Seaclones work just fine......

[HClH2OFish]

I think the only bad skimmer is one that doesn't work for your setup.

I user a Prizm and have had no major issue w/it...it doesn't put much foam in the chamber, but the bubbles get lots of organics out and coat the inside of the bubble chamber...lotsa gunk when I clean it out.
If I turn up the intake so the bubbles go higher in the chamber, I start getting microbubbles in the tank...
I think it's likely that there's not much in the catch since my tank has low bioload - cinnamon clown and 1/2 black pygmy angel in a 25.

 

[Anonymous]

I think the only bad skimmer is one that doesn't work for your setup.

I user a Prizm and have had no major issue w/it...it doesn't put much foam in the chamber, but the bubbles get lots of organics out and coat the inside of the bubble chamber...lotsa gunk when I clean it out.
If I turn up the intake so the bubbles go higher in the chamber, I start getting microbubbles in the tank...
I think it's likely that there's not much in the catch since my tank has low bioload - cinnamon clown and 1/2 black pygmy angel in a 25.

That is a very good point. I had a Prizm on my 29 gallon and it did not have much skimmate in it till I added a Snowflake Eel. Talk about gettin lots of gunk. My system could not keep up and I got a few ammonia spikes. I picked up a Seaclone 150 and used it. My water quality was perfect after that. I used the Prizm on my 50 gallon tht had a small bioload and it was just fine till the motor died. That happens sometimes. My only real complaint about the Pirzm is that it is to noisy for many people. My wifw would crab about it all the time. She likes the Seaclone because it is quiet and the tornado is cool to look at. :lol:

 

[gruiz1122]

I've heard that you can modify seaclones to produce more skimmate....How would I go about doing that? If anyone has any answers to this, I would greatly appreciate it. I have a Seaclone 100 BTW. I think it's as good as a Remora H.O.T. as I have seen both in action and they produce relatively the same amount of skimmate and the Seaclone is about $100 cheaper!

 

[Anonymous]

I've heard that you can modify seaclones to produce more skimmate....How would I go about doing that? If anyone has any answers to this, I would greatly appreciate it. I have a Seaclone 100 BTW. I think it's as good as a Remora H.O.T. as I have seen both in action and they produce relatively the same amount of skimmate and the Seaclone is about $100 cheaper!

Thanks for the reply.

 

[gruiz1122]

Your welcome. Do you have any ideas as to the modification of a seaclone?

 

[Anonymous]

No.... I don't. The only thing I changed was the 0-ring on the intake tubing.

 

[blastermqn]

The Seaclone has the same problem tha most skimmers do in the same category, and as far as I'm concerned there isn't a lot of difference with a CPR backpack either.

The main 2 factors with skimming efficiency are the quality and density of the bubbles entering the skimmer, and it's tank turn over ratio. Other issue like dwell time/counter current are important, but not so much as the first two.

The problem with Seaclone type skimmers is they require a power head in the tank to produce bubbles and then push those bubbles through several feet of tubing to the reaction chamber. In the process the bubbles tend to clump up and lose efficiency. If you've ever looked at a needle wheel type skimmer or an airstone driven skimmer, you'll see they produce a super fine mist of bubbles, which are the best for skimming. The Seaclone and other similiar skimmers however typically produce much larger and fewer bubbles, which break up the process of skimmate accumulation in the reaction changer and drastically reduce it's efficiency. You can argue this if you want, but the best skimmers on the market produce a dense stream of fine bubbles while the SeaClone and CPR can't because of the power head. Or, they won't do so consistently.

I really don't care how the reaction chamber is designed on a skimmer because it has less to do with efficiency than quality of the foam. My Remora is orders of magnitude superior than my old SeaClones, but has a much less complex reaction chamber. The Remora doesn't rely on a power head to produce bubbles, but it's injector, which does a better job. I don't think my Remora is as good as needle wheel type skimmers though.

You can make a Seaclone work better by shoving a wooden airstone with pump down it's central axis and turning off air to the powerhead driving it.

 

[HClH2OFish]

Yah..just make sure it's a wooden airstone. The other kinds won't work properly.
If you do this mod, keep a quantity of extra airstones on hand as they need to be replaced periodically.

Personally, I don't like skimmers w/airstones, as it's one more piece of equipment I need to do maintenance on

 

[Anonymous]

Seaclone Adjustment Tool

 

[Anonymous]

LOULE!!!

 

[narny]

Still banging on about seaclones eh loosers??? lmao

Secretly you love em don't ya, ever since i mentioned mine there have been posts and posts, and more posts.

When are you gonna accept that with a little tweaking they work fine.

I'm still waiting for the seaclone bashers to tell me EXACTLY why they are so bad, and why their skimmer (which works on exactly the same principal) is so much better.

:twisted:

 

[fishfanatic2]

Yeah, I have a Prizm and it works fine, it doesnt pull much gunk, but its very concentrated, and my bioload is low anyway. Its quiet, it works, it does the job, its good.

BTW this for a 29g.

 

[ChrisRD]

I'm still waiting for the seaclone bashers to tell me EXACTLY why they are so bad, and why their skimmer (which works on exactly the same principal) is so much better.

All skimmers work on the same principle. A skimmer 9' tall works on the same principle as your SeaClone. That doesn't mean they perform the same.

 

[narny]

Thank you fishfanatic2 heheheh

I know i know chris lol I was merely being a pain in the behind.
Chill winston !

 

[Anonymous]

Seaclone Adjustment Tool

:lol: That worked well on my Prizm.

 

[Anonymous]

I've heard that you can modify seaclones to produce more skimmate....How would I go about doing that? If anyone has any answers to this, I would greatly appreciate it. I have a Seaclone 100 BTW. I think it's as good as a Remora H.O.T. as I have seen both in action and they produce relatively the same amount of skimmate and the Seaclone is about $100 cheaper!

gruiz I had pretty decent results by putting an airstone in the bottom. You have to use a peice of rigid air line tubing, rather than the flexible stuff, or else the airstone rises to the top of the skimmer, and you want it at the bottom.

 

[narny]

Ok, i'm back.

This one's for bangbang the cocky son of a gun. Unfortunately dood, you were correct. My seaclone stuffed a seal, and now i have a new skimmer.

The badboy that is the deltec MCE600. And yes, it kicks some serious ass. It's pulling double if not triple what my seaclone used to.

I is now a reformed man, and appologise profusely for my wet carpet, ahem, i mean defence of the seaclone skimmer. Unfortunately, i can't say i was'nt warned.

 

[Baianotang]

Well you defenetly like your seaclone, good for you.

 

[blastermqn]

I'm still waiting for the seaclone bashers to tell me EXACTLY why they are so bad

I just explained it to you. I guess I need to explain it again:

The Seaclone is really not that bad a skimmer because all venturi based skimmers have the same basic design. The problem is the Seaclone requires a power head to make bubbles and produce foam, and the power head commonly supplied with the Seaclone isn't really good at this, nor are most of the for that matter. It's designed to be cheap.

If you were to put a needle wheel power head on a Seaclone, it would work MUCH better. Same with shoving and air stone down it's throat.

FYI - I've got two of the things in the garage from previous tanks. I tried no less than 5 different power heads with my Seaclones, and none delivered a consistent and efficient stream of bubbles, and no two power heads worked quite the same. The higher end skimmers either use a dedicated power head designed to work with skimmers first and push water second, or they are independant of the power head venturi like a Remora. My Remora, once when installed on a friends 70gal that hadn't been skimmed for 6months, filled a 5gal pail in two days with yellow water.

Has nothing to do with bashing anything. There are better skimmmer available and the above explains why.

 

[ChrisRD]

IMO there is more to the Seaclone problems than just the powerhead. The small tube where the bubbles flow into the reaction chamber is too tall and forces the bubbles too close to the top of the chamber, thereby reducing dwell time of the bubbles and effectively reducing the size of the reaction chamber. In fact, one of the common modifications with the Seaclone to improve performance is to cut this center tube down to help alleviate this problem.

IMO the key to the performance of any skimmer is a combination of size & quantity of bubbles, as well as the dwell time of those bubbles in the reaction chamber. The size/dimensions of the reaction chamber and how water enters/exits it can have an effect on that dwell time.

A good example for comparison in this case is the Precision Marine HOT-1 and several other skimmers that are similar in design to the PM skimmer. They all used the same powerhead as the Seaclone and were all far superior performing skimmers. IMO the reason for this was the layout and dimensions of their reaction chambers which allowed for much longer dwell times.