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MRC/CR1 Skimmer...

MichaelJ

Reefer
My MR1 is just not working out... I'm wondering how long I can go without a skimmer... I have 85lbs roughly of live rock and roughly a 100lbs of live sand..
I'm bummed
 
what do you mean by not working out? Is it not producing any skimate?

btw, hows those frags doin?
 
Don't stress out, becketts are touchy to get dialed in.

What pump are you using? What's not working?
 
what do you mean by not working out? Is it not producing any skimate?

btw, hows those frags doin?

I can't get it to produce tiny bubbles .. I think it's the beckett.. I think I need a new one.... I have the directions, but it still doesnt work.. trying to get it dialed in is really driving me freak'n bananas!!!

Frags are doing awsome!! Thanks MAReefer1 :)
 
Don't stress out, becketts are touchy to get dialed in.

What pump are you using? What's not working?



I'm stressing.. I've had this for almost 3 months and it's wearing on my patience.... I am using the rated Mag12 that it calls for.
 
A lot depends on what kind of pump your running. It needs a strong pump that performs well under pressure.

There's also a beckett injector mod you can do that will make it work better with a weaker pump.

Also, Beckett's can easily clog with valoina bubbles or other crud getting stuck in the injector. If you haven't already, take the injector out and clean it.

Keep posting, we can get this thing working.
 
I need a skimmer that is virtually "Plug & Play" virtually/literally how ever you want to say it..
 
A lot depends on what kind of pump your running. It needs a strong pump that performs well under pressure.

There's also a beckett injector mod you can do that will make it work better with a weaker pump.

Also, Beckett's can easily clog with valoina bubbles or other crud getting stuck in the injector. If you haven't already, take the injector out and clean it.

Keep posting, we can get this thing working.

I've cleaned the Beckett twice... I realize this is a good skimmer and I will hate to get rid of it, but it's getting close...
 
Mag 12 is not a very good skimmer pump. You might try a better pump the difference between the mag 12 and pcx 30 they recomend is huge difference let alone a pcx 40 (mak4) which is even a bigger jump
 
Mag 12 is not a very good skimmer pump. You might try a better pump the difference between the mag 12 and pcx 30 they recomend is huge difference let alone a pcx 40 (mak4) which is even a bigger jump

So I shouldn't use a Mag12? I got one cuz they recommended it.. hmmmm
I'll have to look into the pcx30..... but other people I know are using the mags and theirs are working great... I don't know..
 
I agree with Greg (Delta), a mag 12 might not cut if for any beckett skimmer.

You said you can't get small bubbles,
Are you %100 sure that;
-the beckett housing is sealed air tight except for the air input?
-you've played around with restricting the air flow and restricting it quite a bit?
-Do/have you give it a good 10-60 min between each and every adjustment of the water-output or air-intake?

IME/IMO mag pumps don't do much under pressure. For example, I ran a mag18 as a retrun on a 75G AGA RR tank for about a year. (That's a "1800 GPH" pump and a "600 GPH" rated overflow working together). The tank never overflowed.

Bla, bla
You may need a stronger pump, and/or it takes a lot of tweaking to get a beckett skimmer to work right. Any needle wheel skimmer is much closer to "plug and play", but becketts do work once dialed in.
 
O.k... so a more powerful pump... and I'm going to order a new Beckett... mine has a couple hairline cracks, and I don't know if that also might be a cause...
 
"but other people I know are using the mags and theirs are working great... I don't know.."

A mag 12 is about the absolute min that you might be able to get a beckett to work "OK" on. To have it work with that pump you've got to make a touchy to set up skimmer work with an underpowered but just adequate pump driving it. With a stronger pump you will see an overall increase in performance, and with that, a much greater margin of error in tuning it.

I'm running a PM bullet 2 with a Panworld NH 100PX (790GPH "pressure rated"). It it touchy, but overall works great with minimal maintence other than normal cleaning (I ignore my tank a lot, skimmer is always working).
 
you should be able to find beckett injectors on e-bay for about $5.
 
Plug and plays are great. I had an aqua C a while back and I had to fiddle with it every other day. I bought a deltec hang on and all I have to do is empty it every other day.
 
If you want "plug and play", any good needle wheel is much easier.

Euroreef, ASM, CRA store brand, Deltec, those really cool new ones(brand?) at AG, exct. are all great.

That said, don't just toss your MRC, it's a nice skimmer, just takes some tuning. (if your not so patient, just post it FS and get a needlewheel)

BTW,
if your hands are in the tank, no skimmer will work right. Skimmate normally collapses for a while after hands are in the tank. If you working on the tank, feeding, messing with rock work exct,,, a lot you may not see very good skimmer performance.
 
Thanks everyone.... I think I will get a bigger pump and a new beckett. I don't really want to get rid of it, cuz I know it's a great skimmer.... So How long can I go without a skimmer? It will be a couple days before I get the equipment...
 
Mike I love my Octopus 150 for a plug and play skimmer. No adj. at all and it produces well.
 
Mike I love my Octopus 150 for a plug and play skimmer. No adj. at all and it produces well.

Yeah... I think i'm going to try to get this going again.. if not, I will be going for an Octopus or a bubble master!!! Big money though..
 
Octo's are not big money.
 
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