Redsea DC skimmer worth it?

[musaabi]

Currently running a Redsea 300 skimmer. I’ve had it for a bit of time and it works just fine but occasionally I go to check on it and it’s filled it the rim with water. Having to constantly adjust the intake is extremely annoying which is where the DC pump comes in. From my understanding, the DC pump will auto adjust to ensure it doesn’t overflow and keep the bubble chamber consistent. It’s great that they offer the upgrade kit but I don’t want to deal with more wiring. The part that really turns me off towards it is the controller. The upgrade kit and the DC version both don’t come with a controller so I need to buy an additional controller now adding to the cost. 1) is the DC pump upgrade worth it and 2) why on earth wouldn’t they just provide the controller rather than selling it as an additional part and 3) what other DC skimmers do you recommend that can auto adjust so I’m not pulling water.

 

[dschuffert]

I like the DC version. I have the 900. It adjusts the pump speed to try and maintain the wetness of the foam in the settings. It also does a good job of detecting an overflowing cup. I drain my cup of skimmate every other week and clean the sensor once a month.

 

[ErikVR]

I would say no. My wetness sensor does absolutely nothing. It's always pumping on its max setting and the cup is full of super wet skimmate every day. Red sea support has so far been useless.

 

[Katze]

Hey ! You may not have to swap to DC. I do have one Red Sea 300 (AC) running on my 200l system and it is very stable.
Here is what I'd do:
Daily check the skimmer if you can, possibly during feeding times.
The wet, easily popping bubbles should start from the red ring around the neck (Circled with green in the picture).
Check your water depth ! If it's over 22-25cm then raise it. (Mine sits in about 22cm of water)
Check the silencer, make sure that there isn't any water inside. If there is unplug the plug and let it flow out (marked with lime green)
It's also important to mention that some chemicals can make skimmers go crazy resulting in overflowing.

Green - The bubbles which will create the good skimmate
Yellow - very wet bubbles, should never reach higher than the picture shows
Red- transition between the goodness and the very wet ones
Blue - the bubbles marked with green should not exceed that line, except the sticky ones which creates the skimmate
Feel free to ask questions.

 

[musaabi]

Hey ! You may not have to swap to DC. I do have one Red Sea 300 (AC) running on my 200l system and it is very stable.
Here is what I'd do:
Daily check the skimmer if you can, possibly during feeding times.
The wet, easily popping bubbles should start from the red ring around the neck (Circled with green in the picture).
Check your water depth ! If it's over 22-25cm then raise it. (Mine sits in about 22cm of water)
Check the silencer, make sure that there isn't any water inside. If there is unplug the plug and let it flow out (marked with lime green)
It's also important to mention that some chemicals can make skimmers go crazy resulting in overflowing.

Green - The bubbles which will create the good skimmate
Yellow - very wet bubbles, should never reach higher than the picture shows
Red- transition between the goodness and the very wet ones
Blue - the bubbles marked with green should not exceed that line, except the sticky ones which creates the skimmate
Feel free to ask questions.

This is awesome. I have this set to how you have it here. My issue is sometimes I’ll set it up to breaking at green. I come by a couple of hours later and it’s breaking 2 inches below and no skimmate or skimmate forming below the neck. So I adjust it back up, come back and the entire cup is full cause it sucked up too much water. I’m running an apex cor pump and have speed Set to 75%. The only time it dips below the preset level is feeding timer when the cor goes to 1%. Skimmer turns off, and waits 15 min after the cor returns to 75% before turning back on to allow the skimmer chamber to return to normal.

This has been my biggest issue. I observed after a few feed cycles and things seem to work fine. Then I leave it for a few days come back and it overflowed sometime in between. The chamber never returns to the same level for one reason to another and find myself having to adjust the gate valve on the drain line constantly. Idk if this is an issue with the COR pump or if it’s because I get minor brownouts(less than 5 seconds). I was hoping the dc pump can account for this but not wanting to drop money on an upgrade kit plus controller.

 

[musaabi]

This is awesome. I have this set to how you have it here. My issue is sometimes I’ll set it up to breaking at green. I come by a couple of hours later and it’s breaking 2 inches below and no skimmate or skimmate forming below the neck. So I adjust it back up, come back and the entire cup is full cause it sucked up too much water. I’m running an apex cor pump and have speed Set to 75%. The only time it dips below the preset level is feeding timer when the cor goes to 1%. Skimmer turns off, and waits 15 min after the cor returns to 75% before turning back on to allow the skimmer chamber to return to normal.

This has been my biggest issue. I observed after a few feed cycles and things seem to work fine. Then I leave it for a few days come back and it overflowed sometime in between. The chamber never returns to the same level for one reason to another and find myself having to adjust the gate valve on the drain line constantly. Idk if this is an issue with the COR pump or if it’s because I get minor brownouts(less than 5 seconds). I was hoping the dc pump can account for this but not wanting to drop money on an upgrade kit plus controller.

I’ll see if I can get photos of the skimmer chamber. I’m gone away for a week at work but will be home this weekend I hope.

 

[DS1978]

I would say no. My wetness sensor does absolutely nothing. It's always pumping on its max setting and the cup is full of super wet skimmate every day. Red sea support has so far been useless.

Same issue I had as well. And you are correct, RedSea support if full of it and completely useless.

 

[jft]

Same issue I had as well. And you are correct, RedSea support if full of it and completely useless.

And Their tanks are prone to burst!!! How they remain in business is beyond me, LOL!!!

 

[ErikVR]

Their customer service is generally pretty good. I guess they just know that these skimmers are not designed properly.

 

[revenant]

I just bought a DC 600 (w/ the sicce dc 1200 pump and no controller module) and it's totally underwhelming so far.. the pump seems very under powered .. not sure what to do as BRS will not take it back now and I am really regretting this purchase.. I have completely disassembled everything, inspected all, it's assembled 100% properly and the pump is working, just seems under powered. I had high hopes for the dc 600 but I should have just stuck with Reef Octo.. I might just eBay this Red Sea and get an Octo Regal 250 space saver.