Vertex Alpha 250 Kone caught in the act of skimming protein

The Bubble King Cone aka the Vertex Alpha 250 Kone is an absolute powerhouse in terms of efficiency and power. The muffler is almost magical in how much sound it muffles whether it is drawing  1500 or 1800 lph air. The skimmer in this video has been broken in for a few days (it was wiped down for the video) and it is running on some used reef water from one of our reef tanks which needed a water change. You can see that the water level is at about 8″ deep although initial reports seem to indicate that the 250 Kone can crank up to 2000 lph of air when it is operated in 10″ of water. Our initial test tank impressions of this skimmer are very good. The unit comes completely apart for thorough cleaning and maintenance. Thanks to high quality rubber feet and the silicone connection really help to eliminate noise. The 38-40 watt power draw is really impressive considering the volume of air and water processed. Our only criticisms thus far are the extremely large footprint that goes hand in hand with the conical body design and the water height adjustment. Having a wedge pipe is cheap and easy to implement but for the amount of water this Skoner churns through, a gate valve would make fine water level adjustments much easier. These points are slight and we’ll see how they play out over time. We have this skimmer installed on a bona fide marine aquarium system and we’ll report back on how this German crafted aquarium machine holds up in the long run.