New Sub, you know how hard it was to find any vids on ‘gravity protein skimmer’? So THX! Back in ‘96, I worked for a aquarium retailer in my hometown of Seattle. The Bellevue location, opposite side of Lake Washington, was the real $ maker; MANY software professionals were committed to spending $ on our gear & livestock. We were selling ETS Inductors (Venturi), like crazy, they gave us 4 & we hooked them up on 4 200 gal fish tanks (double 300 gal sumps), & Fed the fish aggressively, to show off the gunk gathering. The REAL ‘trick’, was to run those skimmers on BIG TANKS, at really high turnovers. Big dumps were best, to. They didn’t have any up & down levels, etc, at all; you rigged them in & they just DID IT PERFECT, out of the crates. Needle Wheels are cool, but it’s one more moving part.
These old ev skimmers were always a little bit finicky to set up. The gate valve has to be pretty precise (depends on flow in/flow out) and they stop foaming when you stick your hand in the water so it was a lot of adjust, wait, repeat for in sump applications. Now with DC pumps you can dial the flow so it's way easier. Get the gate valve close to where you need it then fine tune dialing the flow. I'm running an ancient ev150 (older model than ev180) on my setup with a 1000gph DC pump. Works great.
I have 2 AquaC EV-240. The key to success with these type of skimmers, is not to use an expensive Iwaki pump. Instead, use a fountain pump with a high flow rate, like a "Vivo Home" 1600-2700. They are a lot quieter, more energy efficient and 1/4 the price.
I had a HOB Aqua C Remora with the surface skimmer option on my 55 gallon low tech. Reef and it was honestly the best skimmer I’ve ever had for a HOB. Tuning it was extremely easy and it pulled gunk out of the water constantly. I can’t praise this skimmer enough. It truly was amazing. Sad to see these pretty much obsolete these days.
Excellent skimmer along with some ETSS models. Way back think 90's through 2000's never had so many compliments on how clean the water was in my big tanks. The biggest great design was that when you had an Pump hooked up to them there was no sharing the pump with an Venturi in front of it. So a Mag-7 was 700 gallons an hour. Not divided down sharing the air from the venturi. Still have one but need a cup for it. DOH!
Actually, i used to work for the owner of the ETSS skimmers and i stared out with an ETS 600. Now, i run an ETSS 1500 xr. These skimmers work AMAZINGLY well. I have a 100 Iwaki RLT powering mine to this day. Ole school rules dude.
I have been running a 240 for 2 months and just love it, my needle wheel worked good about half the time, but took constant upkeep, the pump was so finicky and hard to reassemble, drove me nuts.
I've had a remora since 2006 it's still running today on a 65 gallon hex tank. It pulls a ton of crud from the tank. I keep looking to upgrade but I can't come up with anything that seems better. No noise compliments unless I let the water level drop in the tank. Still haven't seen any new aquaC items after the out.
Still using a E.T.S.S. Evolution 500 on my 150g Cube. Love it. Works fantastic. Wish I could get away from the Mag 9.5 pump, but no reason to fix something that works really well.
Bought a used aquarium chiller. Guy gave me chiller + this skimmer + 2 iwaki pumps and a rio pump for cheap. Tested chiller and it works great! Checked skimmer and it has a tiny leak that I'm sure can be sealed
I am old school and still use it on my system. Very low maintenance still lol I only clean up the air valve and output injector. I know I should upgrade but for now Ill keep on using it. I had to do major tweaks on it but still works good.
One day someone should do a comparison of one of these older style skimmers to a new modern (say Red Sea) needlewheel skimmer. I had a Lifereef skimmer that is similar tech and bulletproof and was planning to buy another one but I must admit I am now leaning toward a Red Sea mainly because of the efficiencies and cost.
Great video, please do some more about the old days. I'm a reefer since 1986 and in that time everything was expensive and (to) big plus we had no internet.
The Aqua-C Remora Nano was my first skimmer on my nano cube. I needed a hang-on skimmer and the marketing was compelling. Looking back, yes it produced skim and seemed reliable. I agree, the thing was annoyingly loud though. I ended up buying a HOB Aquamax on a Black Friday sale.
I owned one for several years. Great company at the time with great support. My issue is they are not as reliable as you state. If a little snail gets into that inductor (which always seemed to happen to me), your performance goes to crap. I don't know why, but my Life Reef venturi style doesn't pickup snails.
Awesome! Thanks..Great video and topic. I always stayed away from Remora’s as I heard they’re loud.. I feel so many have fallen for sales gimmicks by skimmer manufacturers..and simply follow trends. And perhaps Bubble plates are the perfect example of this.. I still use a EuroReef skimmer with an upgraded pump (Octo Varios S4)..It works amazing! ..and without any bubble plates. I’m pretty sure that adding a bubble plate would actually hinder the efficiency by aligning and sending the bubble straight up instead of the current circular turbulent motion. What are your thoughts on this? Are bubble plates just a gimmick that everyone’s ignorantly sold on?..or should I experiment by adding one ?
Val Halla I totally agree I too have had similar results using a Reef Dynamics skimmer on one tank and a bubble plate skimmer on a different tank. The Reef Dynamics skimmer (formerly EuroReef) was awesome
While I get that the design would be super reliable, it seems like it wouldn't be as efficient at removing waste because your bubble size will be a lot larger than you can get with needle wheel design. Essentially this seems like a venturi output being blasted into the surface of water to increase the turbulence and bubble creation even more. Best of luck to the company looking to bring these back on the market though. More options can only be a good thing for the hobby. On a side note, it seems like running all that water through a sharp 90 degree elbow would be reducing the energy efficiency even further.
Always wondered what that big box in the skimmer was when watching newyorksteelo! And why Americans used to complain so much about tank noise. . My first skimmer was aqua medic turbo shorty 2. "Pin"wheel in 2004
New Sub, you know how hard it was to find any vids on ‘gravity protein skimmer’?
So THX!
Back in ‘96, I worked for a aquarium retailer in my hometown of Seattle.
The Bellevue location, opposite side of Lake Washington, was the real $ maker; MANY software professionals were committed to spending $ on our gear & livestock.
We were selling ETS Inductors (Venturi), like crazy, they gave us 4 & we hooked them up on 4 200 gal fish tanks (double 300 gal sumps), & Fed the fish aggressively, to show off the gunk gathering.
The REAL ‘trick’, was to run those skimmers on BIG TANKS, at really high turnovers.
Big dumps were best, to.
They didn’t have any up & down levels, etc, at all; you rigged them in & they just DID IT PERFECT, out of the crates.
Needle Wheels are cool, but it’s one more moving part.
These old ev skimmers were always a little bit finicky to set up. The gate valve has to be pretty precise (depends on flow in/flow out) and they stop foaming when you stick your hand in the water so it was a lot of adjust, wait, repeat for in sump applications.
Now with DC pumps you can dial the flow so it's way easier. Get the gate valve close to where you need it then fine tune dialing the flow. I'm running an ancient ev150 (older model than ev180) on my setup with a 1000gph DC pump. Works great.
Still got my aqua c running strong. Works like a charm. Love the old school Benz.
Maybe I'm getting old? Old school skimmer and Benz. It's great to hear from another AquaC user.
FADETOBLACK that’s awesome about the skimmer. Hit me up some time
I have 2 AquaC EV-240. The key to success with these type of skimmers, is not to use an expensive Iwaki pump. Instead, use a fountain pump with a high flow rate, like a "Vivo Home" 1600-2700. They are a lot quieter, more energy efficient and 1/4 the price.
I had a HOB Aqua C Remora with the surface skimmer option on my 55 gallon low tech. Reef and it was honestly the best skimmer I’ve ever had for a HOB. Tuning it was extremely easy and it pulled gunk out of the water constantly. I can’t praise this skimmer enough. It truly was amazing. Sad to see these pretty much obsolete these days.
I love your videos. keep them coming.
Excellent skimmer along with some ETSS models. Way back think 90's through 2000's never had so many compliments on how clean the water was in my big tanks. The biggest great design was that when you had an Pump hooked up to them there was no sharing the pump with an Venturi in front of it. So a Mag-7 was 700 gallons an hour. Not divided down sharing the air from the venturi. Still have one but need a cup for it. DOH!
Actually, i used to work for the owner of the ETSS skimmers and i stared out with an ETS 600. Now, i run an ETSS 1500 xr. These skimmers work AMAZINGLY well. I have a 100 Iwaki RLT powering mine to this day. Ole school rules dude.
I have been running a 240 for 2 months and just love it, my needle wheel worked good about half the time, but took constant upkeep, the pump was so finicky and hard to reassemble, drove me nuts.
I've had a remora since 2006 it's still running today on a 65 gallon hex tank. It pulls a ton of crud from the tank. I keep looking to upgrade but I can't come up with anything that seems better. No noise compliments unless I let the water level drop in the tank. Still haven't seen any new aquaC items after the out.
😳That's one old skimmer.
Still using a E.T.S.S. Evolution 500 on my 150g Cube. Love it. Works fantastic. Wish I could get away from the Mag 9.5 pump, but no reason to fix something that works really well.
My AquaC EV120 has been running on the same Mag5 pump 24/7 for 22 years. Reliable? Yep!
Bought a used aquarium chiller. Guy gave me chiller + this skimmer + 2 iwaki pumps and a rio pump for cheap. Tested chiller and it works great! Checked skimmer and it has a tiny leak that I'm sure can be sealed
interesting! thanks for the knowledge :)
I am old school and still use it on my system. Very low maintenance still lol I only clean up the air valve and output injector. I know I should upgrade but for now Ill keep on using it. I had to do major tweaks on it but still works good.
One day someone should do a comparison of one of these older style skimmers to a new modern (say Red Sea) needlewheel skimmer. I had a Lifereef skimmer that is similar tech and bulletproof and was planning to buy another one but I must admit I am now leaning toward a Red Sea mainly because of the efficiencies and cost.
Robert P I made a video doing that. You can see it on my channel
Great video, please do some more about the old days. I'm a reefer since 1986 and in that time everything was expensive and (to) big plus we had no internet.
Thanks I hope to do more like this
Still using my C HOB I found ya had to let them get dirty to work, my issue is I need the clips . And yes it's loud but foam dampens it quite a bit
I love them!
Very interesting video brother..great job
The Aqua-C Remora Nano was my first skimmer on my nano cube. I needed a hang-on skimmer and the marketing was compelling.
Looking back, yes it produced skim and seemed reliable. I agree, the thing was annoyingly loud though. I ended up buying a HOB Aquamax on a Black Friday sale.
Does it require a vinegar soak? Or just empty the cup...?
What did you do to give your remora the best performance possible. I have one and would love to know
I'm still using an aqua c remora. Should I replace the maxijet 1200. Is it true overtime they lose gph output? Should my cup be higher or lower?
I owned one for several years. Great company at the time with great support. My issue is they are not as reliable as you state. If a little snail gets into that inductor (which always seemed to happen to me), your performance goes to crap. I don't know why, but my Life Reef venturi style doesn't pickup snails.
Awesome! Thanks..Great video and topic.
I always stayed away from Remora’s as I heard they’re loud..
I feel so many have fallen for sales gimmicks by skimmer manufacturers..and simply follow trends.
And perhaps Bubble plates are the perfect example of this..
I still use a EuroReef skimmer with an upgraded pump (Octo Varios S4)..It works amazing! ..and without any bubble plates.
I’m pretty sure that adding a bubble plate would actually hinder the efficiency by aligning and sending the bubble straight up instead of the current circular turbulent motion. What are your thoughts on this? Are bubble plates just a gimmick that everyone’s ignorantly sold on?..or should I experiment by adding one ?
Val Halla I totally agree I too have had similar results using a Reef Dynamics skimmer on one tank and a bubble plate skimmer on a different tank. The Reef Dynamics skimmer (formerly EuroReef) was awesome
Great Video!
While I get that the design would be super reliable, it seems like it wouldn't be as efficient at removing waste because your bubble size will be a lot larger than you can get with needle wheel design. Essentially this seems like a venturi output being blasted into the surface of water to increase the turbulence and bubble creation even more. Best of luck to the company looking to bring these back on the market though. More options can only be a good thing for the hobby.
On a side note, it seems like running all that water through a sharp 90 degree elbow would be reducing the energy efficiency even further.
I slightly overdrive my EV180 with a DC pump on a 220 gallon SPS tank. It gets the job done!
I still have my EV180 but keeping it around as a backup just in case my 2 other skimmers die. As with design less moving parts = higher reliability.
Always wondered what that big box in the skimmer was when watching newyorksteelo!
And why Americans used to complain so much about tank noise. . My first skimmer was aqua medic turbo shorty 2. "Pin"wheel in 2004
I love protein skimmers but I like that Star Wars t-shirt even better I'm going to have to make you an offer on it LOL just kidding😎
May the force be with you
I wasted so much money on a big aqua c skimmer that didnt even work good at all compared to reefoctopus
👊👍
Rico he know New york steelo got him to get that skimmer lol
Love my ETSS!
Très intéressant mais beaucoup de parole et pas trop d'images ??? 🤔🤔🤨
I still rock the Nano Remora on my 12g apuapod and I see the newone by cobaltaquatics on instagram looks nice