bubble king skimmers vs the rest of the skimmer world.

[nycmat]

yeah the Knock on the BK is that it wont be available for about several months.

 

[cali_reef]

cali-reef do you have a pic your Barr skimmer with the inner chamber?

Yes, but I can't show you. Mine mixing box is made with clear acrylic at my request and I promised Brent I won't post pictures of it.

 

[SlamaJama]

i kno it may be already on this thread but has any1 discussed the BK replicas, i get mine this w/e...

 

[loismustdie]

Cali, I saw your BK when I was at you house. BTW, for those who have not seen it, Cali has a beautiful reef. Can you please tell me the diameter of the body of your BK? The diameter of the neck? How many gallons is your BK rated for and how many GPH does the pump put out?
I've read some threads on BK on other sites, I like what I hear about them. I also saw Mike's (mishur) BK. I never asked about the dimensions of them while I was at your houses... too amazed with your corals. I'm adding a signifigantly larger frag tank to my system and I don't think my euroreef is going to do anymore with the increased water volume. Keeping my options open.
Personally, I prefer rolex. I can get face value for it even in a third world country if things go really bad for me. Sad I have to think that way.

 

[CaptiveReef]

DIY CaptiveReef Skimmer

I am not trying to start a debate or a flame war here. I've done a ton of reading on skimmers and as most know I do acyrlic work. I trying to design a skimmer thats affordable easy to maintain and does a good job removing organic waste.
different styles amd methods aside everyone reverts back to the BK skimmer as being the holy grail of skimmers and it might very well be but does it justify a cost of $1700+ ?

even if it is energy efficent still it would take years to justify the cost in savings.
like Rich I advocate the bigger the skimmer the better. I presently run a ASM G4 with sedra 9000 needle wheel and I consistantly maintain an ORP of 425 and better (480mv best with lights off) with out Ozone.
I have ove 30 colonies of coral, 12 fish 7 which are 5"+ and are fed everyday

I plan on doing the recirulation mod when I upgrade my tank to a 450
all for under 500.00.
the skimmer will use 90 watts for the sedra 9000 and another 25 watts using genX 1000?

again I'm not attacking BK or it's users wondering if I'm missing something?



does the energy savings justify the large price tag?

Here is my skimmer design, $30.00 for PVC $25.00 for powerhead, it's counter current and does 400 GPH, and rips waste out of the water like no tomorrow. I'm using a 3 inch Lime wood air diffuser with alot of air or it can be a venturi. 20 watts of power.

CaptiveReef

 

[cali_reef]

Cali, I saw your BK when I was at you house. BTW, for those who have not seen it, Cali has a beautiful reef. Can you please tell me the diameter of the body of your BK? The diameter of the neck? How many gallons is your BK rated for and how many GPH does the pump put out?
I've read some threads on BK on other sites, I like what I hear about them. I also saw Mike's (mishur) BK. I never asked about the dimensions of them while I was at your houses... too amazed with your corals. I'm adding a signifigantly larger frag tank to my system and I don't think my euroreef is going to do anymore with the increased water volume. Keeping my options open.
Personally, I prefer rolex. I can get face value for it even in a third world country if things go really bad for me. Sad I have to think that way.

Chris, The BK300's body is about 12", they use the body diameter(in mm) as the model number. I am guessing the neck is around 6", I'll measure it at my next schedule cleaning. Published spec are here: http://www.captiveoceans.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=CO&Category_Code=Bubble_King.

I feel the same way about Rolexs, but I am also scare of getting my hand cut off for the dame watch in some of the countries I visit.

Feel free to tag along when the Brooklyn boyz are coming over, seems like they drop by every few weeks.

 

[cali_reef]

BTW, I think the Deltec AP701 skimmed better than BK300 when I had all three skimmers running in my 600 gallon system. The Deltec seem more consistent in pulling stuff out, the Barr skims out the most stuff by far, but it also need a huge ass pump to drive it.

 

[loismustdie]

What seems to be the problem with dialing in the BK? Is it the height of the riser tubes, or is it an air injection problem? As far as the height of the tubes, I was under the assumption that as long as they were even and high enough, you are good. If you can't get them any higher, can you add gate valves for more precision? Do you think possibly a gate valve on the air intake would assist in dialing in the air injection rather than what they provide?

 

[RGibson]

cali-reef how many becketts is on the barr skimmer and what size is the pump that you used.?

 

[cali_reef]

My soon to be ex-Barr uses 2 becketts and is fed with a Sequence SQ-26 6,000 gallon pump(no longer in production), the same pump also returns water to few tanks.

 

[cali_reef]

What seems to be the problem with dialing in the BK? Is it the height of the riser tubes, or is it an air injection problem? As far as the height of the tubes, I was under the assumption that as long as they were even and high enough, you are good. If you can't get them any higher, can you add gate valves for more precision? Do you think possibly a gate valve on the air intake would assist in dialing in the air injection rather than what they provide?

Chris,

There is only one adjustment avilible on the stock BK, a wedge pipe on the outlet to act as a cheap gate valve. No air adjustment and no feed water adjustment on the skimmer.

 

[twinreef]

cali are you getting rid of the barr. why?

 

[cali_reef]

cali are you getting rid of the barr. why?

Can't affort the electric bill anymore and I no longer need to skim 600 gallons of water with one skimmer

 

[twinreef]

tell me about. my elect. came to $380 this month. i could only imagine july & augusts bill. i have the sk4020 and i'm running it with the uno marlin, im makeing my own second injector to make it a sk4220.

Jorge

 

[cali_reef]

I think you are better off getting it from Brent, save your self the aggravation and you are not saving that much money by the time you are done.

 

[twinreef]

brent is no longer selling them, you have to buy it from austinoceans. they want $120 + $30 to $40 shipping thats about 160/170. i already have the tube and the other pieces, the only thing i need is the beckett. which lowes has it for 15 bucks. i also have to finish the flanges.

 

[cali_reef]

He just send me a new set of seals for free and didn't tell me about the changes..:headache: That sucks..

 

[twinreef]

check out his order page. i already have the tubes from canal store that went out off business. i bought 6" 4" 2.5" tubes. i was going build a skimmer but nver had the right tools so i just bought one from brent.