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.
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