SWC Xtreme 160 protein skimmer review

Unpacking:

Upon opening the box, I discovered body, pump, and all plumbing parts packed neatly into formed Styrofoam packing. Directions are minimal but plenty to put the skimmer together. The first thing I notice as I’m unpacking and assembling is build quality. I can’t seem to find a visible sem anywhere on the body and the plastic it’s made of is thicker than the walls of my acrylic tank. The collection cup is made by what appears to be the same materials and build quality. The collection cup lid even features a CNC cut SWC logo.

Assembly:

All the parts came labeled for easy assemble. There really isn’t much to write about the assembly, because it’s a simple matter of following the directions and pushing a few pieces of pipe together. The pump, tucked neatly away directly beneath the skimmer body simply slides into place. Included was a hose for draining the collection cup and a plug for the drain hole. I decided to install the drain hose to minimize taking the cup off in the future. The assembly process took about 15 minutes to complete. After that I dropped it into my sump and fired it up.


The Xtreme 160 collection cup (right), compared to the Coralife 125 collection cup (left).

Running, first impressions:

I’m running mine at more than the recommended depth due to my sump set up. It’s in about 12” of water as opposed to the recommended 8-10”. After dropping the skimmer into the sump I plugged it in as fast as I could in my excitement. After a couple of seconds the pump started right up and began to churn up a micro bubble storm inside the body. With the wedge pipe at the fully open position the water level settled at right about ¾ the way up the body (way too low). I was pleasantly surprised by this, as I was expecting it to run much higher in such deep water. I checked the return plumbing on the skimmer to get an initial feel for micro bubble problems I could be facing only to find a surprising lack of bubbles escaping. After gawking at the massive amount of bubbles for a few minutes I remember I’m trying to filter, not create a show for myself. Turning the wedge pipe about a ¼ turn towards closed got the bubble height right to the bottom of where the body begins to restrict. I decided to leave it there for now and let it break in.



A few weeks in impressions:

The Xtreme 160 has now been running for a few weeks and I feel that I’ve had a chance to get a good feel for it. I ended up leaving the wedge pipe adjustment right where it was with the bubbles coming right to the start of restriction in the body. I’ve found this produces about 1/3 cup of tasty looking coffee skimmate once a week. I’m running it on my 60 gallon total system and it shows that it can definitely handle a lot more. The collection cup removes easy and the ultra wide neck makes clean-up a breeze. Pump noise was a bit much when I first fired it up, but after a week it dulled down to nothing I can hear with cabinet doors closed.

Beyond just saying the skimmer is working perfectly, I can say that my corals appear to be extending more and my water is crystal clear.

 

Great review thanks

 

It's been 2 weeks and there's no skimmate pics?

 

^ what he said

 

Oops I knew I forgot something. Five minutes...

 

Problem solved.