Bubble King Skimmer Club

[clorox]

I don't have one yet, I was deciding whether to buy the skimmer body from a friend that had his pump fail (and went with a different brand) and purchase separately the RD3 or just go with a new DC180 with RD3.

The used skimmer body would make me save about $250

Originally Posted by ArmanS

I'm not sure, I don't see why not but think about it this way.

Why not sell your DC 180 and then buy a new RD3 DC 180.

DC 180 RD3 is ~$1,050.
RD3 50w is ~$670

If you sell your DC 180 skimmer for lets say $400 which is very cheap IMO for a Bubble King Skimmer, you should be able to get at least $500 but to be conservative lets say $400.

Then you pay $1,050 - the $400 you get for your skimmer makes it $650 net.

You actually save $20 and get the new skimmer with the new pump and make someone happy that they got a deal on a Bubble King Skimmer!

[slief]

Originally Posted by clorox

Out of curiosity can a Double Cone 180 with the mini RD700 be switched out for the Red Dragon3 50w Speedy?
Is it just a matter of switching the pump or is there more to it?

Most likely yes but we would need to confirm that with Torsten. There may be have been subtle changes made to the inlet on the double cone 180 to accomodate the new pump although I don't think there was.

If you are going to be at MACNA, there will likely be some show specials there that may save you a bit of money..

If you send me a PM with your email, I can send an email to the guys in Germany as well as RE USA and include you so we can confirm what you need. My guess is that all you would need is the RD skimmer pump.

[jthao]

Hey Scott, saw that you're now with royal exclusiv. Great move on their part, I'm glad that they decided to add someone with your knowledge to the team, and especially someone in CA!! That's awseome! Congrats! (And sorry if im mistaken and it's a different guy)

Anyways, got a question for you: so I'm kind of in between tanks atm. I know they're quite different in water volume, but I was hoping I could keep 1 skimmer that will work for either tank. I have a 200g elos tank and a cadlights 100g tank. I really don't know which tank im going to keep in the long run. As for skimmers, atm I have a supermarin 200 with the AC red dragon 1500, and I have a DC200 with the speedy3 pump. I can also run the SM200 with the speedy3, which is the ultimate skimmer (in my case) but I don't know which is best to keep to run on both (either one or the other) system. I know the 200g tank could be ran with either skimmer, but I don't know if either of those two skimmer would be ok for a 100g tank (40-50g sump). Btw, I also own the vertex 180i, which I originally planned on using on the Cadlights tank, but I would much rather use a BK. I've thought about putting the speedy3 on the vertex, which would make it the DC180 equivalent, but that means I have to keep 2 skimmers to make that work and I'm trying to avoid keeping 2 skimmers. What do u think is the best option in my case?

[slief]

Originally Posted by jthao

Hey Scott, saw that you're now with royal exclusiv. Great move on their part, I'm glad that they decided to add someone with your knowledge to the team, and especially someone in CA!! That's awseome! Congrats!

Anyways, got a question for you: so I'm kind of in between tanks atm. I know they're quite different in water volume, but I was hoping I could keep 1 skimmer that will work for either tank. I have a 200g elos tank and a cadlights 100g tank. I really don't know which tank im going to keep in the long run. As for skimmers, atm I have a supermarin 200 with the AC red dragon 1500, and I have a DC200 with the speedy3 pump. I can also run the SM200 with the speedy3, which is the ultimate skimmer (in my case) but I don't know which is best to keep to run on both (either one or the other) system. I know the 200g tank could be ran with either skimmer, but I don't know if either of those two skimmer would be ok for a 100g tank (40-50g sump). Btw, I also own the vertex 180i, which I originally planned on using on the Cadlights tank, but I would much rather use a BK. I've thought about putting the speedy3 on the vertex, which would make it the DC180 equivalent, but that means I have to keep 2 skimmers to make that work and I'm trying to avoid keeping 2 skimmers. What do u think is the best option in my case?

Both the SM200 and DC200 are really too large for the smaller system. That said, the DC200 would likely be the better choice in large part due to the RD3 pump. That will lend it self better to fine tuning. Another thing you could do is have a sleeve made for the neck of either skimmer. You would need a smaller diameter cylinder that slides into the skimmer neck and a circular piece that the cylinder glues into. The outer diameter of the circular piece should be as large as the OD of the collection cups neck. The idea is that you drop this sleeve into the collection cup and reduce the diameter of the skimmer neck. That will greatly improve either skimmers consistency on the smaller tank and shouldn't cost much. It's a shame the SM200 doesnt have the RD3 because that would be my first choice if you made a neck sleeve.

[jthao]

Thanks for the response. I understand what you mean. Any reason why the speedy3 off the dc200 couldn't be used on the sm200 since the specs are the same? Only difference I see is that the sm200 needs a "coupling" to make the output nozzle a little bigger to fit the bigger silicone tube for the sm200 input pipe on the skimmer body. But I can easilly make it fit with the small silicone over the pumps output nozzle and the sm200 silicone fits snug right over it.

[slief]

Originally Posted by jthao

Thanks for the response. I understand what you mean. Any reason why the speedy3 off the dc200 couldn't be used on the sm200 since the specs are the same? I took them all apart this morning and if I turn the nozzle from the speedy3 to a different low position, it fits perfectly on the sm200 with the silicone of the current set up for the dc200 slips right into the old silicone for the sm200.

Glad to help. No reason not to use the Speedy on the SM200. The SM200 with the RD3 is arguably the best combo in it's size class.. The Red Dragon from the SM200 should also work on the DC200 but you will obviously be taking a hit on resale value if you decide to sell the DC200 with the Red Dragon instead of the RD3.

My only concern would be that the SM200 is better suited for a larger tank than the Double Cone so that neck sleeve would be even more warranted should you decide to hang on to the Supermarin instead of the DC. If it were me, I'd do the neck sleeve with either for a 100 gallon tank. This assuming I was going to run either of those skimmers on a 100 gallon display. Reducing the neck diameter will likely make a huge improvement in terms of consistency on your smaller tank due to those skimmers being pretty oversized for a display that size. Their larger neck diameter is much better suited for the higher amount of DOC's that typically accompany larger displays. With the lower load on the smaller tank, your consistency will be compromised due to not being able to generate enough good foam to keep the neck filled with foam. The big skimmer will drive the DOC's right out and then idle along until they build back up. You will end up having to run it really wet (water level high in the neck) and the skimmer will be sensitive as a result.

[ifarmer]

hi, i am new to this BK world.
was looking for a vertex omega 150 for a while but then came across a bubble king cone 150 at a price that made it hard to walk away so I went and bought it.

Because I'm new to BKs, was not sure I made a good decision with buying a bubble king. The Omega seems to have the same spec and performance

thanks

[slief]

Originally Posted by ifarmer

hi, i am new to this BK world.
was looking for a vertex omega 150 for a while but then came across a bubble king cone 150 at a price that made it hard to walk away so I went and bought it.

Because I'm new to BKs, was not sure I made a good decision with buying a bubble king. The Omega seems to have the same spec and performance

thanks

The BK is FAR superior to the Omega.. I think you made a good decision.

[jthao]

Originally Posted by ifarmer

hi, i am new to this BK world.
was looking for a vertex omega 150 for a while but then came across a bubble king cone 150 at a price that made it hard to walk away so I went and bought it.

Because I'm new to BKs, was not sure I made a good decision with buying a bubble king. The Omega seems to have the same spec and performance

thanks

Basically you're paying for the name, and most importantly, you're paying for the pump. A skimmer is only as good as the pump that's on it.

I have the omega 180i and its sitting right next to a bk sm200 and a double cone 200. I can tell you this: as far as build quality, they're they same. I don't know what kind of acrylic each uses so I can't comment on that, but as far as the thickness of the acrylic, it's the same and the way they're welded together, everything is the same. I'm comparing the 180i though, so I don't know if the 150 is the same or not. The lid on the omega180i and the sm200 are about the same thickness (which is very thick btw), but the lid on the dc200 is a lot thinner. Feels like the other two would take a drop easilly, vs the dc lid seems like itll break, but that's just what I "think", I'm sure none of them would actually break.

What you won't get with the omega is the awesomely insane performance of the red dragon pumps. The omega uses a sicce pump (far cheaper) and I can tell you that the "custom volute" is nothing more than a white cosmetic accessory. It does nothing to help in performance on the pump, besides attach to the front of the sicce pump and holds the nozzle in place(which can be held in place without the volute anyways) and looks pretty.
The red dragon volute on the other hand actually replaces the orignal volute on the pump that it's on. The volute is hollow inside and is where the impeller actually sits and spins.

You made a good decision to go with the bk. Even though I have the omega, and may use it, I always feel like the vertex is a "copy" of the real thing. I know that sounds cheesy, but I feel like if I could have the "real" thing, then why not? I gurantee that if you got the omega, you would always wished secretly that U should've got the bk lol. Now since U got the bk, you will never want anything else. Since I've tried my very first bk back in 2006 (deluxe 200), Ive never wanted to run anything else.

[j.a.c.wester]

Heey people,

I am planning to change my skimmer. I now have a ATI powercone 250I om a 125 gallon display, 22 gallon sump and a 33 gallon fragtank all connected.

I have a sps dominated tank with the following animals

chemon
tang
2 clownfish
2 dragonet goby's
1x lawnmower henky
1x zand goby
2 dragonface pipefish
and a couple of shrimp.

But i just can't get the skimmer to keep up with mij feeding. especialy sinds i changed the pump to the new jebao pump.

hope to hear som idea's

[slief]

Originally Posted by j.a.c.wester

Heey people,

I am planning to change my skimmer. I now have a ATI powercone 250I om a 125 gallon display, 22 gallon sump and a 33 gallon fragtank all connected.

I have a sps dominated tank with the following animals

chemon
tang
2 clownfish
2 dragonet goby's
1x lawnmower henky
1x zand goby
2 dragonface pipefish
and a couple of shrimp.

But i just can't get the skimmer to keep up with mij feeding. especialy sinds i changed the pump to the new jebao pump.

hope to hear som idea's

You have a pretty light stock load. As such, I wouldn't expect a lot of skimmate unless you feed a lot. If you were to go with a BK, the Double Cone 180 would be perfect for your size tank.

[slief]

Originally Posted by Adamc1303

I got a skimmer stand but there is water coming out through the airline tubing hole. See the picture. Also because the water is getting in the airline tubing and causing the pump to make the water bounce up and down in the skimmer.

Adam,
I had vince send me your skimmer for testing. I discussed the volute settings with him and their impact on the skimmer but he indicated that you & or him tried every possible setting and couldn't get it stable. He also indicated that the tank this was one was 30 days old at the time with what I would consider to be a very low nutrient system at present. This was a couple weeks ago so I told him that I would be happy to do some testing on it. Since I own a the SM250, I figured this would be a great opportunity to run some tests on your skimmer to verify my suspicions while also getting some hands on experience with this skimmer.

You had also mentioned water coming from the venturi line hole in the wedge pipe. I went back and looked at your photos and that was an easy one. Once I had your skimmer in front of me I was able to reproduce that and it was the result of the wedge pipe being closed enough to kink the venturi line and not fill the hole in the wedge pipe up well. This also could have had resulted in restricted air flow into the pump which would have the same result as closing the volute up more. Here is a close up of your photo showing the venturi line where it enters the wedge pipe. If you look at the line, you can see the kink and the gap between the venturi line and the wedge hole opening.



None the less, it arrived today. He did a great job in taking care to pack it VERY well. As soon as I got it home, I setup a 20 gallon tank using water from my heavily stocked but well skimmed reef. I also added a bit of nasty skimmate from my SM250 to insure there were plenty of DOC's in the water so there was something for it to skim. I removed the collection cup drain so the simmate could drain back into the sump for consistency purposes but also so it could get a chance to settle in. RE recommends removing the cup completely for the first 24 hours or so but I like my method. Keep in mind that these tests are being done with plenty of dissolved organics in the water so the settings I find in my testing in a controlled environment would not represent the ideal settings for any other tank but instead could serve as a starting point.

I started with a depth of between 6.5 and 6.7 inches and wide open on the wedge pipe. I like to use/adjust the sump level to get the skimmer dialed in and fine tune using the wedge. The idea is to not restrict the effluent line on the skimmer by closing the wedge. If you're going to close the wedge, you shouldn't need to close it much at all.

I've started at 4.5 turns out on the volute. I got a sharpie pen and marked the volute at full closed position drawing a line straight across the top of the white part on the volute and the gray piece that threads into it. This line provides a great point of reference as far as knowing exactly how many turns out you are. Below is the line on the white part. You can't see the line on the gray part because the line is 180* on the other side because I'm at 4.5 full turns out.



Below is a video I took at about the 4.5 hour mark. In 24 hours, It will have settled down a bit so I can do a rough tuning then once it's broken in, I'd have it fine tuned. So far, this thing is a foam making machine. I'm very pleasantly surprised granted I did add skimmate so it had something to skim.


Here is a picture of the collection cup lid 45 or so minutes after the video was shot. Dirty foam was coming out the vent holes and this is right around the 5 hour mark. I've since lowered the sump level to 6.25 knowing that there is a fairly decent load in this test tank and I'm just getting to know this thing.

Some comments. The higher the load, the lower the sump level, the lower the load the higher the sump level. Higher DOC water will result in better/thicker foam so ideal depth would be lower than low DOC water. This also accounts for the fine tuning that you do over the first month. As the skimmer catches up and the DOC's decline the foam head will tend to lower or not generate as dry of bubbles. That's when you do the fine tuning and the first thing I do then is increase the height of the bubbles inside the skimmer. If you start with your wedge wide open, you can close it a fraction of an inch at time to fine tune the level but if you need to go more than 1/8th turn closed than I'd raise the sump level a 1/8th of an inch if at all possible. From there, if the skimmer is stable, I would turn the volute closed a fraction of an inch and see how the skimmer responds. Then go back to the starting point and a fraction of an inch the other direction. All while keeping mental or written notes on how the skimmer responds. Closing the volute will result in higher water level in the skimmer but less air. Opening it will result in more air and lower water levels in the skimmer.

I will update again tomorrow once it's settled down a bit as it starts to build up some slime coating.

[ArmanS]

Scott,

Question for you. On the BK SM 300 they have a new model with only one RD3 60 watt Pump.

Any idea on the performance of this vs the 2 RD3 + Red Dragon Previous version?

Do you see this being better performance wise then the latter?

Thanks! And have a great MACNA Show!

[Klaus Jansen]

Hi Arman ...

Scott is in Washington, so i can answer your question ...

RE change the performance of the SM 300. The neck was reduced and the Pump was tuned to 2500 Liter/h airintake.

The performance is now the same with the Single pump and we reduce the space for this skimmermodel....

Hope it helps....

Klaus

[ArmanS]

Originally Posted by Klaus Jansen D

Hi Arman ...

Scott is in Washington, so i can answer your question ...

RE change the performance of the SM 300. The neck was reduced and the Pump was tuned to 2500 Liter/h airintake.

The performance is now the same with the Single pump and we reduce the space for this skimmermodel....

Hope it helps....

Klaus

Hello Klaus,

Appreciate the quick answer!

Perfect, I really like the fact that it is 1 single pump rather then two. The performance being the same is perfect.

My only question is, does anyone in the USA have access to this new model or will it be a few months until they come state side?

Thank you,
Arman

[slief]

Originally Posted by Klaus Jansen D

Hi Arman ...

Scott is in Washington, so i can answer your question ...

RE change the performance of the SM 300. The neck was reduced and the Pump was tuned to 2500 Liter/h airintake.

The performance is now the same with the Single pump and we reduce the space for this skimmermodel....

Hope it helps....

Klaus

Thank you Klaus!

Originally Posted by ArmanS

Hello Klaus,

Appreciate the quick answer!

Perfect, I really like the fact that it is 1 single pump rather then two. The performance being the same is perfect.

My only question is, does anyone in the USA have access to this new model or will it be a few months until they come state side?

Thank you,
Arman

Armen,
I will double check to see if we have any of the supermarin 300's in stock with you already three & reply back shortly. I know that we have some of the deluxe 300s with the RD's in stock. They are better for dry skim mming but will also wet and wet skim well.

Curiously though, I'd be curious to know your display size and how many fish you have in it. You probably already mentioned it here or elsewhere but I'm responding from my damn iPhone so going back and looking on this thing will make me blind.

These skimmers are very under rated and you really don't want to oversize them. As such I hate to see you get too big of a skimmer for your system. Sometimes less is more. Especially when it comes to these skimmers. On my 480 gallon display with 60+ fish many of which are very large tangs, I chose a superMarin 250 because I'd rather have an efficient skimmer that is always working consistently hard then skimmer that is much larger & hardly has to work and is inconsistent as a result.

Having said that, the smaller neck diameter of the new Supermarin skimmer with Ted single RD3 makes a big difference when it comes to not needing as much of a load while still being consistent.

[ArmanS]

Originally Posted by slief

Thank you Klaus!



Armen,
I will double check to see if we have any of the supermarin 300's in stock with you already three & reply back shortly. I know that we have some of the deluxe 300s with the RD's in stock. They are better for dry skim mming but will also wet and wet skim well.

Curiously though, I'd be curious to know your display size and how many fish you have in it. You probably already mentioned it here or elsewhere but I'm responding from my damn iPhone so going back and looking on this thing will make me blind.

These skimmers are very under rated and you really don't want to oversize them. As such I hate to see you get too big of a skimmer for your system. Sometimes less is more. Especially when it comes to these skimmers. On my 480 gallon display with 60+ fish many of which are very large tangs, I chose a superMarin 250 because I'd rather have an efficient skimmer that is always working consistently hard then skimmer that is much larger & hardly has to work and is inconsistent as a result.

Having said that, the smaller neck diameter of the new Supermarin skimmer with Ted single RD3 makes a big difference when it comes to not needing as much of a load while still being consistent.

Scott! Hope your enjoying Macna, next year I hope to meet you at Macna 16!

I want to put this on a 400g DT with a total volume of ~800g, heavily stocked. a SM 250 may work but I think the 300 with the new single pump would be the better choice. Also, if I ever upgraded I would have the room.

Thanks,
Arman

[slief]

Originally Posted by ArmanS

Scott! Hope your enjoying Macna, next year I hope to meet you at Macna 16!

I want to put this on a 400g DT with a total volume of ~800g, heavily stocked. a SM 250 may work but I think the 300 with the new single pump would be the better choice. Also, if I ever upgraded I would have the room.

Thanks,
Arman

Thanks! MACNA as been a lot of fun. I did a presentation in front of 250+ people for the Neptune Apex User group here on Friday morning which was fu. I got to meet a number of forum members and others that I've communicated with over the years which was nice. There was some neat products and good drinks too. Not looking to my 6:45am flight out of Dullas tomorrow morning though.

As far as the skimmer goes. Here is some food for thought. First, don't consider your overall volume when choosing one of these skimmers. Our sumps and refugiums don't contribute to an increase our bio load, instead they are filters that reduce it unlike the display which is where our loads are concentrated. Now, not to be skeptical, but I hear heavy bio load all the time and all too often, it's a term that isn't used accurately. I can't tell you how many times I went through that discussion over the last few days. Heavy fish load can be as high and 1/2" per gallon depending on fish size. That would be a lot of damsels, chromis or anthias in a 400 gallon tank. Your display size is really the bare minimum for an SM300.

I have about 60 fish in my 480g display (650g overs all volume) and several of those fish are 7-8" very fat tangs and a Fox Face. I have several wrasses, Anthias and dozens of other fish. My tank is fed 3 times a day and the evening feeding is a very heavy one consisting of a full 12" square sheet of nori and silver dollar size chuck of LRS frozen food as well as a good size chunk of PE mysis. The other 2 feedings are supplemental and consist of pellets and thawed frozen mysis via auto feeders. I consider my load moderately heavy.

I chose a Supermarin 250 because I knew the SM300 would have been oversized for my tank and I wanted a skimmer that would be hard working and consistent instead of an oversized skimmer that would hardly have to work and lack consistency as a result. Now that was a year ago and since then, RE has decreased the neck diameter a bit which will improve the consistency of the skimmer under smaller loads. They also went to the single RD3 pump. I still think think the SM250 would be just fine but you could get away with the new 300 depending on what your idea of a heavy load is. You might find that you have to run the skimmer really wet to maintain consistency but if you had to or wanted to you could get your hands on an acrylic cylinder (1/4" thick material would be ideal) with an OD the size of the skimmers neck ID. Cut it to the skimmers neck length. Then have a little circular ring made with an OD of the skimmers neck OD and an ID of the cylinders ID and glue it to the top of the little cylinder. Then you could drop this cylinder into the SM300 neck and reduce the neck diameter and remove it at any time. That would help make the skimmer more efficient if you don't have enough DOC's to feed it. FWIW, that skimmer can handle an awful lot of DOC's and much more than you could even generate in a 400G display. With that little slip in neck device, you would enjoy the benefits of extra contact time from the larger body while also not needing as much DOC's to fill the neck with foam and not just bubbles.

I was drooling over the Deluxe 300 we had at the show and if I ever got one of those, I would likely make a neck reducer like I mentioned and play with it because I am sure in a case like mine, it would make that skimmer much more suitable for my load. The same would hold true if I ever jumped to an SM300 on my tank. But on the flip side, my SM250 runs like a fine tuned foam making machine unlike the Alpha 300 that it replaced which was in fact too large for my system and was inconsistent as a result of the extremely large neck diameter.

[ArmanS]

Thanks for the info Scott.

I think the fact that the new SM 300 has a smaller neck like you said will make it work properly in my system. I plan to have lots of fish, I am a fish guy and stocking wise would have a lot of fish, large tangs, some angels etc and SPS Corals which would require a very strong skimmer to keep the water quality at its best.

I just bought my Macna 16 passes, hopefully I see you at the RE booth next year. Hopefully they bring a few dream boxes for sale! If the shipping wasn't more then the box I would have one right now!

[slief]

Originally Posted by ArmanS

Thanks for the info Scott.

I think the fact that the new SM 300 has a smaller neck like you said will make it work properly in my system. I plan to have lots of fish, I am a fish guy and stocking wise would have a lot of fish, large tangs, some angels etc and SPS Corals which would require a very strong skimmer to keep the water quality at its best.

I just bought my Macna 16 passes, hopefully I see you at the RE booth next year. Hopefully they bring a few dream boxes for sale! If the shipping wasn't more then the box I would have one right now!

Glad to help! See you at MACNA 2016!

[mgood]

I am new to reef central, I just bought a bubble king 200 with the speedy pump. I am planning on putting it on a 180 gal later but for now I have it on a 125. I know it is too big for my tank, I have a no coral but quite a bit of fish ( butterfly, tangs. angel fish). Until i upgrade to the larger tank, what could I do to make it work as well as it will on my small tank? Would it need to be lower in the sump or higher , and what wattage should i run it? Any help will be appreciated, it seems to be working ok, I just wonder if I could get it better. Thanks

[slief]

Originally Posted by mgood

I am new to reef central, I just bought a bubble king 200 with the speedy pump. I am planning on putting it on a 180 gal later but for now I have it on a 125. I know it is too big for my tank, I have a no coral but quite a bit of fish ( butterfly, tangs. angel fish). Until i upgrade to the larger tank, what could I do to make it work as well as it will on my small tank? Would it need to be lower in the sump or higher , and what wattage should i run it? Any help will be appreciated, it seems to be working ok, I just wonder if I could get it better. Thanks

Due to it being so oversized, it likely won't be very consistent on your system. Raising the sump level will help as it will make the skimmer run wetter. Set the pump to about 37 watts and try 9" of sump depth. Keep the wedge pipe wide open and fiddle with the sump level until you get it producing some skim. What will happen though is that it will produce well for a couple days until it reduces the dissolved organics in your system. Once it does, the foam will turn to bubbles that burst on the surface and it will run that way until there are enough dissolved organics to get it producing well and then the cycle will repeat itself.
Due to your light load relative to the skimmer size, you will have to play around with the sump depth and RD3 settings but 37 watts should be a good starting point. Adjust the RD3 until you get a decent looking foam. Let it settle down for a half hour between adjustments. Once you have a decent foam, then start playing with the sump level more. If you are overflowing, your depth is too deep and if your water level is below the neck, your level is too low. I'd aim to have the water level where it turns to bubbles around an inch or so up into the skimmer neck since you have such a low load.

[mgood]

Thanks for the help, I had a choice of the 180 or the 200, the 200 was only a few dollars more. I saw you said something about putting a reducer in the neck to make it smaller. Where could i buy one or have it installed in the neck? I have a vertex alpha 170, do you think it would work better with the speedy pump installed, until i went to a larger tank. Thanks for the EXCELLENT advice. I think I am really going to enjoy reef central.

[slief]

Originally Posted by mgood

Thanks for the help, I had a choice of the 180 or the 200, the 200 was only a few dollars more. I saw you said something about putting a reducer in the neck to make it smaller. Where could i buy one or have it installed in the neck? I have a vertex alpha 170, do you think it would work better with the speedy pump installed, until i went to a larger tank. Thanks for the EXCELLENT advice. I think I am really going to enjoy reef central.

If you have a local acrylics supply/fabricator near you, that would be the best bet. You could measure the inside diameter of the skimmer neck and find an acylic cylinder online with a matching outside diameter. The thicker the matierial the better as the thicker it is, the more you will reduce the neck diameter. If you could find 1/4" thick or thicker material ,that would be a good start. Order it and take that to the acrylic shop along with your collection cup so they can cut a ring that that is about the same outer diameter as the outer diamter of the neck and has an inside diamter of the inside of the acrylic cylinder you bought. They would essentially be making an acrylic ring that would glue to the new cylinder so you could slip in into the skimmer neck from the top of the collection cup.

As for the Alpha 170... On your current size system that may be a bit more consistent but if you were able to reduce the neck diameter of the BK one, the BK is by far a better skimmer. I ran an Alpha 300 myself and while I did like it, it was fussy and grossly underrated. I much prefer my Supermarin.

[mgood]

Ok thanks and have a great day.