Red Sea 1800 skimmer

[Gregcoyote]

My 300 gallon reef is now over 18 years old and my home made, 6' tall Venturi skimmer is looking pretty old. So, I just bought a Red Sea 1800 after doing a bit of research. Hasn't been delivered yet, but thought I would ask if anyone else was running one and how they liked/disliked it.

 

[Adio800]

Sorry haven't tryed one but would love to see your tank

 

[Gregcoyote]

Will be shooting more video this weekend. I made a mistake, I kept calling the mushroom zoas when I know better.

 

[Dary421]

My 300 gallon reef is now over 18 years old and my home made, 6' tall Venturi skimmer is looking pretty old. So, I just bought a Red Sea 1800 after doing a bit of research. Hasn't been delivered yet, but thought I would ask if anyone else was running one and how they liked/disliked it.

Greg,...I've been running one for the last six months or so,....kinda touchy at first trying to dial everything in just right,...I was running it off of my return pump but soon learned that wasn't the best way to do it,...I eventually bought the red sea pump that was designed for the skimmer and I haven't had any issues since,..she 's a beast but so far so good....I'm happy

 

[Gregcoyote]

I'm going to put it on the same closed loop I had my original one on. Iwaki pump pushes water from sump thru chiller then Skimmer, back into another part of the sump. Should have 500-600 gallons per hour. Secondary loop comes off this to carbon filtration and a small fluidized sand filter I have been experimenting with for a few years. How does the throat wash out work, or is it a gimmick?

 

[melosu58]

Moved to General Hardware and equipment discussion.

 

[Dary421]

I'm going to put it on the same closed loop I had my original one on. Iwaki pump pushes water from sump thru chiller then Skimmer, back into another part of the sump. Should have 500-600 gallons per hour. Secondary loop comes off this to carbon filtration and a small fluidized sand filter I have been experimenting with for a few years. How does the throat wash out work, or is it a gimmick?

Greg, you are light years ahead of me in this ,.but ,the throat wash out deal is kinda cool,.I think it's designed th be used everyday or two to keep things clean but I usually use it once a week when I do my water change,...usually while it's being rinsed I take a small bottle cleaning brush and will lightly brush the inside of the throat and around the collection canister ,..the skimmer will push up some water into the canister's collection cup to remove the crud you just brushed ,... One cool deal is that there's a rubber hose attachment that you can use to run all the water and crud into a collection canister or soda bottle.....that way you really never have to remove the giant main collection cup assembly.
For the hundredth time ,I love you tank and especially your mushroom fields,....awesome.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Thanks! I am inspired to make improvements on an old system. I use B-ionic, but am rebuilding my Kalkwasser reactor and am hunting for a dosing pump. Back in the day, it really grew coral, better and less expensively than the B-ionic, but was a pain to maintain. I think a modern dosing pump will help. Thanks for the help.

Is my new skimmer going to be big enough for 300 total gallons?

 

[Gregcoyote]

Well, I was soaked in salt water before I got this screwy thing working. Makes nice foam, but the seals on the pump allows it to leak if you look at it wrong. Had to tap the needle pump a few times as it likes to lock up as well. We will see if I get to liking it better, but so far I can't recommend.

 

[Dary421]

Well, I was soaked in salt water before I got this screwy thing working. Makes nice foam, but the seals on the pump allows it to leak if you look at it wrong. Had to tap the needle pump a few times as it likes to lock up as well. We will see if I get to liking it better, but so far I can't recommend.

I almost threw mine out the window 23 times before I finally got it dialed in right,.....very touchy at first,...as I stated before ,.. Until I started running mine on a separate pump ( red sea) designated to that skimmer only., it was totally crazy with serious flooding issues etc,...then once I started running it on that pump then she became very reliable and trustworthy....why ? Don't know,..just the way it worked for me....my skimmer is located outside the sump slightly elevated with my feeding pump in the middle section of my sump,...my return tube is connected to a piece of PVC pipe returning it back into that section Also,...got my fingers crossed that you can find a solution ,...god luck

 

[Gregcoyote]

It seems to flood briefly when I simulate a power outage. Now have a stable foam level and it seems real stable. Got most of the leaks settled, but for something that had this level of design in it, these crummy seals are for the birds. Other than that, it is a pretty advanced piece of gear. My old 6' tall Venturi of 20 years wasn't this good at producing foam. Most of the skimmers look like you could make them in a shop class about plexiglas. We will see if this more advanced design will work on the long run. I love the throat flush feature.

 

[Dary421]

It seems to flood briefly when I simulate a power outage. Now have a stable foam level and it seems real stable. Got most of the leaks settled, but for something that had this level of design in it, these crummy seals are for the birds. Other than that, it is a pretty advanced piece of gear. My old 6' tall Venturi of 20 years wasn't this good at producing foam. Most of the skimmers look like you could make them in a shop class about plexiglas. We will see if this more advanced design will work on the long run. I love the throat flush feature.

Good to hear,... I never had any issues with seals etc,..but as I mentioned earlier ,.. It's a real learning curve with these critters,...after using this skimmer for the last six to eight months or so And now that she's settled in now,...id pob not trade it for anything out there,... but at first it was a real challenge,..good luck to you Greg

 

[Gregcoyote]

Okay...the skimmer has been running 6 days while I was working in Baton Rouge. It is actually pretty brilliant. It is very efficient for it's size and I just used the wash down feature and it works deluxe. Wasn't happy with a few mechanical things, but that has settled out as long as I don't move anything. The old skimmer was slacking and now my corals look better than they ever have. Mushrooms expanded two fold. I am back on track to having "that" tank, but a bit smaller than those 1000 gallon reefs you see. In the late 90's this reef was spectacular, with elk horn coral that was over 2' in diameter, grown from a 2" frag, but early 2000, a chiller failure (couldn't get it fixed for a month) and it all went to heck. Now it is all growing back again, proving that these organisms can rebound fast if only given the chance.

 

[Maya]

That's great Greg! Glad it is starting to perform up to expectations now.

 

[Dary421]

Like we talked before,...I've got a little rebel in me and like to do things slightly out of the ordinary,..so after choosing this same skimmer and running it for the last six months or so,..I'm kinda fascinated by it myself,.....it's got a lot of really cool features,....kinda a tough learning curve but so far so good,....I'm really happy that it's working out for you too.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Yes, it's very different from the basic model everyone else uses. Somebody used a computer and an expensive set of dies to make these, not just cutting and gluing plastic tubes together. And so far, for it's size it is out performing my old 6' Venturi skimmer.