Skimmer pump upgrade ?

[MadReefer]

I never felt my skimmers were perfroming well; one is a Berlin classic and the other is Aqautic Life Systems.
Red Sea claims that a 500pgh pump is fine for the Berlin so I hooked up a mag5. The ALS I got from a fellow reefer and came with a mag7. The ALF skimmer performed a little better then the Berlin. After reading on this site and others and surfing the web I decided to upgrade the ALS to a mag9 or higher but couldn't find one at good price. Especially since I wasn't sure if this would make things better. So I dusted the Berlin off and popped the mag7 on; took about an hour to tweak it. But it has been producing foam for the past 4 hours. I hate to get my hopes up. Is there any downfall to using a larger pump? If this works I will get a mag9 for the ALS and use that one.

Thanks,
Mark

 

[ricwilli]

Hey Mark
Do you have the kent venturi valve on that Berlin skimmer? You should have one if you are going to put a mag9 on it as well as an air valve. If you do not have the kent venturi valve, let me know. I have one laying around. You can have it once I find it. I also have a mag9 that you can borrow to test the skimmer. The only problem with the mag 9 is that sometimes it starts and sometimes it doesn't.

 

[MadReefer]

I appreciate that Rich. I have the venturi for both skimmers. Berlin came with a built in one for better lack of term. ALS is a separate piece. No problem if the mag9 stops and starts; just experimenting now.

 

[Baxreefs]

The only down side to any larger pump is more watts (depending upon the pump you change to) and if there are more watts, more heat added to the processed water. Depending on the skimmer the higher watt pump may not give you the added performance you are looking for.

Best way to tell if the swap is worth it is to measure the air draw I have a guage if your near by you can barow it too to check.

 

[MadReefer]

Bax, thanks for the offer but Bloomfield is a little far to travel for me. I have been gauging it by observation. In the past they would skim nice for a week or two and then stop. Adjusting the air flow only caused it fill with water and spill out; no matter how small an adjustment. The Berlin with the mag7 has been in place for a little over 12hrs and is still producing foam. In the past they would produce foam for a few hrs and stop and then start again.

 

[ricwilli]

Is this the one you have on the Berlin? http://www.kentmarine.com/products/venturi-valves.htm Let me know about the mag9.

 

[MadReefer]

Rich,
The one on the ALS is very similar. The berlin is different and came with this way from Red Sea.
Yes, I would like to try the mag9 on the ALS. I will get back to you for time convenient for both of us.
Thanks