Reef nutrition

Are Euro-reef skimmers still considered good nowadays? What about Koralin CA reactors?

Vincerama2

Vincerama2

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Hi guys, I see that Euro-reef has been out of business since 2009!

Currently I have an AquaC EV-120 running on my 58g, and I'm ramping up my equipment for my 180g.

A friend has a Euroreef skimmer, with the Sedra 5000 pump that he runs on hiss 170g, which he's breaking down.

He says it's "rated" for 200 g. If I bought it from him for the extra capacity (I can still run my EV-120 along side it I'm sure) what problems might there be if the Sedra 5000's needle impeller broke? I hear normal Sedra 5000 impellers work OK with the ER. I'm not sure what model of skimmer it is.

I haven't really been keeping up with equipment and I know there are slews of great new products out there. It used to be that ER and AquaC were the benchmarks, but that was in ancient times.

I'm also considering maybe picking up his Korallin CA reactor. I have a K2R reactor that I didn't really use much (it started leaking and I just haven't fixed it yet). I'd consder it since it's probably easier to use/tune than my K2r (which I could use as an second stage I suppose)

His stuff is about as out of date as my stuff, but different brands. But on the other hand .. they are all basically acrylic tubes!

Thoughts? Thanks!

V
 
Would $150 be too much for it?

Like I said, I actually have two AquaC EV-120s. The thing I liked about it is that it uses a relatively cheap Mag5 pump. It skims well, thought I'm often too lazy to clean it at regular intervals.

I'g get it if it's a step up. I see some people replace the Sedra 5000 with a Bubble Blaster 3000 pump ($$$$$)

V
 
Well Euroreef skimmers are the old school of simplistic designs, there's a hole were water comes in, water leaves through the bottom via a riser pipe that you adjust, and it's basically a tube of acrylic that reduces in size for the neck and a cup on top. IMO there's nothing special about EuroReef skimmers that couldn't be accomplished with say an ASM skimmer (the "clones" at the time). All the real magic occurs in the pump, and the Sedra pump was/is a good skimmer pump. They are considerably bulky and use much more power compared to something like a Sicce PSK series of pumps, but there's no reason why it wouldn't work just as well.

Biggest worry is the pump itself though, open it up check the needle wheel to see if all (most) of the pins are still on it. Easy enough to check. Plus it's not exactly a cheap pump either. Although you can still get replacement impellers, I think like $40 for an impeller. You might be able to get just the needle wheel part separately for cheaper, but I'm not sure.

Overall if it were me, I'd probably need to be desperate for a skimmer for that price. It's easily cheaper than any new skimmer that you can get today at approximately that output, but it still is an old piece of equipment that I'm assuming is WELL used. And if you're going to buy a bubble blaster pump to upgrade it? Don't bother, just get a brand new skimmer.
 
OK Mike, good advice. So there is no reason to go to the old school ER when I have a working old school AquaC.

I did some research and yeah, I don't like the pricey pump. That's one reason I originally bought the AquaC ... it uses a Mag5.
 
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