Skimmer Pumps Air Draw

[piranhaman00]

Hello,

Does anyone test the air flow their Venturi needle wheel skimmers draw? The aqua trance 3000s for RO skimmers is listed to draw 880lph, I bought one for strictly CO2 scrubber, I tested it in a bucket and get around 300lph only. Some of the RO pumps are listed at around 4000lph, I find that very hard to believe.

Anyone have experience with this?

 

[KrisReef]

Not really, but I do have a couple of guesses:
1. They measure the flow with zero resistance (like a water pump head pressure at zero feet.)

2. They assume that you don’t exist and that no one like ywill ever check these flow claims?

I don’t know how to verify which of these hypothetical answers is true and there could be other reasons (faulty equipment from them or your meter?, etc.)


glad you posted. It will be interesting to see if we can get more information about this question.

:/;?

 

[piranhaman00]

bump, sent a message to RO.

Hoping someone will test their pumps air draw, all you need is a 0-30lpm gas flow meter

 

[KrisReef]

For what it is worth, I have been extremely happy with my RO skimmer and have purchased a replacement Bubble Blaster NWP for my 15 year old skimmer. I am not one of the reefers who cleaned the pump every month and the 1st pump “kicked donkey” for ~10 years before It needed to be replaced.
The efficacy of airflow is what you need, and I don’t know how critical the actual number of cubic feet / hour needs to be to accomplish the media reaction that you are trying to accomplish in scrubbing CO2. I would set it up and see if it would work for your needs and not sweat the measured air movement unless the reactor is not working to accomplish your goals.
I need to go test my Dkh and see if I need to adjust my Kamoer flow through my Calk reactor. Once I got that dialed in my tank pH has improved from high 7’s to 8.1-8.3 now fairly consistently. Just thinking.
it will be interesting to hear from RO if they reply.

 

[piranhaman00]

The more air draw means more bubbles and better skimming, plus the more air draw through a co2 reactor will keep pH up by getting closer to perfect gas exchange.

I currently run a life reef with mezzai injector getting 650lph, pH increased by 0.3. I added the RO and got an additional 0.05 increase. If the RO was pulling what it claims the increase would be more.

 

[spsick]

Bump for this. I’m wondering if skimmers say the lph air draw at the recommended skimmer depth but suspect that varies by the integrity of the mfgr. I want to swap out my BK mini 160 as it is not skimming as well since being connected to outside air for a while. Octopus Elite 150 advertises 900lph but not sure if I can trust that.

 

[KStatefan]

Can not answer your question but I am getting ready to install a flow meter on my air pump feeding outside air to my lifereef.

 

[spsick]

Can not answer your question but I am getting ready to install a flow meter on my air pump feeding outside air to my lifereef.

Good idea! They’re cheap so I ordered one as well. Perhaps running my BK at a shallower depth will pull more air before I try something different.

 

[14 foot reef]

The RK2 Skimmers have the needle valve airflow meter built into them. When I ran my giant RK2 Skimmer I found that air input control to be very valuable

You Tube Close up of Cubic Feet per Minute air meter Click here Cubic Feet per Minute

 

[reeftivo]

you can use and RMB meter and convert the scfh to lph, but my dwyer has consistently shown lower numbers compared to manufacturers ratings. i've seen up to 30% less air shown on fixed speed AC pumps, but the DC pumps can get close to their MFG ratings if speed is ramped up. in my experience they are always under though.

Dwyer Instruments RMB-53-SSV​

 

[spsick]

Hooked up the airflow meter and surprised to see my skimmer (BK Mini 160) pulls almost the advertised air draw at the skimmer with no silencer AND at the end of the 30-40ft line to the exterior of my house. 540lph and it’s rated at 600lph.

This is also at the max recommended depth of 9.5” so would probably come up if I lowered the later level in the sump.