Aqua C EV Series - What do you think?

[FunaiReefSystems]

Hi Guys,

I've long been a fan of the classic Venturi style DC controllable skimmers. It's really hard to go wrong with them. They are infinitely adjustable and you can produce any type of skim you want.

But I have always wondered about the Aqua C EV series of skimmers, particularly the EV400. These skimmers you just add a pump of your choosing, I was going to go with a D.C. adjustable that goes up to around 1,000 GPH.

For those of you that don't know the concept of these is pretty simple. Blast a stream of water into a bucket of water and bubbles are created.

Anyways I wanted to get your thoughts on them. Have you or do you use one now? Are they loud? Do they produce more skim than the classic style skimmer? Or anything else you can think of.

Thanks,

Tanner

ReefSystemz.com

 

[mcarroll]

You will need a much larger pump – around 2000 GPH+ if they have that size. The EV400 calls for a Mag 18/Iwaki 55RLT, or better.

I love the EV skimmers, although I did switch to a needle-wheel skimmer. (I still have my EV90 though!)

They are no louder than expected. Using an external pump will obviously be louder than a submersible....

 

[gcarroll]

If you are going to run the EV 400, you will be very disappointed if you choose anything less than a Mag 24. But if you go with that pump, that skimmer is an absolute beast!

On a side note, the Mag 24 pump will only consume 125w when used on that skimmer.

 

[tvu]

I had an EV-120 with a Mag7 pump. Hated the thing! Never was consistent and always had to clean it out. Pump generates a lot of heat too.
There's better options and more energy efficient skimmers that outperform. I'm now using Aquamaxx and it blows away the AquaC in performance hands down

 

[mcarroll]

You just weren't doing it right.

EV's are trickier to set up than a needle wheel since they potentially have four control points instead of only one – and you add to the complexity by determining your own pump and your own feed and drain plumbing.

The difference in simplicity with needle wheels is that all of those things except the air intake are dictated for you. At most you have to make an adjustment to how high the skimmer(pump) sits in the water.

If you are methodical in your approach to tuning, the EV series of skimmers will easily skim alongside any of the best needle wheels today.

When I was using mine, I had things set up so that it would skim wet (keeping it cleaner) and it would drain into a large vessel.

The extra power that it may or may not take is a red herring to me. If there is a bigger pump in the system it just means my heaters work less.