Atman skimmer pumps (bubble magus, some swc)

[Zakk]

Total crap.

Just FYI for anyone looking into those 'cheap' skimmers from china...save your money.  I should have done more homework before buying a skimmer with an atman pump.

Problems?  Mesh wheels break constantly, and I do mean CONSTANTLY.  Shafts break almost every time you take the top off the impeller chamber, no matter how careful you are.  The design usually has the pump inside the cylinder, which is a RPITA to get apart to clean (4 long fine thread plastic screws, a fragile intake port).  A lot of guys are making replacement impeller designs, but hardly any ship them to canada, and the pump really isn't powerful enough for a real needle wheel. 

The skimmers work fairly well for the money, but man, what crappy pumps they deigned them around.  Do a little research if you're looking at them.  Most sellers don't warrant the impellers any more, and I think the pumps come with 2 meshwheels now (sort of says they know they break).  Oh and GOD HELP YOU if you lose the little white washers in the pump...

However I will have one for sale as soon as Darren gets back to town LOL. 

 

[Neopimp]

now there is a sales pitch... these suck , dont buy, btw I am selling one

I got the Bubbleblaster pump on a SRO XP2000 Cone... great set up... not liek I have alot of experience with skimmers yet but this thing has never missed a beat .. even sucked a small snail through it

 

[phi delt reefer]

i had one of the atman pumps go in my SWC skimmer but it was warrantied and i got a new one for free. I paid $170 for the skimmer though so i knew what i was getting into, lol. My skimmer has been going strong since the pump was replaced and i have yet to see any damage or degradation to the needwheel.

you could always take go grab the new Eheim compact pumps and mod it to the body of ur current skimmer.

 

[Zakk]

i had one of the atman pumps go in my SWC skimmer but it was warrantied and i got a new one for free. I paid $170 for the skimmer though so i knew what i was getting into, lol. My skimmer has been going strong since the pump was replaced and i have yet to see any damage or degradation to the needwheel.

you could always take go grab the new Eheim compact pumps and mod it to the body of ur current skimmer.

I've got the NAC6A.  I've had it a month, and already 2 meshwheels and 1 shaft (it came used with 2 cracked shafts, a broken meshwheel and only one of the spacers).  There's a lot of chatter about how the 2500 pump isn't really good at anything but being cheap   I mean, replacement pumps with impeller are only $50, so I can see why these companies use them. 

I gave Darren a budget of around $800.  I'm tired of having cheap skimmers.  My old one was another cheapy, but not only did that pump last for years, it's still running on my vertex reactor.  ;D

 

[Blob-79]

that sucks...I have the swc 160 cone, it runs the atman 2500. I actually havent had any issues with it what so ever. I guess theres always some duds though..especially when your dealing wiht chinese stuff. Though the problems you mentioned dont seem framiar at all to me...at the bm atman pumps different from the swc atman pumps?

If your budget is in the area of 800.....i recomend one of the vertex alpha cones. i know one of them is close to 800. Pretty sure Advanced Reef Aquatics in miton keeps them in stock.

 

[Zakk]

I know...I like the skimmers, when they work they work well, but the pump... I'm getting a ton of gunk out of my tank right now, but if I can't rely on the skimmer I just can't leave it in the tank. 


Daren is at that big fish expo, we're going to shop skimmers when he comes back.  He's trying to talk me into a 500 gallon+ setup too, two tanks plumbed to one sump, but the price tag on that is crazy.  This hobby will either be the end of me or of my marriage.  ;D