Berlin Turbo Protein Skimmer - Needs to be sooped up

[dakar]

I actually like the design of the Berlin Turbo, and it's quite effective, just does not seem to work consistently for us, seems like one day it'll pull a lot of crud, then not even produce any foam in the top tube for a day or two. Doesn't seem to matter if its just been cleaned or let go for two weeks without cleaning.

BTW It's located in the sump with the base submerged about 6-7 inches. I've tried raising the sump level but that has had little effect. I have the pump running wide open and the air mixture closed up to where the micro bubbles are right to the bottom of the 2nd pathway (down). If i turn down the pump it'll barely pull any air in.

Any ideas on improving it's effectiveness or efficiency? Thinking maybe closing off one of the exit ports and/or increasing the head pressure with a length of 3/4" hose. I know some of you folks have the same unit ...how's it working for you?

[Reptoreef]

I would imagine that with some 'breakin' time and more stuff to actually skim(keep your hands out of the water!!!) it should work well. Ever considered modifying the unit to add a couple of air injected air diffusers???

[dakar]

^BUMP^

[Reefmaniac1]

dakar, I have used 3 of these skimmers. My original skimmer worked great and the one on my mother-in-law's tank works like a charm. But the one that I was using on my latest tank didn't seem to want to work worth squat. I was using their pump (same as my in-law's) but it was very tempermental and required constant cleaning, etc. I finally gave up on it and ordered and ASM G2x from Champion Lighting. After using this skimmer (which was co-designed by Euro-Reef), I won't ever go back. I get at least a cup of crap removed from the tank on a weekly basis. Not to mention all the solid crap that gets stuck to the inside of the neck...

[dakar]

Thanks for the info, I should have updated this thread, I found the only major problem with it... the pump requires cleaning a couple times a week, the smallest bit of obstruction in the air tube going into the pump will cause a dramatic drop in effeciency. Now with continual cleaning it's pulling half a gallon of very dark crud every couple weeks....

Other than that, and I think most skimmers will suffer from the same thing, when feeding certain things like cylopeze or phytoplankton the foam production flattens out for a few hours, then it's back to business.

I'm pretty happy with it now, though not convinced it's any better than my DIY'rs, butit's given me some new ideas that I may incorporate into my next effort.