Recirc vs Needle Wheel

[fishycpa]

I am looking at the Octopus 200 skimmer, and I am confused by 2 of the different models. What is the difference between the recirc. skimmers versus the cheaper needle wheel skimmers? Thank for the help!

 

[chilwil84]

many recircs are gravity fed then a small pump is used to recirculate the water in the skimmer making it more efficient in removing proteins from the water usinfg less power and creating less heat. even if its pump fed the recirc pump makes it more efficient than the needlewheel version alone

 

[thangbom]

recirculating is better than that standard nw... thing w/ recirc is that you can control tha 'flow-through' rate... thats the rate at which water enter and exit the skimmer.. with the regular type.. the pump just sucks up the water, add bublbes and spit it back out as whatever gph the skimmer is rated at ( well actually less ) so with a recirc... they get to control the 'dwell' time of the water and bubble to collect for DOC's... ohh and recric are usually able to be used externaly...
YzGyz
YzGyz

 

[sign guy]

recirculating skimmer uses a beckett to break up te water and add air where a neddle wheel uses the needles on the pumps impeler. the beckett can simply add much more air to the water creating a better foam then they run a good portion of the skimmed water back through the skimmer for a second go around. most of your big name skimmers are recirculating, ( octopus, etts, euro reef and mrc)