European skimmers. What is it with them??

[dgasmd]

I recently becamse very interested in a Deltec skimmer because of their good reputation among people that use them. So, I got curious and started to do some research. I asked a few european reefers abou it and what else is considered the elite skimmer in europe since they seem o be ahead of us in some equipment. Please, don't get all bent out of shape over this.

Turns out Deltec is not even considered elite there. Seems like Grotech, H&S, and Schurams are the best there is and they are actually half to 1/3 the cost to a comparable Deltec unit. So, I went ot all their sites and looked at them to see what was obviously so different that would make these things so powerfull. Well, some have some patented needle wheel to chop the air, some have some silencer to make then quieter, and some said nothing i the sites I saw. To the untrained eye, they all look like different euroreef versions regardless of who copy what.

The one thing that seems common to all of them is that they all use recirculating pumps, the pumps are small pumps like the eheim, their diameter seem to be bigger for comparable skimmers, and they are all very energy efficient. Even the larger model of any of them doesn't consume 1/2 what my iwaki 100 consumes in electricity. Not a single skimmer is powered by large pumps like the becketts here. I don't know if that is due to lack of availability of those pumps (I will venture to say I highly doubt it) or just trying to avoid big electricity consuming equipment.

So, does anyone have any insights as to what makes these skimmers so good? Please, don't just say "they are better". Give me the why I like to say I am from MO (I couldn't be fro a further place in reality), so "show me".

[mojoreef]

I have never really liked the deltec skimmer, weird set up with all those power heads attached to it. I havent really check on them to much, I will ask a few folks I know and let you know what I hear.
On the caalcium reactor, the grotech and schurams didnt really do anything for me, I perfer the deltec to them. the H&S I have never heard of.


Mike

[mojoreef]

Well here is the growtech skimmer

Ok so a unit rated for a 200 gallon costs 650 euros


the apf 600 deltec

rated for 200 gallon, I only could find the us price and it was 271.00 us

for the scharun i found this one

it is rated for a 225 gallon, I couldnt find the price on this one

but anyway thats what they look like


Mike

[dgasmd]

Mike:

Thanks. I had looked at those and many more pictures. The main problem with the european sites is that they are not picture intesive like the US sites. They tend to ahve a single pictures for all the models and that is it.
I ahve been corresponding with a few guys in europe that have some of these brands. Apparently Deltecs are only popular and highly regarded in England, whicle in Germany and other countries the H&S and Grotec are the highly regarded brands/models. Seems most europeans feel the Deltec units are overpriced and do not perform as well as the other 2. Most also feel all the brands over rate their skimmers with the exception of Deltec.
I appreciate the concept of energy efficient skimmers so long as they are appropriately sized for the job and size of system. If I could get rid of some of the energy hogs like the iwaki 100 for the same result, I would. I like and prefer cost and energy efficient things.
Seems all 3 brands have some patented needle wheel that drives the pumps.
To be quite honest, for the hassle of having to import, not have readily available parts, and costing so much, I might just go and get me 4' of 12" diamter acrylic and attach 6 sedra 9000 to it. I am sure that could handle some crud.