Slawmans Solar Reef - New Skimmer - TOTF May Winner

[Pagey]

What's happening with this one? How are the bio pellets going?

[slawman]

Happy new Year fellow reefers!

Bio Pellets are doing well. I had originally setup a siphon to feed the reactor but need to move this to a feed off my return pump to avoid the potential for the siphon to cutout and the pellets to go anaerobic.

Nitrates are near undetectable using a salifert kit. All else going fine. Very pleased with the setup and how low maintenance it has been although I suspect a bit of dosing action in the next few months will improve things a little. Really struggling to keep the corralling algae at bay and each time i let it take over i suspect it is dropping a few parameters more quickly than my water changes can keep up.

[jayellul]

Which pelletrs did you decide to use?

[slawman]

They are the WM ecoBAK pellets. I can't say I have any experience in trying different brands though.

Here are some New Year pics. All in all it has been a good tank year, Challenge for me is to get some more colour this year.....

[slawman]

Well my H&H/RLSS knockoff V2002 skimmer pump finally gave up the ghost earlier this week. It was a Waveline (or knockoff) 5000 so I was expecting it to fail sooner rather than later. I do have to say this skimmer performed very well for the price I paid for it. The motor was whisper quiet and it did skim like a beast. Air intake was noisy but that was an indication of how much air it was mixing. If the pump had continued to work I would have happily kept it on the tank.

I already had a fair idea of what I was going to move to, either a BK Supermarin 200, an ATB Elegance 200 Pro or a Deltec SC 2060. After a quick check on pricing and supply/support I elected to go with the Deltec, which arrived yesterday (Many thanks Ben).

Key considerations were performance, reliability, noise level and support. Price came last but was still a consideration. I think all three skimmers sit at a similar level for the first 3 criteria and I ended up getting a great price for the Deltec which sealed the deal. From my past experiences, reliable local support is important for this key bit of kit and unless you are prepared to buy a backup of whatever you are sourcing from overseas you can find yourself up the creek.
Skimmer arrived in top condition, well wrapped and packaged, the skimmer build is excellent with very solid acrylic thickness and very neat and solid welds and seams. It was literally plug and play. The all in one constructions means there are no plumbing construction/assembly activities to undertake pre installation, you just drop it in the water and turn it on!

First impressions are that it is literally silent (moreso than the waveline 5000, which was already just about silent) and very simple to tune. The adjustment knob is easy to get to at the top of the setup and is not too sensitive as I have found with previous skimmers where you move the thing just a fraction and the water level jumps up by an inch. The skimmer has started to kick in and started pulling gunk overnight with an inch or two of dark brown in the cup this morning.

Looking forward to the peace-of-mind that comes from having a piece of kit that will probably keep running for the next ten years without too much effort. Gotta love the German obsession with engineering….

[slawman]

Well I have finally joined the Royal Exclusiv club after many years of enviously looking at those great bits of kit going into fellow reefers systems. I installed a speedy 80w for my return last night. This replaced my solid old Eheim 1262 brick which put out a bit of a hum. One of the primary aims of the system when I first designed it was silent operation and I must say (as many others before me have) that this speedy is dead silent. I have it running at 60w and you need to put your hand on it to tell it’s on. Nice, Nice, Nice!!

I am very pleased with how the new skimmer is running as well. Pulling out darker and more skimmate that the RLSS and much quieter. I am looking forward to seeing if this will drop my Nitrates, that will be the real test.

[ssscuz]

Nice new pump mate!
Should have gone the bk skimmer. U would have been all silent and bullet proof!

[slawman]

Thanks ssscuz, the BK is a great piece of kit no doubt. Unconvinced it is 800 bucks worth better than the deltec but can't speak from experience as I have never owned one. I spent some time looking at the general health and colouration of owners tanks with various skimmers and couldn't see any silver bullet here. I do however feel confident the speedy is worth every cent so bought the pump with the price difference.

[slawman]

Well an update is due here!

The tank is doing very well, better that I had hoped actually. I decided around three years ago to move to softies, morphs and fish. The SPS route for me had become tedious and too hit and miss. I just wanted a tank which required some skill to maintain but not a daily examination. My 8 year old clam is now around 13 inches long and huge, it looks big even in this tank. I have large stands of Xeno and the pink morphs have taken over some quite large sections of the tank adding some welcome colour. I also have some green star polys which have started to grow in earnest at a few places in the tank.

The RE BK skimmer and return pump have not missed a beat in three years and I am extremely pleased with how reliable and well both of these pieces of kit have performed with regular maintenance.

Next update in 2026......All the best!

[colg]

Good to hear all is well.
I bet that clam is sucking some supplements at that size!

You mention the BK skimmer is working well. What made you change from the Deltec?