Red Sea ... Turbo?

[yanek]

I THINK I have a Berlin Turbo. I seem to vaguely remember that's what I bought a couple of years ago. How do I tell the difference between that and a Classic? It's got an integrated pump that takes air from the tube, forces it through the pump and up the center column.

Anyway, last night the pump gave out. Big surprise! It's a Rio of some sort. Anyone got some advice on what to do? No, buy a new skimmer is not an option. I'm wondering what kind of replacement pumps I can get.

-Yanek.

[WarOrks15]

you could get another rio. or i think you could find a mag that is rated for about the same gph.

[SpeckledGrouper]

I have a Berlin Classic and recently converted it into a Turbo. The pump on the turbo has the airline coming out of it and a dial to regulate the air intake. The pump is not a rio, it is a Red Sea. It was not performing at all, so what I did is put the venturi cone back into the skimmer and removed the airline from the pump and installed it onto the skimmer body like it used to be before the "upgrade". Now it works better, but I am still considering a new skimmer allltogether. I have read about people replacing the venturi cone with a different brand and achieving better results.
But to answer your questions, a classic has NO airline tube connected to the pump at all, the tube comes out of the skimmer body, the Turbo has the tube coming out of the pump.

[yanek]

Ah I get it. Okay, I ordered a new red sea turbo pump from marine depot. Unfortunately it's not gong to get here for a week! Ack...

[SpeckledGrouper]

My "1/2 turbo 1/2 classic" contraption is working! It pulled out a nice cup of skimmate last night and it is at it again....

[ellisz]

I use a mag pump on my Classic.

[dustybrannum]

I have the turbo classic xl whatever one and it came with the red sea pump and needle "wheel". It died so I called red seas office here in the u.s. and they sent me the venturi cone with the airline connector. i hooked up a mag 7 to it and all that would happen was water would come out the air line instead of air into the skimmer. so i rigged a piece of pvc so i could silicon the venturi in it and placed it between a ball valve and the intake to the mag 7 which goes directly into the skimmer. after throttling the ball valve a little more than 1/4 turn it makes lots of fine bubbles and keeps the film off the top of the water. So i would have to be amazed that yours are pulling in air at the bottom of the skimmer where the water goes into it. perhaps it is because of the gph of the pumps you are using. as red sea suggested the mag 7 over their pump to me. i have read that most skimmer pumps are not near powerful enough for the skimmer they are running. Either way it is currently working