SWC Xtreme 120 cone protein skimmer review

First of all I am associated with SWC skimmers.

Here is the latest toy I had the pleasure of running for awhile. This one is by far my new favorite!

SWC Xtreme 120 Cone Protein Skimmer Review:

Unpacking:

As I opened the box, I expected to see the same easy to assemble skimmer as I’m used to seeing behind the SWC label. To my surprise as I pulled the skimmer from the box, it was fully assembled. Everything from the o-rings, plumbing, pump and collection cup are ready to run right out of the box.



First Impressions:

After being pleasantly surprised by the lack of assembly, I began to take a closer look at the skimmer. As usual the first thing I noticed was the use of extra thick plastics. The pump is mounted inside the lower body which I haven’t seen before. This peaked my interest enough and I soon found myself tearing the skimmer apart to see what was going on in there. Everything comes apart nice and easy, and this skimmer breaks down far enough to make cleaning any part a breeze.



Running:

After staring at the skimmer outside my sump started to wear off, I remembered that this was supposed to be filtering my water. My sump is built to house skimmers up to about 1’ X 1’ so this compact skimmer dropped easily into place with room to spare all the way around. As I dropped it into my sump another thing struck me. This skimmer doesn’t float and bob around until the pump is turned on; it quickly equalizes the water in the body and drops right to the bottom. This was a welcome change to holding the skimmer in the sump while stretching to reach a plug.

Finally the moment of truth. I reached around the cabinet and plugged it in, and nothing happened. Thinking I must have done something wrong I quickly un-plugged it and checked everything over. It all looked good, so I plugged it in again. Still nothing. This time I looked around the doors to see what was wrong, and to my surprise saw a nice foam filled body churning away. This pump makes absolutely NO noise. I have reviewed things before that I could say were extremely quiet, but there is always that small amount of vibration or a rattle that can be heard with your ear in the cabinet. This is the first pump I’ve seen that I can honestly say is silent. The next thing I noticed with it running was that, even though small, the cone design was working very well to reduce turbulence. As with my cone of over twice the diameter when the bubbles near the top they begin to form nice orderly lines with a surprising lack of turbulence.

I got it adjusted to run through what I hoped would be a short break in and left it alone.



Impressions after a few days:

Break-in for this skimmer was about the same as it has been for all other SWC’s I’ve run. One night of running and by morning there was a nice little layer of coffee colored skimmate. It’s now been a few days and I’ve had time to get it fully tuned and running well. It produces very dry black skimmate very easily and is easily keeping up with the larger cone I had running prior to this one. This skimmer is also very easy to get running with little or no micro bubbles getting back into your sump. This is definitely now my number one choice as far as getting the most for your money!

 

No disrespect intended, but shouldn't the review be done by the actual user, not by the seller?

 

No disrespect intended but, he IS a user. How else do you think he got those photos of it running? Now, if you wanted to say that his review may be bias that is possible, but to me the photos speak for themselves.

 

This is my point exactly. Thank you for saying that.

 

I am biased, but I am still a hard core reefer, and I won't run or push something that I don't like. If I could test and review so many skimmers without being associated with a company than I definitely would.

 

excellent review mike , as always. alot of positives with this skimmer. is the 120 in the name the gallons is good up to?

 

I would also like to throw in that if he was trying to push a skimmer that he represents, why would he push the cheapest cone they make?

Price on the 120 is 225 and the 160 is 275. I am getting my 160 in the mail today and plan on posting a review of it as well. I love new toys.

 

I look forward to everyone's reviews on the various models - and i fully expect to hear both pros and cons.

The seller, while wanting to market and say good things about the product they sell - I always expect some bias - however, is ALWAYS putting their reputation on the line by doing so. If a seller is going to be dishonest or misrepresent an item while marketing it, it WILL come back on them. Usually twicefold or more once word gets out.

The nice thing about this site is that opinions are respected, people agree to disagree and an honest review, even if negative, so long as it is presented in a fair respectful manner (without needless flaming), will not be not banned.

If I were a sponsor on a site like this with the massive amount of online exposure - especially amongst friends and colleagues as well as thousands of reef enthusiasts - I sure as heck would not want to be caught misrepresenting or being dishonest in the slightest, all bias set aside. The stakes are way too high - especially for a start-up like these guys are doing.

Bottom line - the users SHOULD review an item including all pros and cons - this should help the seller with improving themselves or their equipment. If they choose not to, and cons start outweighing the pros, that will also come out in the wash (or skimmate so to speak)...

For all who have ordered these, let's get them unboxed, plugged in and running - then we can hear more from the end user side of things

 

I will say that Mike's review has gone along the same lines as other sites' reviews of SWC skimmers. I haven't found a thing negative about the skimmers except some questions about the brand of pumps they use and the usual hard core people that don't like wedge pipes.

Thanks for the heads up on the 120 Mike

BTW, I want people to realize that Mike and CJ are importers of the SWC line of skimmers from Canada. They don't manufacture the product and therefor sometimes are seeing these things work for the first time.

 

BTW, what is the outer diameter of the tubing used to drain the collection cup?