250 Skimmer Pump 3.0 - Now With Pictures!

[pocketreef]

Hi!

Tank is running at least with 1 degree celcius less. As the pump is more powerfull I needed to adjust the skimmer neck to the maximum. Tomorrow I will readapt my tank water level to the temp optimum recommended by RedSea, fingers are crossed to reduce temp even more!

This pump is top quality, flood Red Sea with kind requests, then post your results here :bouncer:

 

[Reefmack]

More good news pocketreef!

 

[Nowellsy SNR]

Since the original pumps and impellers were obviously faulty, I would think that would be proper, but I'm thinking that you have to request one through your customer support, and have your tank registered or at least the serial number.

Be worth a try thanks Terry

 

[Auritania]

Well, my pump has been running for a couple days now. As for the skimming, it's about the same but I think I was above average with the stock pump till it stopped working. I was running an external filter with lots of carbon right up until I put the skimmer in so I'll give it some more time before passing final judgment.

Temperature wise is hard to call. My main heating issue is the lighting and I can't say that I saw an issue with the skimmer pump and heat (the old pump was great when it worked, it just didn't do it often). The house is also at a lower temperature than it was a few weeks ago. The heater is even kicking in at night which it hasn't done over the last 6 months or so.

The last issue is noise. It's more quiet, but it's still magnitudes of order louder than the two circ pumps running. With minimal investigation, it seems that a good part of the noise comes from the entire skimmer "rattling" about in the chamber. Wedging a couple strategic pieces of closed cell foam between the skimmer and the walls has helped an awful lot.

 

[goma]

I've been wondering if the new skimmer pump was going to fix "all" of the heating issues. The reason I question it is that I have removed my stock RSM skimmer completely and am running a EuroReef in-sump skimmer and I really haven't seen any appreciable temperature drop. My chiller seems to come on and stay on the same amount. Granted, I have no empirical data to support this since I didn't record any in-house temperatures, chiller on/off times, water temps, etc. but in my set-up, removing the skimmer has not changed the temperature drastically. Oh yeah, it is a lot quieter without it!!!

 

[tnwillia]

Greg, a good part of the heat is the hood. First time I saw a noted change in my chiller run time was when the hood came off. I had to put my heater back in my tank for the first time since new.

 

[pocketreef]

I'm with Tom.

Here, after several hours without lights the reef reaches the 27C. With the old pump It would be from 27.8C to 28.1C. At the end of the light period the reef now reaches 28.3C. Before It used to reach 29C or more. These additional 1.3C come from the lights/ closed lid. The back fans are always on.

As I want to keep 27C as maximum I got a chiller :rollingey Should be here soon.

 

[steveh]

For the vast majority of people the skimmer pump will make no difference to heat, or to effiency. When set properly the skimmer works very well and is over-sized for the aquarium in order to assist in keeping the water quality high. Neither the heat nor the performance are among the reasons we changed to the Sicce pump, as the decision was taken for commercial rather than specific performance issues. For advice on how to keep the M250 within sensible temp parameters check out the following link to our website, and pay particular attention to the water level section.
Red Sea MAX | Downloads

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

:tumble:

 

[Reefmack]

For the vast majority of people the skimmer pump will make no difference to heat, or to effiency. When set properly the skimmer works very well and is over-sized for the aquarium in order to assist in keeping the water quality high. Neither the heat nor the performance are among the reasons we changed to the Sicce pump, as the decision was taken for commercial rather than specific performance issues. For advice on how to keep the M250 within sensible temp parameters check out the following link to our website, and pay particular attention to the water level section.
Red Sea MAX | Downloads

With the large number of very unhappy 250 owners with heat issues, impellers constantly breaking, and pumps jamming and not restarting, as well as Red Sea's reputation suffering, I have to think it was more performance related, than just a commercial decision.

 

[pocketreef]

Steveh, I would prefer to think the improvements were the focus . It's clear everything in the new pump is better, owing the 2 pumps It's hard to believe you are not as happy as me with the change.

Congrats for this comercial move, Sicce did such a great job...
- Less energy waste;
- Less heating;
- Less noise;
- More power, better skimmate;
- Overall much better design, parts do fit better and easier;
- Improved impellor with ceramic shaft.

Although I agree the old pump does work and you are doing a good job changing the problematic ones we would be very happy if RedSea could facilitate the change for the owners willing to keep their stock tanks with original parts instead of going to the market looking for solutions.:tumble:

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Here my "commercial decision" take and I bet lots think the same, I have been waiting for a "fix" before I would buy one... now I am in the market again

 

[reefer888]

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

lol

 

[goma]

Interesting to note that Red Sea is not concerned at all with all of the complaints about heating issues.

I have read the temperature control manual on the Red Sea site, but cannot keep my house temperature at 22 C (72 F). I live in Florida and maintain a house temperature of 26 C (78F) year round. According the Red Sea we can expect to see a 4 C temperature rise above the ambient room temperature. For me this equates to 30C (86F) so I have no choice but to run a chiller.

 

[Auritania]

Has anyone put the pumps on a meter and measured the actual power draw? I'm pretty sure that the laws of physics still apply inside these tanks and any measured power draw will be only partially converted to heat unless the pump is seized and no water being moved.

 

[steveh]

Goma, I think your post is a little harsh regarding RS not being concerned. As I have mentioned, for those few consumers who have genuine warranty issues (and these would include the small proportion of Hydor pumps which create excessive heat on their own), a replacement is available. As someone else has posted, pumps will naturally increase the temperature of the aquarium, so each market will need to speak to their customer service representative to ascertain whether one single pump is heating the aquarium excessively. The fact is that in the vast majority of cases this is not the situation. Given all the equipment suplied with the Max, which is of course a closed-system, temperature increases are inevitable. The dual fans deal with this in most cases, but your house is very warm indeed so the tank stands no chance of staying within the suggested parameters (I'm somewhat envious as right now it's -4C in the UK and my house doesn't seem much warmer!). However, we believe a chiller should be considered almost as standard with ANY reef tank- partly as a safeguard against abnormal temperatures, and partly in case of equipment faliure which can blight any aquarium such as a heater that sticks "on".

 

[LAKERSFREAK]

How do I get this new skimmer pump???? Do I have to email Pinky and send my old one?

 

[steveh]

LF- you will need to speak to Pinky as each market is different. If the original pump is working within expected paramaters then it will not be replaced foc. These parameters change from market to market depending on voltage etc. If your pump is not faulty then I expect she will be able to quote for supplying a new version. However, I am not sure what stocks they have right now as I believe the USA version may only just have been completed.

 

[pocketreef]

Very reasonable as usual Steveh, thank for this. It's good to have you around.