So I received my Aqua Medic
Skimmer TurboFlotor 1000 on Friday at work. Upon opening the package, I inspected all the pieces. The construction was very nice and solid. The acrylic was not perfect, but the flaws were purely cosmetic. Looking at the
skimmer body, the
skimmer is in fact re-circulating; much like the more expensive
skimmers on the market. There is a needle wheel that “chops” the air/water mix and returns it to the reaction chamber. One of the nicest feathers that drew me to the
skimmer was that it can be directly fed from the overflow return. This option ensures that the
skimmer will not be processing water that has already been skimmed, increasing overall the efficiency of the
skimmer.
After reviewing the parts, I looked at the instructions, which are available on line, but once you have the unit in hand, it makes much more sense. Assembly seemed to be pretty straight forward and should go together quiet nicely. I couldn’t resist and during lunch, I assembles the unit as much as I could, only to find out that I was missing my needle wheel………..WTF (sorry, but I was pretty upset)
I proceeded to tear up the box looking for my needle wheel, something that was a major selling point of the
skimmer. A couple of emails and voice messages to Aqua Medic and Marine depot, I find out (from Marinedepot, thank you very much) that while the
skimmer can be run with the RIO 2100 pump that I purchased, the needle wheel it no longer compatible with the RIO and therefore no longer are included in the
Skimmer with no pump option.
As you could imagine, I was NOT a happy camper. A very strongly worded email to Aqua Med was immediately dispatched informing them that I felt that if the RIO isn’t 100% compatible with they
skimmer, then it should not be an option. I would have had no problems ordering the
skimmer with the Ocean Runner pump, but I will admit, I was trying to save some coin and went with the RIO. I response from aqua medic said that they do not recommend the RIO pump as an option, even though it is printed on their instructions manual that it can be used. In any case, they are going to send me a needle wheel and I will decide later if I want to try the ocean runner pump.
Other than that, overall initial impression grade
B-
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Re-circulating pump
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Assembly was a breeze. Basically, install the collection up, install the media box on the output tubes. Here, I am using Activated Carbon and Phosban instead of the supplied BIO Balls. Install the pump and hook up the feed line.
Other than that, overall assembly grade
A-
To start the feed, I closed the ball valve on my return and adjusted the flow to the specified level, which was having the water line fill ¾ of the return tubes. After setting this up, I fired up the pump and bubble, bubbles and more bubbles. The reaction chamber was nicely filled with micro bubbles, even without said needle wheel. This was all Sat morning. I knew that there would be an initial break in period, so I was anxious to see how it would perform…off to a 1y/o birthday party.
During a heated game of Texas Hold’em at the party, I was thinking about the
skimmer. There were throttle control plugs that in the can be installed on the return tubes, but the instructions say that the
skimmer performs better without them, so I opted not to install them. But I thought about how they worked and realized that by installing the caps, they will increase the time that the water was in the reaction chamber by “choking off” the return tubes. Seemed like a good idea.
Sunday Morning, I look at the collection cup and nothing….disappointing and a long break in I thought. I decided to install the throttle caps and re-adjusted the input flow.
Here is a close up of the throttle caps
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. Almost immediately, foam started to be produced. Sunday night, there was a little skimmate, so I emptied the collection cup so that I could get a very clear picture of the performance of the broken in
skimmer over the course of a few days.
Here are a couple of pictures of the collection cup Tuesday night…….
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I have never seen such thick, green skim. People always talk about the skimmate smelling bad, and I had never experienced this until last night…this stuff was thick and nasty.
Overall performance:
A
Overall Value:
A+
It is still early, but I am very happy with my decision to go with the Aqua Medic
Skimmer. Dispite the needle wheel issue and the longish break in, the overall performance is great. Although I have only used 2 other
skimmers, both
HOB stlyle, the Aquamedic is a
skimmer worth much more than the retail value. There are
skimmers that are 2-3 times as much as the $175 that I paid. Are they better? Maybe. Are they 2-3 times better, well that I have a hard time belieiving. I would recomend this
skimmer to anyone looking for a
sump stlye
skimmer on a budget. The only thing is that I would recomend to get the model with the Ocean runner pump (although my RIO seems to be performing quite nicely
John
icon under their name to add to their reputation. 
V-series Productions 
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