Innovative marine skimmer showdown

[Applegate]

Hey guys,

Recently I saw the commercial for the new Nuvoskim dc skimmer by innovative marine and my interest was immediately peaked. I currently have a ghost skimmer by innovative marine for my im nuvo 40 aio. And if you watch the advertisement for the new nuvoskim they put it against the ghost showing in just a few days the difference in skimmate it produces. It shows a very light skimmate coming out of the ghost and much darker from the nuvoskim. I was already looking to upgrade cause I always get super light skimmate from my current ghost and I was going to get the tunze 9004 but when I saw this... just had to try it.

So... for the next month.... I want to let them compete in my own experiment . So I'm taking out the min refugium and going to let the two skimmers go head to head. Also be aware that the first week will most likely be a break in period for the nuvo skim and the ghost was recently cleaned. I'll keep you updated on how it goes.

 

[James M]

Following !

 

[Applegate]

Hey guys,

Recently I saw the commercial for the new Nuvoskim dc skimmer by innovative marine and my interest was immediately peaked. I currently have a ghost skimmer by innovative marine for my im nuvo 40 aio. And if you watch the advertisement for the new nuvoskim they put it against the ghost showing in just a few days the difference in skimmate it produces. It shows a very light skimmate coming out of the ghost and much darker from the nuvoskim. I was already looking to upgrade cause I always get super light skimmate from my current ghost and I was going to get the tunze 9004 but when I saw this... just had to try it.

So... for the next month.... I want to let them compete in my own experiment . So I'm taking out the min refugium and going to let the two skimmers go head to head. Also be aware that the first week will most likely be a break in period for the nuvo skim and the ghost was recently cleaned. I'll keep you updated on how it goes.

Here's the nuvo skimmer. And the two of the skimmers in their chambers. Filtration before both skimmers are filter socks changed every 2 to 3 days

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

Here’s mine . 2 days worth of skim . Had it for about a week now . Great skimmer so far

 

[Applegate]

1 week update: so far I haven't been able to zero in that sweet spot with the new skimmer. If you have used these skimmers before, you'll know that adjusting them is simply moving the collection cup up or down and a half inch too far in or too far out can be the difference between clear water in the collection cup and light brown skimmate or nothing. A lot of people would consider the first week or even 2 weeks a break in period so I didn't expect to see much at this point but the ad for the new nuvoskim specifically mentions a 1 day break in period. Let's see how week 2 goes

 

[reef-rc]

So I too have both skimmers running myself in 2 Fusion 20 tanks intermittently. I have the ghost skimmer in the new Fusion 20 tank I had started cycling a little over a month ago. The ghost skimmer was in my 1.5 yrs old Fusion 20 reef. I had put the new Nuvoskim in my 1.5 yrs old Fusion 20 reef. It's been running for a few weeks now. It's not a identical comparison like yours.

The only difference so far that I see I like most is that you don't have to adjust the air intake on the new Nuvoskim. I don't really know if that's a good thing or bad thing long term but it's just one thing I don't have to mess with beside the cup height adjustment like you said. With the ghost skimmer I constantly wondered if i had the air adjusted correctly

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

3 days skim here. I raised it ever so slightly to get a darker skim and accomplished that without a hustle . It’s been set it and forget it for me so far . Loving it!

wrong pic but I’ll post a fresh pic of skim once I’m home .

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

Pic from couple of days ago. Dense and fine foam can be seen. It surges through the top and spreads at the concave lid bottom. Only surges foam when there’s a good amount and overflows to the cup.

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

Here’s a fresh pic. Pretty dark and nasty to me. I haven’t adjusted more than several times to get the skim I’m looking for.

No fish in my tank. 3 snails, cleaner shrimp, emerald crab, neon green hammer, blue hammer, rainbow acan, couple of Zoas .

Feeding my corals twice weekly with reef roids with frozen food.

 

[Applegate]

After about a month of observing the new skimmer, these are my personal opinions.

Initially I had a hard time getting the new nuvoskim ro skim even remotely consistent. About 2 weeks in I noticed the reason why is because it was sitting on top of a piece of marinepure. The chamber used to hold my mini refugium. After removing that the skimmate became very consistent and I was able to attempt at dialing it in better.

But even after that I was never able to produce BETTER skim than the ghost skimmer. It looks very much the same. But if I'm honest I feel like I get less of it.

At about 3 weeks while doing a water change and giving the ghost a vinegar bath, my dog decided it was a toy and broke broke the body of the skimmer. So I dont have a choice but to keep the nuvo skim.

The pros to the nuvo skim however though is after the first week, it did become much quieter than the ghost.

Ill attach pictures to compare. You'll notice the skim head that is produced by the ghost is better in my opinion so if I had the choice to buy right now... I'd probably buy the cheaper ghost. Even if it is slightly louder

 

[Applegate]

After about a month of observing the new skimmer, these are my personal opinions.

Initially I had a hard time getting the new nuvoskim ro skim even remotely consistent. About 2 weeks in I noticed the reason why is because it was sitting on top of a piece of marinepure. The chamber used to hold my mini refugium. After removing that the skimmate became very consistent and I was able to attempt at dialing it in better.

But even after that I was never able to produce BETTER skim than the ghost skimmer. It looks very much the same. But if I'm honest I feel like I get less of it.

At about 3 weeks while doing a water change and giving the ghost a vinegar bath, my dog decided it was a toy and broke broke the body of the skimmer. So I dont have a choice but to keep the nuvo skim.

The pros to the nuvo skim however though is after the first week, it did become much quieter than the ghost.

Ill attach pictures to compare. You'll notice the skim head that is produced by the ghost is better in my opinion so if I had the choice to buy right now... I'd probably buy the cheaper ghost. Even if it is slightly louder

Ghost

 

[Applegate]

Nuvo skim. This is at about the 3 week point and both skimmer cups with about 3 days of collecting

 

[Applegate]

Tonight's collection after 4 days

 

[pieceofreef]

Thank you for sharing your experience and thoughts on the new skimmer. I'm considering it for my 25g lagoon. From your pictures it seems that it skims pretty wet and doesn't get much out of the tank?
What's your verdict after about a month? Would you get it again? My main alternative would be the much bigger Aquamaxx HOB 1.5.
Is it quiet?
Thanks!

 

[ikiwi]

I also have a question about the new skimmer... how long did it take to "break in"? I have one, turned it on a couple of days ago and all I am seeing is massive micro bubbles and overflow. I'm OK with that as I understand it will take a while to settle down, but I am curious what you experienced during the initial start-up phase?

 

[Applegate]

I also have a question about the new skimmer... how long did it take to "break in"? I have one, turned it on a couple of days ago and all I am seeing is massive micro bubbles and overflow. I'm OK with that as I understand it will take a while to settle down, but I am curious what you experienced during the initial start-up phase?

The micro bubbles went away after about a week but it didn't really perform the way I wanted it to until about the one month period

 

[ikiwi]

The micro bubbles went away after about a week but it didn't really perform the way I wanted it to until about the one month period

Thanks. Like everything else with this hobby, patience is a virtue

 

[Dustinryan2010]

Pic from couple of days ago. Dense and fine foam can be seen. It surges through the top and spreads at the concave lid bottom. Only surges foam when there’s a good amount and overflows to the cup.

At what level do you recommend running the bubbles? The bottom of the neck or the top?

 

[3s1k]

It's been 5 days since I got my NuvoSkim in my 25 lagoon. Still dialing the height of the cup to get the darkest skimmate. I get tea colored skim 2 days after putting it in.

Much quieter than the cheapo skimmer I had. I dont see any micro bubbles in mine.

 

[GtiKyle]

What am i doing wrong?

IM Lagoon 25. I have my water level set correctly. I've been running the skimmer (used, came with this tank) for a few hours now with the cup as high up as it can be set, and it's just getting flooded with bubbles. There's no more adjustment i can do to reduce the cup flooding in a hurry. Thoughts?