EXtreme Reef cone skimmers showcase Israeli technology advances
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A new line of cone protein skimmers by start-up EXtreme Reef are making a splash in Israel and should be making their way to Europe in the near future. The company’s founders are R&D engineers in the burgeoning Israeli hi-tech market and hobbyists to boot. Their design took each advantage of we’ve seen from current skimmers in the market and, with their engineering background, worked on overcoming the weak spots through their own ideas and design. The cone skimmer design isn’t anything new in the hobby but these models use a morph of the traditional skimmer with that of a cone using a cylindrical base that transitions into the cone allowing for a larger reaction chamber. The company also appears to use their own pump designed exclusively for this application steering away from the industry norm of working from existing third-party pumps. The eXtreme Air pumps come in two flavors and look to be impressively efficient. The smaller X-air 750 averages 750 liters per hour of air intake with a 1,500 lph (~396 gph) water flow and sipping just 11 Watts of power. The larger unit, X-Air 1000 boasts 1,000 lph of air, 2,000 lph (~528 gph) of water at 16 Watts. Right now they have two models available the XR-LCC 150 and XR-LLC 180 with a larger unit coming soon (XR-LLC 230). The XR-LCC 150 sports the X-Air 750 pump and is rated for tanks up to 1,200 liters (~312 gallons) and measures in at 300mm x 160mm x 550mm (around 12″ x 6.25″ x 21.5″) with the XR-LCC 180 sporting the X-Air 1000 pump and measures 330mm x 190mm x 580mm (about 13″ x 7.5″ x 23″). The skimmers appear to include a unique gate valve with an extension on the handle to make adjusting easy from the top without having to play contortionist with your arm to get at it in your sump. The collection cup looks to be a pressure fit so removal should be simple. The skimmers are currently available in Israel with plans to start distributing in Europe soon. As of this post, we did not have information on pricing but will update as soon as it comes in. A big thanks to Moshe for passing on more info! More images and video after the break.
As a reefer who use this skimmer in the past year I can say that I never saw such device.
The water clearness, the quality of the SPS corals, Zoanthinds and fish healthy is something that I couldn’t ever get with any other skimmer.
A very low consumption pump (less than 20W) with 1000 liters per hour of air intake
This May i’m about to upgrade to a 1500 litter tank and defently gonna buy the bigger model.
Way to go XREEF!
December 17th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Those look like Sicce pumps to me.
Okay, if they want to ‘engineer’ a better cone, improving on short-comings as they go… then WHY, OH WHY would they be putting a gate valve on there instead of a standpipe?
December 17th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
This skimmer looks cool
December 18th, 2009 at 2:03 am
The pumps are definitely sicce, strange that they think can market it better under a unknown name tag rather than sicce with its good reputation.
The body looks very similar to some other “economical” brands produced in china, I really wonder if its produced in Israel or China.
As of the “engineering” i cant see any exceptional new breakthrough’s, but it does imitate some of the better features seen in the market lately.
in summary in my eyes it looks like a sweet skimmer that has a good potential if it will be priced in the “inexpensive skimmer” range or even a bit higher.
December 18th, 2009 at 6:33 am
@Jon Wedged stand pipes are great for recirculating skimmers that don’t get a lot of flow through them but for precise adjustment Gate Valve >>> Wedge Pipe
December 18th, 2009 at 11:59 am
it seems that a one man “R&D” cant beat years of experience that other manfacturers like BK DELTEC H&S for example have.
maybe i will also copy some elements from BK and Reef Octopus and start sale new skimmers too.
i never had an XR myself..and by the looks of it-i would rather go skimerless than go with a prototype made in china while saying the israeli HIGH TEC industry developed it..funny.
December 18th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Guys
Just to remind you all:
Red Dragon , ATB air star and many more >> Laguna
ATB mini Air star and many more >> Sicce PSK2500
Tunze >> Sicce
Deltec >> AquaBee
JNS Shark >> Sicce Syncra
Each company made its own modification / adjustment,
and I think that you are missing the point, instead of investigate where it made, and what is the brand of the pump. In my opinion it’s more important to see that this skimmer pump exceed every pump performance ever.
Of course it also should be quite and reliable in order to be great pump.
Cheers,
Jay
December 18th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
“Eppur is muove” (“And yet it does move”)
Galileo Galilei left the session of the Inquisition that had found him guilty after a trial for “grave suspicion of heresy”.
Progress is the name of the game today. We had enough of the anachronistic skimmers and I do like the fresh wind blowing recently bringing new concepts and much better performance. You don’t skim with a brand name – you skim with an efficient pump and that’s exactly how the Sicce looks like. Go ahead guys …….looking forward to see it here
December 18th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
another chinese made poor skimmer..give it a year and problem will start poping all over the place..
what will the israeli do than?
travel all the way to me in europe and help?
do not think so.
i will stay with my ATB for now.
December 19th, 2009 at 3:50 am
@Jake,
Sorry, when I say standpipe, I mean telescoping standpipe, not a ‘wedge’ or ‘twist’ pipe. “Back in the day” standpipes really didnt have a valve system built into them, thats been more of a recent trend starting with the BK mini line. The good ole’ ASM’s and ER’s use the telescoping standpipe system I’m talking about. Bubbleking deluxe’s do as well.
Telescoping standpipe >>> gate valve.
A telescoping standpipe can have its height set and no matter what the throughput is it will stay within a smaller range. With any valve regulated system, the water level depends on the pressure and therefore flow through the skimmer, not to mention the ease that a valve controlled skimmer will overflow should a small snail or something pass into it and get stuck. Telescoping standpipes dont have a ‘vena contracta’ of any sort so you dont have to worry about overflows. Its pretty much the same operating system as the overflow drain on your main tank… the water level stays pretty much the same even if you ramp up or down the flow through the sump, and it doesnt clog easily. The same cant be said for gate valves and such.
December 19th, 2009 at 4:41 am
It amazes me with the amount of skimmers on the market, and the market is seriously flooded, does any manufacture really sell many?
Just look back on reef Builders and count the amount highlighted.
Is it me or is it getting a bit crazy now, they all seem to do teh same job and all seem to look the same as well now.
The only thing I think the industry is missing is a skimmer that has a decent pump that is not made in China, or been rebadged or messed around with. I think there is a market for a genuine German pump manufacturer to come up with an high quality skimmer pump. I think they would do very well!
Even Bubble Magus (ya got to love em) come with a German pump option, although I can not comment on where the German pump is actually made, who knows these days.
December 19th, 2009 at 9:28 am
@Jon, how cool would it be if someone came up with a telescoping pipe that was adjustable by the turn of a valve as sensitive as the QP valve of this skimmer? That would be the best of both worlds.
@AD I think for years most people have relied on crappy molded plastic skimmers from Coralife, some of the smaller ones from ASM and the smaller turboflotors that aren’t half bad when they work right. I believe all these new cone skimmer makers are finding regional niches and currying favor with people who like their blend of features. I like having a large number of microbatch skimmers, it’s way better than having only ASM and Euro Reef to choose from at the LFS.
December 19th, 2009 at 9:46 am
its seems that the body and plumbing are made very poorly.
the pump is looking good.but besides that-i cant find one posotive and uniqe elemnt in this skimmer.
if it will be priced according to the quality (no more than the 450$ mark)-i will think about buying one for my tank. any price higher then that i will pay only for a well known manufacturer.
BTW what will happen if my pump will broke? should i wait for a delivery from israel/china or just buy one myself?
i find it very hard to buy from a vendor located so far away from the market he sales to.
December 19th, 2009 at 10:46 am
Ben olk
I don’t think that service would be a concern if they should get a reputable distributer, lots of company’s (for example red sea that is also an Israeli based company) are located overseas and the distributors keep a fair stock of replacement parts.
December 19th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
you cant realy compare red sea which is a very big company with years of research,development and exprience,to a one man small,starting company.
my biggest concern is what will happen if i buy the XR skimmer,after a year or so the pump will stop working and the XR company will not there for me to get the service i wish for.
though a skimmer pump should run smoth for years and one should not worry about costumer service for the few first years..but no one can tell that about XR yet.
thats the main concern about bew born skimmers IMO,they dont have the R&D of the big companys,they dont have the option to say our pumps work good for years-bassicly beacause the skimmers themselfs dont run enough time.
this will in the end hurt us as hobbysts because new skimmers cant breach out and there is a kind of an oligopoly status where only the big manfucturers can be the reasonable choice.
December 19th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
The idea of this great web site is to expose companies or success stories of the marine hobby and sharing the trends and experiences of the hobby on a global scale.
That’s a great job that you’re doing here guys. However some are missing the point and next to contractive posts of some serious hobbyists like Jon ‘hahnmeister’ or Joe G. We find some frustrated stakeholders that by their poor English it’s clear where they are coming from and what they’re trying to achieve ……, Those experts will tell you all about the quality of the skimmer -
” its seems that the body and plumbing are made very poorly.” without touching the skimmer…….they know all about the R&D and the manpower composition .They already know all about pumps and service……. If you’re so smart and it’s so easy – do it yourself
We use to have here a different civilizing way of discussion . Please try to keep the standards……
December 21st, 2009 at 9:48 am
@Jake, you mentioned…
“@Jon, how cool would it be if someone came up with a telescoping pipe that was adjustable by the turn of a valve as sensitive as the QP valve of this skimmer? That would be the best of both worlds. ”
Okay, I did that. So which mfg that you know of wants to make it? The internal version is the easiest to make. An external version would require a thicker standpipe (if it had a 2″, it would need a 3″ now).
December 21st, 2009 at 3:16 pm
@Jake, on the other hand, one thing to consider with telescoping standpipes is that they dont need the ‘fine adjustment’ of a gate valve/threaded rod in the first place. A small adjustment with a gate valve commonly results in your internal water level going up or down a significant amount (relatively). With a telescoping standpipe, its more ’self correcting’ in that you would need to have a large increase in the throughput of the feed pump to see a minimal rise of the internal water level (a circumstance where most valve controlled skimmers overflow). So in contrast to the gate valve, a change in the height of the standpipe results in a comparatively smaller change in water level (level in the skimmer is proportional to the standpipe). I use or have converted just about every skimmer I have to a telescoping standpipe. Unlike routine adjustments needed with a valve system, I have had telescoping standpipes that were adjusted a couple times when first set up, but NEVER needed adjustment again (Im talking 6-12 months straight). The actual need to have ‘fine tuning’ with a telescoping standpipe is pretty much eliminated.
December 21st, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Dear Friends,
I have 800 Litters Reef tank running for almost a year. Until now I was using several skimmers in my system, and none of them did the job like expected. Recently, I have bought a new XR skimmer to my reef and it’s been working for the last week and a half. I must share with you the extraordinary experience I had and still having day by day with this remarkable skimmer.
Looking at the skimmer way of work, it can clearly see the size of air bubble coming into the colon; the concentration of air bubbles and the amount of waist coming from the skimmer just emphasize the air consumption being done. Using powerful Laguna power head, the XR create an orchestra or air bubbles you must experience to understand.
However, the way of working is not the main purpose anyone will invest money on a new skimmer, but it defiantly a clue to the changes been done in the aquarium. The water become clearer day by day and the Nitrate went down due to combination of such powerful skimmer and the right water treatment.
Friends, experience this skimmer make me want to recommend it to any reefer want to leverage it reef to high standard one, bearing in mind the affordable cost and simplicity of work. I can only summarize my post by saying, well done, and hope the one harry to put negative posts will take a deep breath and dare to test the XR skimmer by themselves before rushing to write post.
Merry Christmas and happy new year to all…
December 22nd, 2009 at 11:36 am