SWC 150 BMK Review/Chronical...*Lots of Pics*

what size tank is this rated for?

 

Xtreme 150 BMK Skimmer
Light Bioload Medium Bioload Heavy Bioload

Tank ratings 150 120 90

 

thank you

 

Might have to trade in my vertex in-100 for this guy!

 

If you are thinking about making a change, I did A LOT of research and would have no problem recommending any of the SWC skimmers. (Cone 160, Cone 120, or the 150 BMK)

 

My vertex is doing great dont get me wrong. The foot print is just much smaller. I could stuff more live rock in my sump if I switch to this guy.

 

The skimmer is still working fine and producing nice dark skimmate. However, there is one issue. I pulled out my sump to reposition the tank, when I put the skimmer back in, it did not want to make any bubbles...although I could feel the pump running. I dissasembled and everything looked fine. The only way I could get it to produce bubble was to hook up the extra rubber hose to the inlet located on the air intake adjustment and blow. As soon as I did that it cranked as good as ever.

Is this normal?

 

Might there have been something clogging the airline?

By the way...I recently bought a SWC Mini S cone. Even with a trend towards more accurate "recommended tank sizes" across manufacturers recently, I prefer to understock and overskim. I had a downdraft on one of my systems that simply "sat around bored." The Mini S is rated similarly to the DD. However, the Mini S has been getting stuff out of the system that the other skimmer apparently "couldn't even detect." I continue to scratch my head about this oddity. The Mini S DOES NOT have a small footprint whatsoever. In my assessment, however, you could add the Mini S to the list of skimmers you wouldn't hesitate to recommend.

 

would you recomend this skimmer for a 75 gallon tank with a 55 gallon sump that will be geared for a hevy bioload?

 

This ia my first skimmer, but this looks pretty good to me. This is from the past 36 hrs on my light/moderate bioload 65g. Does this skimmate look good?






I tried a few adjustments, and I have found that the best settings are actually the same ones I used at break in.

Luke from Reeffiltration has been great. He has the part that we think was causing the pump start issue on its way to me priority shipping.