TheWB’s IM Lagoon 50
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TheWB
2500 Club Member
I changed out my skimmer last weekend. I was running the IM Ghost Skimmer which did well for a while. Lately it’s just not creating enough bubbles and therefore wasn’t exporting anything. The way the airline is connected to the pump makes it difficult to remove the pump from the body for maintenance. I’ve had an Aquamaxx NF-1 sitting around new in the box for 2 1/2 years. It was a freebie with my first order from Marine Depot. Since cleaning the pump on the IM skimmer is problematic I decided to swap it out for the Aquamaxx and see how it compares. It barely fits in the second chamber but it’s in there. So far, so good, it’s producing some skimmate already. Right now I’m just letting it run to break in and have only slightly tweaked it’s position to keep it from skimming too wet. Hopefully this one will be a long term answer but if not I think my next step will be to the Cadlights PLS50 elite II. I know it will fit, I’ve heard some good things, and it looks like maintenance would be easier because of the design with the pump on the bottom and not surrounded by the skimmer body. I hope I don’t have to try it though, it’ll be great if the Aquamaxx works out.
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TheWB
2500 Club Member
So far the Aquamaxx NF-1 is underwhelming. It started out ok skimming a little wet On the first day. Since then the amount of bubbles in the skimmer chamber seems less than before and virtually no skimmate is being produced. I’ll need to give it another 7-10 days of break in time before I pass judgement. Hoping it kicks in better soon.
Robertellis30
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I’ve tried a few different skimmers on my nuvo 20. Best one I’ve gotten too is the nuvo dc skimmer.
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TheWB
2500 Club Member
I‘m going to give it all the time it needs because a new skimmer isn’t in the budget right now. I’m in the moving business so I still get to work theoretically but there aren’t many clients right now. I’ll have a decent March but April and beyond aren't looking so great. Whenever my commissions dwindle so does the reefing budget. No new equipment for me for a while.
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TheWB
2500 Club Member
I’d like to try the Nuvo dc skimmer but I’ve discovered from the ghost skimmer that I don’t like how the pump sits inside the body. It’s super difficult to take apart and clean. I’m intrigued by the Cadlights PLS50 elite because I've seen some good reviews and the pump isn’t surrounded by the skimmer body which I’m certain will make maintenance or replacement easier. At least I hope that’s the case but I’m gonna run with the Aquamaxx for a while and see if it improves. Might even run the ghost skimmer in some citric acid and see if that helps it since taking it apart doesn’t seem to be an option.
‘Thanks for checking out my thread.
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TheWB
2500 Club Member
Still not the best picture but it’s actually 3 new heads on the Acan.
(3/25 update. I was wrong, there’s 3 more smaller heads the left of the ones in this picture. This coral is basically exploding after months of no growth.)
(3/25 update. I was wrong, there’s 3 more smaller heads the left of the ones in this picture. This coral is basically exploding after months of no growth.)
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So I guess the skimmer is starting to work.
Glad to see the skimmer doing what it's supposed to do. I'm an Aquamaxx fan. I have an Aquamaxx skimmer on my system and will likely upgrade to the DC skimmer when my funds allow.
I haven't been to active with posting but have been checking for notifications. Of course R2R decided again not to give me notifications on yet another thread lol. Not sure what the deal is, I may make a thread or PM a mod asking why it is always happening.
Looks like your corals are super happy and your pictures really look great. That rainbow acan is super nice and seems to be holding its color huh? And finally getting some new heads on the red one, that's awesome. Have you been feeding it often?
Good to see the skimmer is now working. I have the Cadlights on mine and it does a really good job. Doesn't pull really dark gunk but good dark tea colored skimate. I don't think any of the nano skimmers really pull dark dry stuff. The cadlights is built like a tank though and easy to clean. I would have got another one for my 25 lagoon but it wouldn't fit. I ended up with the K1 nano, it works well and is super easy to adjust but it feels cheaply made and just pulls ok skim, overall I am happy with it though. I have heard good things about that Aquamax NF skimmer, I hope it does well for you. Another option I heard some people doing is buying just the DC pump and putting it on the normal ghost skimmer. Innovative Marine sells them for like $50 on their site.
Thats a shame your income is probably going to slow down with this whole outbreak. A lot of people are having job issues. I hope we don't loose to many people in the hobby but I think its inevitable. Im just praying this doesn't last long and the virus spread really slows down.
When things do pick up for you and if your still in the market for a light I saw a really interesting one on amazon for cheap. A local was selling an IM 20g Peninsula and I was contemplating buying it lol. In the end I decided against it and just going to be hopeful and wait and see if the frag system ever comes together. Anyway this light is pretty basic but the spectrum mix of leds look good. It has two channels that are dimmable and is just on/off without ramping. Not sure the ramping is really necessary but I do enjoy it myself. You would need a timer to turn it on and off. They also have a single puck version and you could get two for better spread. Just wanted to throw it out there, it looks pretty new so I'm going to be keeping an eye on the reviews.
Looks like your corals are super happy and your pictures really look great. That rainbow acan is super nice and seems to be holding its color huh? And finally getting some new heads on the red one, that's awesome. Have you been feeding it often?
Good to see the skimmer is now working. I have the Cadlights on mine and it does a really good job. Doesn't pull really dark gunk but good dark tea colored skimate. I don't think any of the nano skimmers really pull dark dry stuff. The cadlights is built like a tank though and easy to clean. I would have got another one for my 25 lagoon but it wouldn't fit. I ended up with the K1 nano, it works well and is super easy to adjust but it feels cheaply made and just pulls ok skim, overall I am happy with it though. I have heard good things about that Aquamax NF skimmer, I hope it does well for you. Another option I heard some people doing is buying just the DC pump and putting it on the normal ghost skimmer. Innovative Marine sells them for like $50 on their site.
Thats a shame your income is probably going to slow down with this whole outbreak. A lot of people are having job issues. I hope we don't loose to many people in the hobby but I think its inevitable. Im just praying this doesn't last long and the virus spread really slows down.
When things do pick up for you and if your still in the market for a light I saw a really interesting one on amazon for cheap. A local was selling an IM 20g Peninsula and I was contemplating buying it lol. In the end I decided against it and just going to be hopeful and wait and see if the frag system ever comes together. Anyway this light is pretty basic but the spectrum mix of leds look good. It has two channels that are dimmable and is just on/off without ramping. Not sure the ramping is really necessary but I do enjoy it myself. You would need a timer to turn it on and off. They also have a single puck version and you could get two for better spread. Just wanted to throw it out there, it looks pretty new so I'm going to be keeping an eye on the reviews.
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TheWB
2500 Club Member
I haven't been to active with posting but have been checking for notifications. Of course R2R decided again not to give me notifications on yet another thread lol. Not sure what the deal is, I may make a thread or PM a mod asking why it is always happening.
Good to see you back active.
Looks like your corals are super happy and your pictures really look great. That rainbow acan is super nice and seems to be holding its color huh? And finally getting some new heads on the red one, that's awesome. Have you been feeding it often?
My corals do all seem happy right now except for the rainbow Acan. It was knocked over a few weeks ago and ended up losing the flesh on 4 of the heads. I’ll post a before and after pic later. It does seem to be holding its colors but the heads are smaller than before.
Good to see the skimmer is now working. I have the Cadlights on mine and it does a really good job. Doesn't pull really dark gunk but good dark tea colored skimate. I don't think any of the nano skimmers really pull dark dry stuff. The cadlights is built like a tank though and easy to clean. I would have got another one for my 25 lagoon but it wouldn't fit. I ended up with the K1 nano, it works well and is super easy to adjust but it feels cheaply made and just pulls ok skim, overall I am happy with it though. I have heard good things about that Aquamax NF skimmer, I hope it does well for you. Another option I heard some people doing is buying just the DC pump and putting it on the normal ghost skimmer. Innovative Marine sells them for like $50 on their site.
The skimmer is breaking in and doing fairly well. Getting the same tea colored skimate you mentioned. I might try to upgrade the ghost skimmer pump to the dc version but based on where the airline connects to the pump within the body I don’t know how I could plug it back in. I’m sure it’s possible but I’m not seeing it. Maybe there’s a video or something I can find that shows how to do it. It’s probably easy and I just need to research it. The Aquamaxx is producing more and darker skimate than the ghost ever did though so I’m going to run with it for a while and see how it goes.
Thats a shame your income is probably going to slow down with this whole outbreak. A lot of people are having job issues. I hope we don't loose to many people in the hobby but I think its inevitable. Im just praying this doesn't last long and the virus spread really slows down.
I probably shouldn’t have posted that. I’m still in a good place compared to a lot of people out there who are really hurting during this challenging time. Yes, my reefing budget is taking a bit of a hit but in the overall scheme of things that’s a big “so what”. My wife is an icu nurse here in Washington state so every day she goes to work she’s taking care of covid19 patients. There is a shortage of ppe for caregivers and that makes things scary and stressful for them. Let’s all hope for as speedy an end to the pandemic as we can safely implement.
When things do pick up for you and if your still in the market for a light I saw a really interesting one on amazon for cheap. A local was selling an IM 20g Peninsula and I was contemplating buying it lol. In the end I decided against it and just going to be hopeful and wait and see if the frag system ever comes together. Anyway this light is pretty basic but the spectrum mix of leds look good. It has two channels that are dimmable and is just on/off without ramping. Not sure the ramping is really necessary but I do enjoy it myself. You would need a timer to turn it on and off. They also have a single puck version and you could get two for better spread. Just wanted to throw it out there, it looks pretty new so I'm going to be keeping an eye on the reviews.
That light looks pretty cool for the price. I doubt I’ll be changing my lighting anytime soon now but it’s worth keeping an eye on.
Good to see you back active.
Looks like your corals are super happy and your pictures really look great. That rainbow acan is super nice and seems to be holding its color huh? And finally getting some new heads on the red one, that's awesome. Have you been feeding it often?
My corals do all seem happy right now except for the rainbow Acan. It was knocked over a few weeks ago and ended up losing the flesh on 4 of the heads. I’ll post a before and after pic later. It does seem to be holding its colors but the heads are smaller than before.
Good to see the skimmer is now working. I have the Cadlights on mine and it does a really good job. Doesn't pull really dark gunk but good dark tea colored skimate. I don't think any of the nano skimmers really pull dark dry stuff. The cadlights is built like a tank though and easy to clean. I would have got another one for my 25 lagoon but it wouldn't fit. I ended up with the K1 nano, it works well and is super easy to adjust but it feels cheaply made and just pulls ok skim, overall I am happy with it though. I have heard good things about that Aquamax NF skimmer, I hope it does well for you. Another option I heard some people doing is buying just the DC pump and putting it on the normal ghost skimmer. Innovative Marine sells them for like $50 on their site.
The skimmer is breaking in and doing fairly well. Getting the same tea colored skimate you mentioned. I might try to upgrade the ghost skimmer pump to the dc version but based on where the airline connects to the pump within the body I don’t know how I could plug it back in. I’m sure it’s possible but I’m not seeing it. Maybe there’s a video or something I can find that shows how to do it. It’s probably easy and I just need to research it. The Aquamaxx is producing more and darker skimate than the ghost ever did though so I’m going to run with it for a while and see how it goes.
Thats a shame your income is probably going to slow down with this whole outbreak. A lot of people are having job issues. I hope we don't loose to many people in the hobby but I think its inevitable. Im just praying this doesn't last long and the virus spread really slows down.
I probably shouldn’t have posted that. I’m still in a good place compared to a lot of people out there who are really hurting during this challenging time. Yes, my reefing budget is taking a bit of a hit but in the overall scheme of things that’s a big “so what”. My wife is an icu nurse here in Washington state so every day she goes to work she’s taking care of covid19 patients. There is a shortage of ppe for caregivers and that makes things scary and stressful for them. Let’s all hope for as speedy an end to the pandemic as we can safely implement.
When things do pick up for you and if your still in the market for a light I saw a really interesting one on amazon for cheap. A local was selling an IM 20g Peninsula and I was contemplating buying it lol. In the end I decided against it and just going to be hopeful and wait and see if the frag system ever comes together. Anyway this light is pretty basic but the spectrum mix of leds look good. It has two channels that are dimmable and is just on/off without ramping. Not sure the ramping is really necessary but I do enjoy it myself. You would need a timer to turn it on and off. They also have a single puck version and you could get two for better spread. Just wanted to throw it out there, it looks pretty new so I'm going to be keeping an eye on the reviews.
That light looks pretty cool for the price. I doubt I’ll be changing my lighting anytime soon now but it’s worth keeping an eye on.
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TheWB
2500 Club Member
Here’s a before and after of the rainbow Acan.
These three heads and about half of a fourth are all that’s left after it was damaged in a fall. There were about 8 heads before.
These three heads and about half of a fourth are all that’s left after it was damaged in a fall. There were about 8 heads before.
Tank looks good, shame about the acan but at least some of the heads look happy. You know now that I’m thinking of it, what I think people were doing is buying the innovative Marine bioskim DC skimmer for $50 on amazon and putting the pump from that on the ghost. Not sure if they are discontinued but they only have a few left. I think that’s what it was.
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TheWB
2500 Club Member
Yeah, I’m hoping for some new growth on it. I really like the coral but the heads are a little small to really get all that color visible unless you zoom way in on it. I don’t know that it’s ever going to have a real prominent place in the reef because of that. I did super glue it, and a couple of the others, to it’s rock today so there shouldn’t be anymore knockovers from crabs and snails.
Bummer on the acan. How often do you feed it? The acans I used to have used to grow like weeds when I fed them once a week.
Interested in your take on the Aquamaxx skimmer - I'll be picking up either the dc nuvo skimmer or the AM one. The AM is cheaper, but the dc nuvo (*not* ghost) seems to get consistent good reviews. So, I'll be watching.
Interested in your take on the Aquamaxx skimmer - I'll be picking up either the dc nuvo skimmer or the AM one. The AM is cheaper, but the dc nuvo (*not* ghost) seems to get consistent good reviews. So, I'll be watching.
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