SWC Xtreme Cone 250s2 skimmer

[mj1333]

Just got this in the mail today.
http://shop.reeffiltration.com/product.sc?categoryId=2&productId=17
It's so pretty I almost don't want to put it in! :rolleyes: It's supposed to kick ass. Hope it's not too much for my 240 w/75g sump. I talked to the guy at reeffiltration.com and He said it should work great. Hope it's not too much skimmer! Anyways I'll put it in tomorrow. Too late to start messing with stuff now. I'll let ya know how it goes. BTW, anything I should do besides a freshwater rinse before i put it in the sump? It smells very "vinegory" right out of the box.

http://i726.photobucket.com/albums/ww265/mjones1333/DSC_0013.jpg
http://i726.photobucket.com/albums/ww265/mjones1333/DSC_0015.jpg

[h20poloman]

nice looking skimmer, going to be interested to see the nog you pull with that beast. Hopefully you'll have better luck with your sicce's than I did....they draw a ton of air but I had restart issues with mine anytime I shut off power to the pumps. I know some of the manufacturers have made additional mods to them but not sure about the SWC skimmer.

[RussM]

Sweet!

Before you get that beast wet, pull the volute covers off those Sicces, lube the o-rings and seating surface of the volute with a generous amount of silicone grease, then reassemble... PSK-2500 volute covers & stock o-rings fit extremely tight, and are a PITA to get off once they've been in place for a while.

Also, check that the impellers are solidly assembled - the little yellow button that holds the pinwheel on should be firmly seated, and there be little or no longitudinal play of the pinwheel.

While you're at it, inspect the grinding that SWC has done to modify the stock volute... there have been some reports of sloppiness, burrs, and too much material being removed that weakens the part of the volute which supports the outer end of the ceramic rod. Supposedly, SWC has improved their QA and this is no longer a problem, but it can't hurt to check.

That beast should really rock!

[mj1333]

Thanks for the advice Russ. I'll get on that in the morning. And I just wanted to give a quick shout out to Bogg, who referred me to Luke at reeffiltration.com. He was very helpful and gave me free shipping for the skimmer. Saved me 50 bucks!

[mj1333]

Got it in the sump. It' skimming very wet right now. I guess thats part of the break in? How long does that usually take? When I first pligged it in, I had it in a tank with freshwater that I was cleaning and kinda freaked out a little cuz it wasn' creating any bubles and barely any flow. I learned that it has to be in salt water for it to create the bubbles. It's in about 9" of water right now. i think I'm gonna raise it up a couple inches to get a little more bubbles.

Things I like:
Easy to put in.
Small footprint and height. That's all I got for now.

Things I don't like:
Tubing hey give you for the venturi sucks. Very lightwieght and easy to kink up.
The output adjustment seems very sensitive. Open it up too much and you get nothing, turn it a 1/4" and it's overflowing. I guess that could be part of the break in stage. We'll see.


http://i726.photobucket.com/albums/ww265/mjones1333/DSC_0016.jpg

5 minutes after turning on
http://i726.photobucket.com/albums/ww265/mjones1333/DSC_0017.jpg
http://i726.photobucket.com/albums/ww265/mjones1333/DSC_0019.jpg

I also did not recieve the mesh wheels that were supposed to come with it. I talked to Luke at reeffiltration and he said he's gonna send them along with some better tubing.

That's all I got for now.

[RussM]

If you use the mesh, you'll probably need to replace it every few months. I'm now using the large ATB purple pinwheel on my DIY skimmer instead of mesh. I have plenty of Enkamat PF4 "flatback" left over. The base shipping cost was more than the $ amount for the PF4, so I ordered several square feet.... darn near a lifetime supply for me. ;) Hit me up and I'll give you enough PF4 & tiny zipties to remesh those Sicces as needed for a couple of years.

[jrod11]

keep the updates coming, i'm interested in this skimmer so i'll be following along!

[RussM]

The output adjustment seems very sensitive. Open it up too much and you get nothing, turn it a 1/4" and it's overflowing.

Typical with wedge pipes.... a gate valve mod will cure that if needed. Give it a week or two though.

[mj1333]

Another thing I'm not crazy about but it might not be a big deal. LMK. The collection cup doesn't "screw" into the neck. It just kinda "squeezes" in. I'm wondering if this will become loose over time.

[jrod11]

If you use the mesh, you'll probably need to replace it every few months. I'm now using the large ATB purple pinwheel on my DIY skimmer instead of mesh. I have plenty of Enkamat PF4 "flatback" left over. The base shipping cost was more than the $ amount for the PF4, so I ordered several square feet.... darn near a lifetime supply for me. ;) Hit me up and I'll give you enough PF4 & tiny zipties to remesh those Sicces as needed for a couple of years.

Russ, had some questions for you about your DIY. Don't want to hijack the thread so i'm sending a PM.

[RussM]

Another thing I'm not crazy about but it might not be a big deal. LMK. The collection cup doesn't "screw" into the neck. It just kinda "squeezes" in. I'm wondering if this will become loose over time.

I have not seen any reports of issues with this, but if a bit of seepage does occur in time, it'll just go back into the sump.

[mj1333]

If you use the mesh, you'll probably need to replace it every few months. I'm now using the large ATB purple pinwheel on my DIY skimmer instead of mesh. I have plenty of Enkamat PF4 "flatback" left over. The base shipping cost was more than the $ amount for the PF4, so I ordered several square feet.... darn near a lifetime supply for me. ;) Hit me up and I'll give you enough PF4 & tiny zipties to remesh those Sicces as needed for a couple of years.

I talked with Luke about the mesh and he says with these pumps there's not much of an improvement and that it will also draw more watts. And of course having to replace them every once in a while, but they're free so I'm taking em! I'll hit you up Russ. thanks!

[mj1333]

...When it works.
These sicce pumps suck balls!
So heres the deal. Last night before I went to bed I checked the skimmer and it was starting to create some nice thick goop. I thought I was gonna wake up to a nice bowl of crap, so to speak. About 1/2 hour later I am awaken by a horrible grinding noise. It's one of the pumps. I turn them off, open em up to see if anythings in there...nothing. Put em back together and power up. The one that was grinding stopped and was working fine, then i notice the other one is not putting out any flow. I had to take it off the skimmer body, do the screwed up shake, rattle and roll and finally lift it up out of the water for it to start up. So I go to bed and all is fine, but now it's skimming very wet again. This also happened twice today. I talked with the manufacturer and he said the pumps need to "break in" for a couple of weeks and not to power them down for that amount of time. That would be fine with me, as long as I don't have to listen to grinding pumps all day! He also said that the tubing may have gotten kinked and stopped pulling air. Now granted, the tubing they give you with this thing sucks, but to his credit, he offered to send me some better stuff. Don't know why they don't do this in the first place if they already know about it. Anyways, he did offer to send me new pumps if the problem persists, but If I can't get a differant brand, I'm probably gonna send this thing back.
Think I'm jumping the gun? I just hate to spend $700 and have to ****** with s**t all day!!!!!
Rant is over. Please chime in.

[RussM]

They will definitely start chattering if airflow gets restricted. On my DIY skimmer, I bored out the hose barb a bit and use larger tubing.

[mj1333]

Thanks Russ, I'm not gonna wait for the tubing to get here. Gonna go buy some tomorrow am.
So would that cause the other pump to not put anything out also? I've never had that problem, but then again I've never used this bad quality of tubing.

[mj1333]

So I got the new tubing and whenI powered up both pumps started right up and It started producing the thick goo within 10 minutes. I hope thats all it was. Don't know why they don't just send decent tubing in the first place, especially if they already know about it.

[nanoreefbro]

So I got the new tubing and whenI powered up both pumps started right up and It started producing the thick goo within 10 minutes. I hope thats all it was. Don't know why they don't just send decent tubing in the first place, especially if they already know about it.

What tubing did you end up going with? I just bought this a few days ago and my tank isnt ready yet so I had it running in the bathtub. It runs pretty loud and you are right that tubing is garbage.

[mj1333]

I just got the clear tubing from home depot. It makes a huge differance. Since I got it it works great. No more startup problems on the one pump and the "grinding" or "chattering" noise is gone for the most part. One of the pumps has done it a few times since changing the tubing, but it doesn't last for very long. Luke at reef filtration told me he wuld send me a couple new pumps if the problem doesn't go away completely. I'm gonna give it another week and if I hear a peep outta those pumps, I'm gonna take him up on that. I'll post some pics in a few of how much crap it gets out. I asked about the tubing and he says the manufacturer says it's because it's made for ozone injection. Go figure. Where did you get yours from and how much did you end up paying?

[nanoreefbro]

One pump I have seems to sound louder than the other. I won't know for sure until its up and running in the sump. Hopefully I will have the tank setup soon. I just sent you a pm...

[mj1333]

Here's a couple pics of the stuff it pulls. I am overall very pleased with the skimmer. especially with the support i am getting. My nitrates were getting up there and since I put this in they have come down quite a bit. I guess I'm just not used to the "break in" period for skimmers. I think this is the first brand new one I've had. :rolleyes: I just can't believe how big a differance something like the tubing can make such a big differance. I would highly recommend this skimmer. It's the best one I've ever owned. Just don't use the stock tubing!!!!
I would also recommend getting a tube and overflow container for the cup while it's breaking in. It's very sensitive for the first week or so and even though it's a big cup, it can fill up fast.

http://i726.photobucket.com/albums/ww265/mjones1333/DSC_0025.jpg

http://i726.photobucket.com/albums/ww265/mjones1333/DSC_0026.jpg