Sol

Any in-sump skimmer with a wedge-pipe/gate valve type of water level adjustment will do poorly in a sump with changing water levels. The only way to get around this is with a telescoping standpipe. Your ASM has one, so that's why it doesn't fluctuate. AFAIK it's pretty much the only skimmer that still uses a telescoping standpipe. All other manufacturers have switched to wedge pipes because they're quieter. My recommendation would be to mod your sump to keep the water level constant. Either with an ATO, or with a baffle. -Sol

While this might not have been the most polite way of saying it, I have to agree. GenX media most definetely will leach phosphates. -Sol

This new impeller has got me really curious. My strong suspicion is that it also increases the watt draw on the pump. I will try to get by the shop tomorrow. Busy lives are frustrating -Sol

I just saw this over on reefcentral: The intended use was a little different, but you could fill that chamber up with phosban and drip your effluent through it. Should take about 2 minutes to build one. And if you don't fill the whole container, you could still see your drip rate. If anyone wants one built, I'd be happy to do it. I'm going to do one for me as well. FWIW, every CaCO3 media I've ever used leached phosphate. Just my experience. -Sol

The external and cost thing make a lot of sense. The cost thing also makes me very jealous. I'm sure you'll be very happy with that skimmer; everyone who I've seen with one is. Like I said, I just like picking skimmers apart for sport. One of these days I'm going to machine a custom volute for a dart, and see what it can do. From a physics perspective (IMO) the dart is close to perfect as a flow pump, and it really would make an amazing skimmer pump if the water flow could be brought down some. Can't wait to see the crud this thing pulls, and hopefully it'll still be in the shop when I'm next. I've never seen the 200 model in person, only the 250. -Sol Edit: really random question: does anyone know the history of the phrase "selling like hotcakes?" I'm curious, lol.

Joel, I find it interesting in that I'm not sure it's the best skimmer for the money. Maybe a few months ago, but with the advent of MSX, octopus pro skimmers, etc, I'm not sure. Looking purely objectively, comparing the reeflo 250 vs MSX 250: The build quality is exactly the same. Both from having seen both in person, and from the literature, they're both built by the same company, use the same materials etc. The air draw virtually identical, about 70 SCFH each. But the MSX 250 puts that air through a 10" column vs the 12" diameter of the reeflo. I can offer analysis of the costs/benefits of this, but for now I'll refrain, staying to simple facts, rather than deduced opinions. From my observations, the reeflo is slightly quieter. From my observations, the reeflo's air:water ratio is significantly lower than the MSX's. The MSX 250 is approx $750 cheaper than the reeflo 250. The reeflo is recirc, the MSX is single pass. OK, now to my subjective opinions: From a fluid dynamics point of view, the ideal air ratio for skimming is approx 13%; that is, 13% of the chamber by volume should be filled with air. With typical bubble size from a needle wheel (.1 to .3 mm), this means a single pass skimmer should pump approx 1:1 water to air. Sicce's (with the possible exception of laguna/askoll based pumps) seem to get the closest to this, with their 2:3 air:water ratio. So that's another point in favor of the MSX. A recirc skimmer is a little more complicated. Since the water flow through is controlled elsewhere, the recirc pump should basically pump as much air with as little water as possible. Because of this, I feel that the dart (with its 1:3 air:water) is a poor choice for a skimmer recirc pump. From looking at it, the amount of turbulence in the reeflo's reaction chamber is high, and this is an unsurprising result with that much water flow. All in all, I just feel there's quite a few design flaws with this skimmer. As a footnote, no disrespect or insult is meant by this post. I just enjoy picking apart skimmers. I find something wrong with just about every skimmer on the market. -Sol

Interesting choice of skimmer. I notice there's no holes on the skimmer lid--how does air escape the cup? -Sol

If you want to shoot me a PM with your budget, I could see what I could do for you... -Sol

In my experience, with all other conditions kept constant, my SPS grew faster under 8X54 watt t5's than they did under 2X250 watt halides with 1 X 54 watt t5 actinic. And the t5's saved me about $5 per month on the electric bill. That said, I stick with the halides. I just couldn't find a bulb combination (even with a lot of experimentation) that made the corals look the colors I wanted to. By no means were my corals brown under t5's, but they just didn't pop the way I like. So, I shoulder the $5 a month and slower growth. To me, it's worth it. Take it for what it's worth. -Sol

If you do t5's, I'm doubting 8 are enough (assuming you're going SPS?) over a 34" wide tank. I really think that once you get into wider tanks, you can really use the spread of halides more to your advantage (With a good reflector, of course). With lumenarc III's, you could easily light that tank with 2X400 watt halides. That would obviously consume 800 watts, and 10X80 watt t5's would consume exactly the same 800 watts. So the efficiency point kind of becomes moot. On the holes in your sump, assuming they're the "nice kind" (purposeful and round, not jagged and accidental), I would recommend putting in a bulkhead and threading a PVC plug into the bulkhead. It both looks cleaner, and gives you more options down the road for re-plumbing if you decide you want to. -Sol

Very cool. I like that the light rack is cold connected instead of welded so it's adjustable. -Sol

Very cool. Are you still mostly raising other people's clutches or is more in-house breeding going on? -Sol

I'm no expert, but .023 sounds very thin to me...most stands are made of .090 to .125 wall tube, and so I'd use a .030 or .035 wire. Scott, do you do TIG as well? I've got a project that needs it... -Sol

Scott's work is great, I saw it over at Waves. If that doesn't work out for ya though, I've got another guy. He does very nice work but I like Scott better as a person, and Scott's an aquarist to boot, so give him your business! -Sol

I think coldwater tanks are quite awesome; I have a 24" coldwater cube right now. Some thoughts: 1) initial cost can be somewhat high. There's a couple things you MUST have: a) a (thick!) acrylic tank. Coldwater tanks are usually kept about 55-60 degrees, and thus unless tanks are thick, they will "sweat"--condensation will form on the outside of them. Think of how wet the outside of a cold beer gets when you take it out on a hot day. b) a chiller. 60 degrees is about as warm as you want to go with coldwater, so unless you keep your house nice and chilly, you'll need one. c) A HUGE skimmer. Because of the slow metabolism of a cold water ecosystem, biological filtration does not really happen in the same scale as in a tropical tank. So live rock, DSB etc don't do all that much. And you need to filter in some other way, generally large water changes and skimming. on the flipside, high intensity lighting is unneeded generally, so you save lots of $$ on that (both at start up and on your electric bill) 2) By FAR your biggest problem, livestock. Unless you're a diver, or want to buy in bulk from australia, cold water animals are very hard to come by. I think it's much easier to maintain a cold water system than a tropical one. Livestock seems to be much much more tolerant of suboptimal water quality -Sol

pssshh, you and your legality, blah. -Sol

Wayne's World 2 is what MADE "not" jokes funny. Party on Jeff. -Sol

You're so funny-NOT! Actually, I'll admit I chuckled a bit. Though I've only heard that joke about a billion times before...Seems my luck runs out pretty often -Sol

What are your feelings on us under-21 folks? -Sol

Super nice score Ryan. Any idea on when this tank was built? The lack of radiused corners on the cutouts dates it somewhat I would look into the MSX skimmers as well. I don't know how Octopus, MSX etc are doing it--it just seems impossible that they're making any profit! Deltec's in trouble...lol. -Sol

I've been running for a year or more since the cooking. -Sol

I'm going to have to humbly disagree here. I agree the course of action should always be to identify the problem-> identify the cause of the problem->fix said cause. However, I feel that phosphates in the rock sometimes IS the cause of the problem. For example, in one of my setups, I just couldn't get rid of an algae problem. I had 0 TDS water, an oversized skimmer, not a overly heavy load; only algae eating fish (blenny, tang etc). And yet the algae stayed. I cooked my rock, and voila. It was fixed. The conclusion I drew is pretty obvious -Sol

Andy, Yes, I'm fairly sure. The diifference, is that we're talking about different kinds of phosphates here. Mostly, when we talk about phosphate in a reef tank, we're talking about inorganic phosphate (literally aqueous PO4). And this can only be harvested in the ways you describe. In the rock, on the other hand, we're talking about organic phosphate, phosphate bound in large organic molecules. This is consumable by bacteria. That's my understanding anyway. I'm a physics major, not a chem or bio major Talk to me about fluid dynamics, and THAT I can be sure about. -Sol

When the crap stops coming off. Once or twice a week, you should be dunking and swishing in a 5 gallon bucket, and doing a 100% water change. When you start, the dunk water will be horrendous when you're done, like skimmate almost. When nothing comes off in the dunking, you're done. Usually ~2 months IME -Sol