Turboflotor Blue 500 hands on and first impression

By Jake Adams on Oct 07, 2010

The Turboflotor Blue 500 from AquaMedic is a smaller internal protein skimmer that has a few things going for it: it’s small with a small footprint, it’s easy on the eyes and affordable but most important of all, it makes a ton of very fine bubbles. Thankfully, those fine bubbles are injected into the body in such a way that very few of them made it out of the skimmer, which is even more important when we’re talking about an internal protein skimmer like the Blue 500.

We first spotted the petite Turboflotor Blue 500 in the AquaMedic booth at InterZoo 2010 and our impression then was that AquaMedic had well designed and delivered a modern nano skimmer for which there is a greater demand than ever before. Now that U.S. availability and pricing is hammered down and we’ve gotten our tentacles on a review unit, we can tell you that the Turboflotor Blue 500 is going to be very serious competition for the Slim Skim Nano from Hydor, also first spotted at InterZoo.

AquaMedic’s new internal skimmer has a suggested retail price of $129 and a maximum rating for skimming the protein out of 250 liters of water, or up to a 50 gallon tank. Depending on the stocking we’d say you could get away with using the Blue 500 but for an average fish load or a lower nutrient reef tank you’ll probably want something beefier, or two of them.

What makes the Turboflotor worth it’s wight as a fractionator is not the modern skimmer bubble baffle system but the needlewheel/meshwheel hybrid. This impeller design has been around long enough to show it’s capacity to produce uber fine bubbles but we still have our reservations about this design becoming clogged with debris, especially when used internally without any prior filtration. Continue reading for a thorough look at the new Turboflotor Blue 500 skimmer from AquaMedic, and we’ll keep putting it to the test until that Slim Skim Nano comes knocking on the fishroom door.

turboflotor blue 500

FTC regulations require that we inform you that we were given this product for review, but our opinion of a product is never affected by how we acquire them.

clive@nanocustoms

Looks interesting, and certainly a good price. Any idea if it will fit in the back chambers of some of the AIO cubes?

Also, what’s the deal with the rod protruding vertically from the elbow in the skimmer body?
clive@nanocustoms

Looks interesting, and certainly a good price. Any idea if it will fit in the back chambers of some of the AIO cubes?

Also, what’s the deal with the rod protruding vertically from the elbow in the skimmer body?
http://reefbuilders.com Jake Adams

Clive I think that rod is there to get a grip on the elbom of the pump outlet to remove for cleaning. This skimmer might fit in some of the largest of the AIO, or ones with thicker back sections like the Solana.
http://reefbuilders.com Jake Adams

Clive I think that rod is there to get a grip on the elbom of the pump outlet to remove for cleaning. This skimmer might fit in some of the largest of the AIO, or ones with thicker back sections like the Solana.
Paolo

I just wish they would stop using that ugly blue color and go to black.
Paolo

I just wish they would stop using that ugly blue color and go to black.
Todd

Is it just me, OR DOES THAT AIR INLET NIPPLE LOOK HUGE???????
What are the measurements of this skimmer?

Thanks
Todd

Is it just me, OR DOES THAT AIR INLET NIPPLE LOOK HUGE???????
What are the measurements of this skimmer?

Thanks
http://www.aqua-medic.com Aqua Medic – Shaun Stinnett

Clive, the footprint is 2.65″x 5.65″with the pump. Hopefully that will help you figure out which AIO’s this will work in. It fits in the Aqua Medic Nano that was at Interzoo.

Paolo, I don’t mind the blue, but I can pass the feedback along and perhaps we will get color options at some point.

Also, the MSRP is actually $112.
http://www.aqua-medic.com Aqua Medic – Shaun Stinnett

Clive, the footprint is 2.65″x 5.65″with the pump. Hopefully that will help you figure out which AIO’s this will work in. It fits in the Aqua Medic Nano that was at Interzoo.

Paolo, I don’t mind the blue, but I can pass the feedback along and perhaps we will get color options at some point.

Also, the MSRP is actually $112.
http://www.aqua-medic.com Aqua Medic – Shaun Stinnett

Todd, the rest of the dimensions are:
3.15″ x 6″ at the top of the skimmer body
11″ tall skimmer body
14.5″ total height with collection cup

The mounting hardware that attaches to the side holds the skimmer 1″ from where it attaches. I do not think the mounting hardware would be necessary in an AIO system.
http://www.aqua-medic.com Aqua Medic – Shaun Stinnett

Todd, the rest of the dimensions are:
3.15″ x 6″ at the top of the skimmer body
11″ tall skimmer body
14.5″ total height with collection cup

The mounting hardware that attaches to the side holds the skimmer 1″ from where it attaches. I do not think the mounting hardware would be necessary in an AIO system.
hahn

Is that the air intake that far to the side of the volute? Does it get re-routed inside, or is it really that far to the side?
hahn

Is that the air intake that far to the side of the volute? Does it get re-routed inside, or is it really that far to the side?
David Polzin (shred5)

This looks promising. I would like to get one and see how it compairs to the tunze nano.
David Polzin (shred5)

This looks promising. I would like to get one and see how it compairs to the tunze nano.
rroselavy

“easy on the eyes” … you guys at RB crack me up.

Interesting nano skimmer. I like the outlet valve to control internal water height. Mesh WILL get clogged like mesh does… requiring some extra care by the aquarist, but in such a small skimmer body like this, bubble size is key to efficiency. Well worth the maintenance probably.
rroselavy

“easy on the eyes” … you guys at RB crack me up.

Interesting nano skimmer. I like the outlet valve to control internal water height. Mesh WILL get clogged like mesh does… requiring some extra care by the aquarist, but in such a small skimmer body like this, bubble size is key to efficiency. Well worth the maintenance probably.
rroselavy

Oh, and I like how they maximized the size of the collection cup. Double wide…
rroselavy

Oh, and I like how they maximized the size of the collection cup. Double wide…
Kevin

Would have preferred to see a suface skimmer like the Hydor.Especially useful in these tanks.
Not crazy about meshwheel
Kevin

Would have preferred to see a suface skimmer like the Hydor.Especially useful in these tanks.
Not crazy about meshwheel
hahn

I found that meshwheels clog less than pinwheels. Pinwheels are rigid, so if I get a piece of gravel or carbon sucked into the pump, it will get stuck in the pins and I will have to pick it out with tweezers later. Mesh might catch some small things, threads of algae or human hair even, but most of this small stuff just ends acting as additional mesh anyways. Mesh also doesn’t tend to catch small solids as much… pebbles of rock or carbon tend to not get stuck, and since mesh is flexible and often does move around at startup, it has been ‘self cleaning’ IME. I had some carbon chunks get sucked in once and noticed that they did get stuck, but all I had to do was restart the pump and it shook it lose and spit it out… could never do that with a pinwheel. Since I had a huge population of colonista snails… with various sizes, I can tell you that the mesh would pass them through, but one time I cleaned the needlewheel and found about a dozen of their shells stuck in there.

But back to my previous question… is that where the air intake is on the inside as well? You know thats more of an outlet than an inlet…
hahn

I found that meshwheels clog less than pinwheels. Pinwheels are rigid, so if I get a piece of gravel or carbon sucked into the pump, it will get stuck in the pins and I will have to pick it out with tweezers later. Mesh might catch some small things, threads of algae or human hair even, but most of this small stuff just ends acting as additional mesh anyways. Mesh also doesn’t tend to catch small solids as much… pebbles of rock or carbon tend to not get stuck, and since mesh is flexible and often does move around at startup, it has been ‘self cleaning’ IME. I had some carbon chunks get sucked in once and noticed that they did get stuck, but all I had to do was restart the pump and it shook it lose and spit it out… could never do that with a pinwheel. Since I had a huge population of colonista snails… with various sizes, I can tell you that the mesh would pass them through, but one time I cleaned the needlewheel and found about a dozen of their shells stuck in there.

But back to my previous question… is that where the air intake is on the inside as well? You know thats more of an outlet than an inlet…
subielover

This unit would be better with a surface skimmer.
subielover

This unit would be better with a surface skimmer.
http://www.aqua-medic.com Aqua Medic – Shaun Stinnett

Hahn, Yes that is the location of the Air intake.
http://www.aqua-medic.com Aqua Medic – Shaun Stinnett

Hahn, Yes that is the location of the Air intake.
hahn

@Shaun… is there something Im missing here? That seems like a horrible location on the pump to introduce air to the impeller well. The best place is in the dead center after all…
hahn

@Shaun… is there something Im missing here? That seems like a horrible location on the pump to introduce air to the impeller well. The best place is in the dead center after all…
http://www.aqua-medic.com Aqua Medic – Shaun Stinnett

Hahn, It is dead center of the pump intake(third picture). We just received these and have sent the one to Reefbuilders and a few of the Aqua Medic of North America staff started using them on personal systems. All of the feedback is that they are working well and creating lots of micro bubbles.
http://www.aqua-medic.com Aqua Medic – Shaun Stinnett

Hahn, It is dead center of the pump intake(third picture). We just received these and have sent the one to Reefbuilders and a few of the Aqua Medic of North America staff started using them on personal systems. All of the feedback is that they are working well and creating lots of micro bubbles.
Anonymous

Hello Shaun, can you tell us… is the impeller shaft ceramic? Best.

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