did with no problems, so i said looks fine to me broke it down and cleaned it up real good, decided to test run it in the same tote b4 i pulled my other skimmer out of the sump and now it won't skim, well not totally anyways, if i remove the nozzle it will skim but still not as good prior to the cleaning, i know for a fact the motor block is good, if i remove the whole intake venturi it will suck my hand tight up to the volute, if i disconnect the pump from the skimmer and leave the venturi off it moves so much water in the tote it looks like a hurricane blowing in it, has anyone else had this problem and if so how did they fix it, and if its already been answered I'm sorry for asking again, i tried reading thru this thread and couldn't find anything

[jackson6745]

Looking to replace my Skimz sm 203 with a 200 mini . I've become accustomed to having a variable speed pump but the Skimz DC pump had many issues. How's the pump performance of the 200 VS13 with RD 3 Mini Speedy? Any performance issues or defects?

Thanks for any input.

[rishu_pepper]

Hello, I am thinking of picking up a Vertex Alpha 170 for my new build, it will have about 200g total volume, with a potentially med/heavy bioload, mostly LPS and some SPS.

Will the 170 suffice? Or should I look at a bigger skimmer?

[bigsink]

Can anyone tell me where I can find the O ring seal gasket under the cup for my Supermarin 250? Part number 333.

[slief]

Originally Posted by bigsink

Can anyone tell me where I can find the O ring seal gasket under the cup for my Supermarin 250? Part number 333.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#o-rings/=w4k7bb