Possible? VarioS 2 DC pump in RedSea 300 Skimmer

[Jen1978]

Ok, bear with me here. Setup is over 6 months old. RedSea 300xl g2+. Current skimmer is Redsea 300 non DC protein skimmer. Skim has never been right. Its currently on 3 or 4 layers of eggcrate, one of the two air intakes are blocked and its still either a wet skim or none at all. I am fully aware that RS has a DC upgrade kit but I'm not sure how well I like their electronics. Not impressed with their ATO+ at all. Id ready prefer to switch the pump to the VarioS 2 skimmer pump so I can bypass the controller and it hook directly to my Hydros Wave Engine. As a last resort I could get the sicce PSK SDC 1200 Controllable DC pump, but again, prefer to hook straight into Hydros. Help a gal out here.

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[DanyL]

Personally I wouldn’t try to fit a different pump when there is a DC upgrade kit available.

Since they are using Sicce pumps, you could possibly fit the same pump with a Sicce controller, Hydros should have some sort of integration with it in the future - at least that’s what their source code says from my own tinkering with their firmware.

But regardless of what DC pump you decide to go with, I would try to pinpoint your current problem with the skimmer.

Wet skimming is sometimes necessary to get any skimate at all, this is because low nutrient systems simply don’t have enough to make dry skimming work - could this possibly be the vain of your problem?

 

[Jen1978]

Personally I wouldn’t try to fit a different pump when there is a DC upgrade kit available.

Since they are using Sicce pumps, you could possibly fit the same pump with a Sicce controller, Hydros should have some sort of integration with it in the future - at least that’s what their source code says from my own tinkering with their firmware.

But regardless of what DC pump you decide to go with, I would try to pinpoint your current problem with the skimmer.

Wet skimming is sometimes necessary to get any skimate at all, this is because low nutrient systems simply don’t have enough to make dry skimming work - could this possibly be the vain of your problem?

My system is definitely not low nutrient. Actually Hydros did update and allow 3rd party sicce so I will get the DC skimmer pump at some point. I am just really not liking the RedSea electronics at all and refuse to use their skimmer upgrade.

 

[DanyL]

Have you considered selling your current skimmer and upgrading to one supported by Hydros? Or ignoring the DC part of it altogether and simply connecting to a smart outlet.

While Red Sea skimmers aren’t the most performing skimmers out there, I still believe it’s a misconfiguration that you’re encountering here, which could arise with other brands as well. So I would still try and reconfigure it properly to improve its performance.

The general idea is that the higher the internal water line is - the wetter the skimate will be.

To adjust the internal water height you can either control the valve opening the water outlet more, or if it isn’t enough bring the skimmer higher.

I know you already know and done this, but its worthwhile mentioning it once again.

Another common problem some people can encounter is when the waterline inside their sump changes, this could be due to a change in return pump speed, a roller mat that drained its chamber, etc.

See if you can find the root cause and mitigate it.

 

[Jen1978]

Have you considered selling your current skimmer and upgrading to one supported by Hydros? Or ignoring the DC part of it altogether and simply connecting to a smart outlet.

While Red Sea skimmers aren’t the most performing skimmers out there, I still believe it’s a misconfiguration that you’re encountering here, which could arise with other brands as well. So I would still try and reconfigure it properly to improve its performance.

The general idea is that the higher the internal water line is - the wetter the skimate will be.

To adjust the internal water height you can either control the valve opening the water outlet more, or if it isn’t enough bring the skimmer higher.

I know you already know and done this, but its worthwhile mentioning it once again.

Another common problem some people can encounter is when the waterline inside their sump changes, this could be due to a change in return pump speed, a roller mat that drained its chamber, etc.

See if you can find the root cause and mitigate it.

While I appreciate your reply, you must not have read my post. The skimmer is already up on several layers of egg crate and I have already cut off as much air supply as I can. I'm not new to reefing. Just upgraded tanks 6 months ago. I am not buying a new skimmer when I can just swap the pump for a Sicce DC. Why would I connect the skimmer to a smart outlet? That would do no benefit when my XP8 already turns it off and on. Problem is pump is over powered.

 

[DanyL]

I’ve throughly read your original post, I intentionally mentioned it once again (and actually explicitly acknowledged you already know & and done that) because sometimes people are quick to fault their equipment and confident they configured it properly, but in reality they may haven’t tried and verified everything is in check.

Revisiting this option imo is worthwhile before calling defeat and come to conclusions.

As for replacing the pump vs selling & purchasing a different skimmer - well, depending on the cost of the upgrade, it could be around the same price and from my point of view it’s a viable option that I would’ve personally explored.

As for the smart outlet - what exactly do you think your XP8 is? It is a smart power strip, with outlets.

It seems as though you already made your mind, so go with what ever solution you feel would work the best for you.