Sell me on the 9415

[Allentown]

I'm looking for a skimmer for my new system.

I love the Vertex and RO clones and am pretty much sold on them except one thing.

I do have to adjust the stand pipe periodically to dial it in....this is standard I know.

However I am gone 4 to 5 days a week and the Tunze has both auto adjustment and overfoam protection which might better suit my situation.

Some say neither feature work and that you have to do manual adjustments on it anyway...others say the former group doesn't understand how the skimmer works and that they just need to leave theirs alone and it will work as the DOC builds up. The former group says the latter is crazy and that they much prefer a gate valve or stand pipe and the traditional skimmer.

Tunze doesn't even make it into peoples top 10 a lot of the time (although it does for some).

Okay....given that I travel for my job..i am still thinking the best choice for ME might be different than the average.

Please educate me here.... my tank specs are in the sig.

I am strongly looking at either a RO super cone 225, the Vertex, or trying something different with an aquamaxx brand.

Tunze only came on my radar when I saw "self adjusting"

[rvitko]

You do still need to adjust the 9415, what it does do is that in a situation where there was a change to the surface tension of the water that would cause a foam over is that an intermediate chamber restricts the air flow automatically to prevent a foam over.

Both sides are partially correct.

One side is impatient and can't leave things alone so it never works right. In general and this goes for all skimmers, you don't see the results of an adjustment instantly, it takes at least a few hours. Skimming is very similar to whipping egg whites, the protein is the whites and the bubbling/churning of the skimmer is the whisk, it isn't instantaneous. A sufficient amount of proteins needs to rise up in the cup to form a foam head. Most of the complaints I get are people that are constantly tweaking the air or riser tube height (both are adjustable) instead of making very small adjustments and giving it a half day if not a full day between further adjustments. Adjust by what collects in the cup and not some magical notion of how high bubbles are rising in the tube, that never works.

The other side is partially lucky or starting with a fairly new set up so the skimmer breaks in with the tank. They don't have a surplus of organics that built up so the skimmer is much more controllable from day one, vs several months or years of organic build up, add a strong skimmer and it is working overtime for a month or more and hard to adjust and control until it has removed the waste load that had accumulated.

It is not an automatically adjusting design, I don't know that that could exist, however, once it is set up, assuming the water level stays stable, it can automatically compensate for the events which would typically cause a skimmer freak out where it foams over and the cup fills with water. Since needle wheel pumps work in such a way that adjustments are just changing the ratio of air to water and not the total volume, as we restrict air, water increases, so the discharge of water will become very high and turbulent after the air is choked off, it is not a perfect system, but it is the best anyone has yet devised for this problem. Truth is, if you buy a well made skimmer, with a good pump (to me this would mean a pump from Europe, Japan or the US) you will likely be happy with it, buy what fits your sump and water level, most of the rest is mostly marketing gimmicks and not something that will make it work any better or worse, though one particular feature may be make or break for your unique application. I think we charge a fair price for a well designed skimmer with a good pump, but other companies do as well. We have a 2 year warranty which people rarely have to use but other companies have good warranties as well.

[Rwinfrey]

Just buy it easiest skimmer I have ever owned... And I am a skimmer nut. I have had around 15 different types. And as far as usability this will be my last.....

[figuerres]

Originally Posted by rvitko

You do still need to adjust the 9415, what it does do is that in a situation where there was a change to the surface tension of the water that would cause a foam over is that an intermediate chamber restricts the air flow automatically to prevent a foam over.

Both sides are partially correct.

One side is impatient and can't leave things alone so it never works right. In general and this goes for all skimmers, you don't see the results of an adjustment instantly, it takes at least a few hours. Skimming is very similar to whipping egg whites, the protein is the whites and the bubbling/churning of the skimmer is the whisk, it isn't instantaneous. A sufficient amount of proteins needs to rise up in the cup to form a foam head. Most of the complaints I get are people that are constantly tweaking the air or riser tube height (both are adjustable) instead of making very small adjustments and giving it a half day if not a full day between further adjustments. Adjust by what collects in the cup and not some magical notion of how high bubbles are rising in the tube, that never works.

The other side is partially lucky or starting with a fairly new set up so the skimmer breaks in with the tank. They don't have a surplus of organics that built up so the skimmer is much more controllable from day one, vs several months or years of organic build up, add a strong skimmer and it is working overtime for a month or more and hard to adjust and control until it has removed the waste load that had accumulated.

It is not an automatically adjusting design, I don't know that that could exist, however, once it is set up, assuming the water level stays stable, it can automatically compensate for the events which would typically cause a skimmer freak out where it foams over and the cup fills with water. Since needle wheel pumps work in such a way that adjustments are just changing the ratio of air to water and not the total volume, as we restrict air, water increases, so the discharge of water will become very high and turbulent after the air is choked off, it is not a perfect system, but it is the best anyone has yet devised for this problem. Truth is, if you buy a well made skimmer, with a good pump (to me this would mean a pump from Europe, Japan or the US) you will likely be happy with it, buy what fits your sump and water level, most of the rest is mostly marketing gimmicks and not something that will make it work any better or worse, though one particular feature may be make or break for your unique application. I think we charge a fair price for a well designed skimmer with a good pump, but other companies do as well. We have a 2 year warranty which people rarely have to use but other companies have good warranties as well.

it's really funny to me in reading this as it again repeats my #1 thing for us to learn:
In a reef tank only bad things happen fast!

to run a reef tank you need to take it slow and do a lot of study and measure and take notes and make only single small changes at one time so you can tell what change did what.
if we get in a rush and mess with to many things at one time we tend to de-stabilize the system and get random crashes , and stuff that we then try to fix by making more changes ..... that kind of reaction to change never works.

so go slow, take time, do the research, test the theory and see if it is proven or disproven. then you learn more and know what you have done for sure.

[DDRR]

I've had a 9415 running on my tank for a year. It pulls a lot of waste, it's fairly quiet, and hasn't had any problems. I highly recommend this skimmer or just about any Tunze product.

[jh2pizza]

I love my Tunze skimmer.

[Allentown]

Originally Posted by figuerres

it's really funny to me in reading this as it again repeats my #1 thing for us to learn:
In a reef tank only bad things happen fast!

to run a reef tank you need to take it slow and do a lot of study and measure and take notes and make only single small changes at one time so you can tell what change did what.
if we get in a rush and mess with to many things at one time we tend to de-stabilize the system and get random crashes , and stuff that we then try to fix by making more changes ..... that kind of reaction to change never works.

so go slow, take time, do the research, test the theory and see if it is proven or disproven. then you learn more and know what you have done for sure.

To be fair, "slow" can be bad to. "Slow" on my 90 had me lazy about doing water changes, after 2 years I had only added about 8 corals and I never really got around to fully buying the equipment I really needed to make it run like I wanted. This time around I made sure to set it up to make the maintance easier and buy 90% of the equipment I will need for good functioning right up front. I am also being more aggressive about keeping the water changed, filter media fresh, skimmer clean and testing the water.

We will see which gets the better results but "set it and forget it" really wasn't ideal for me.

[sean obergfell]

Roger I respect your honest response..... I am aTunze fan.... Quality and integrity all in the same package.... Rare!!

You mentioned pumps from Europe, Japan, US.....
Would you be more specific and let me know what name brands these would be?
Thanks

[figuerres]

Originally Posted by sean obergfell

Roger I respect your honest response..... I am aTunze fan.... Quality and integrity all in the same package.... Rare!!

You mentioned pumps from Europe, Japan, US.....
Would you be more specific and let me know what name brands these would be?
Thanks

I suspect that he will not want to say a lot but I know that there have been some companies that have violated patent law and made cheap copies of many things, they tend to come from an Asian country near japan that we all know.... nuff said I think ....
buyer be ware!

[jassimps]

Here's an unboxing video of the skimmer Tunze 9415. I purchase it during Black Friday/ Cyber Monday sale from an online retailer.

The only con for me was that I had to order this strainer part #3 for the intake pump however cheap still a minor inconvenience.

The pros for me are; (1) it's truly a set-it and forget-it skimmer, (2)collection cup last a full week for me before requiring maintenance. I have it elevated on 4" risers so its sitting in approx. 6.5 inches of water (center chamber of sump). I run it 24/7 so I can tell when it idles compared with a skimmer constantly foaming proteins out the water. I found the (3) ease and convenience of removing the collection cup for cleaning a good fit me. Lastly, (4) it works with the combination sump-size that fits the stand and the height of the aquarium stand when removing for maintenance or general sump cleaning. It fits perfectly into the CRY36S36S Trigger system Crystal sump (36″ long x 14″ wide x 15″ high).

https://youtu.be/lWg8Tl1cPdE

[rvitko]

We don't include the strainer on the 9415 as it will not fit with the base against the floor and the pump oriented in the correct direction. It is included with the 9410 and 9430.

[rvitko]

Sean, I missed your last post,

Sicce, Tunze, Eheim, Danner, all make pumps that you an at least count on to not shock you and have the basic safeties and be reasonably reliable. I don't know of any made in Japan pumps, but I am sure they are out their.