Current Skimmer Technologies

[Europhyllia]

I am in the market for a new skimmer but would really like to understand the different technologies better first.
I had a little venturi powered one (Rio 660/CPR) on my small 30g tank and a needlewheel (ASM) on my 125g.
I am getting ready to upgrade to a 215g tank soon and read that for tanks over 200g spray injected is the way to go.
Then I read a different source that said Cone skimmers are the newest and best.
So what is spray injected? What brands offer that?
What are cone skimmers all about and why would they be better?
I don't do SPS at all but I love NPS so there will be a lot of feeding going on...
Did I miss any of the current skimmer technologies?

[Gseclipse02]

Just from guessing spray injection is when the skimmer has a main pump to chop up the air / make the foam and the injection part is what feeds the skimmer new water to skim
If that’s it the reef octopus skimmers have that design on the larger skimmers
I have only seen in person the smaller cone designed skimmers and they work great

[CoryDude]

JT, I think you talking about a RC skimmer.

Spray injection is where you have a box underneath the skimmer riser. Water is forced into the box at a high velocity through a reducer. Kind of like when you have a bucket of water and you turn the hose on and pinch it with your thumb while spraying into the bucket. You get a lot of bubbles. Not really new technology. The AquaC has been around since the late 90's. We had a few at aquatek when I worked there and I thought they were too finicky.

Never seen a cone skimmer in use so I can't comment on that. But, I've always felt that a good sized venturi skimmer can do as well as some high end skimmer regardless of it's type. There's only so much organic material you're trying to remove and once you reach that level, you're just aerating the water.

[CoryDude]

All that being said, I think I'm going to upgrade to a recirculating skimmer (octopus or deltec depending on my wallet situation) when I move on to a 200+ gallon tank.

[Europhyllia]

okay so what's a recirculating skimmer? just hanging on to the same water longer?

[CoryDude]

Yeah I think that's the point to them Karin. Those skimmers have a dedicated pump like JT said that chop and rechop the air, so you can get a large volume of microbubbles. Some units have multiple dedicated RC pumps, so the amount of microbubbles increases exponentially. If Greenmako still has his pics up, he had a deltec that had 3 or 4 pumps just to recirculate the water within the contact chamber. But, they set you back some serious cash.

Side note, Gabe has an injection skimmer on his main coral tank in the back, if you want to take a look at a working model.

[alton]

Aqua C Skimmers are tops with Spray Injection. My Urchin Pro with a MAg 3 pump has been in service since 2003 and I have cleaned the injection spout maybe twice. Very simple plug it in and use it. My bosses Urchin has been in use since 2001 and still going strong. Most skimmers use very large pumps to work which gets very expensive in the long run. I like the new cone/bubble blaster skimmers but can't see spending the money until I have to. If a skimmer uses a 90 watt pump, in 5 years it will cost you $400 in electric bills, a skimmer that uses a pump drawing 30 watts cost you $132 in 5 years, with a savings of $268.00. Very important too if you are putting the 90 watt pump in your sump because 90 watts of work turns into 90 watts of heat.

I believe we need to skim, I just don't think we have to have a 10' skimmer.

Good luck with your venture on buying a skimmer, there are plenty of arguements of which one, and which technology is best?

[Europhyllia]

Thanks Alton. I was leaning towards the AquaC 240 but it probably will be too tall for my stand. I contacted AquaC and they would actually make me a slightly shorter version!

[kkiel02]

Clone helped to describe the cone skimmers very well to me when I was purchasing my skimmer. Maybe he will chime in. I would love to try a cone skimmer down the road. I've always used reef octopus and love my extreme 200 but am not sure if it is up to the job on my new tank, I guess time will tell.

[Europhyllia]

In case anybody looks for skimmer info in the near future I wanted to add this:
Needlewheel technology seems to be one of the most popular choices right now. The needlewheel impeller can chop up the air bubbles into very tiny bubbles making it very effective at removing stuff because of the larger surface area I guess.
Recently I ended up purchasing a skimmer that promised to be gentler on the plankton. Didn't pay much attention to that claim figuring it's just marketing and as long as it works well I'm good.
Then I read a manual on Zeolite filter systems and came across similar information.
Basically the claim is that needlewheel skimmers chop up too much and are more damaging to plankton than venturi skimmers.
So some companies (including the brand I ended up purchasing) focus more on skimmer body design to make up for the lack in bubble surface with increased contact time and as the end result have the same efficiency as far as waste removal goes without as much damage to the more desirable plankton. At least that's the idea.
Haven't found any lab reports on it but you're welcome to dig some up and post them here. ;)