Does anyone out there use the non-RE Vertex skimmers?

[Anonymous]

All the fuss at the moment is over the Vertex designed, Royal Exclusiv constructed cone skimmers. A bit cheaper than your standard Bubble Kings, but still expensive. But browsing the Vertex page at Premium Aquatics, I notice that they also make an apparently very good value range of "normal" skimmers, like this Gen II Vertex Internal Pinwheel Skimmer 100, priced at $199.

Does anyone here have any direct experience of using these? If they're are as good as they sound, they good be an unbeatable choice for a budget-conscious but picky reefer.

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry, Tom, no direct experience here. But design-wise it looks a lot like a Euro Reef, which could be good.

Any idea what pump it has?

 

[Anonymous]

It appears to come with a no-name pump included. Blowing up the pic on Marine Depot for the replacement pump, it appears to be a Resun King 590F, whatever that is (made in China).

 

[Len]

jamesw definitely does.

 

[Anonymous]

That pump looks very similar to the Sedras which perform well on the Euro Reefs. Not top-of-the-line or particularly energy efficient, but they certainly get the job done, and IME they've always been very reliable. I can ask around at work and see if anyone has any direct experience with this line.

Is $200 your budget for the skimmer?

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Craig, really helpful. I don't really have a set budget as such, other than a desire to get something really decent for a decent price. Essentially I'll pay what it takes, but I don't want to pay any more. :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

Ok, so today as I was asking my boss about these a customer overheard us and said he has this exact skimmer. Quite a coincidence. Anyway, he's had it since Christmas and has so far been very happy with it. He's using it on a 35g system though, and I gather it's fairly heavily stocked. He said it started skimming within a few hours, and has been producing steadily since then. No complaints that he could think of.

The bossman also said the company makes nice skimmers, and that judging from the size and pump on this one, there's no reason to think it wouldn't skim very well.

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry, Tom, no direct experience here. But design-wise it looks a lot like a Euro Reef, which could be good.

Any idea what pump it has?

It (Verrtex) has an internal chamber with a bubble plate. ER's do not have this technology

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry, Tom, no direct experience here. But design-wise it looks a lot like a Euro Reef, which could be good.

Any idea what pump it has?

It (Verrtex) has an internal chamber with a bubble plate. ER's do not have this technology

Ah, good point. I didn't see that behind the sticker.

 

[jamesw]

Right I sure do Len. I guess you could have sent me a link instead of me having to stumble on this

Anyhow, I have the Vertex 250 which looks just like the one pictured but bigger. It's a very good skimmer.

I have it in my sump, up on a stand I made to get it above the sump water level. It skims well and is not too finiky - I do have to shut it off when I use underwater epoxy but that's true for any skimmer I bet.

Construction is good and the pump seems fine so far. I'd say it's as good or better than a Euroreef RS250.

Cheers
James

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks James. I'm leaning towards this as an option now.