When it comes to breakthroughs in protein skimmer designs, Germany and the U.S. come to mind, but France? Not so much. That might change with a new protein skimmer design from ReefGreenTech that has a seemingly familiar appearance, but functions in a wholly different manner.
And we’re not just talking about any single component of the ReefGreenTech double cone skimmer, everything from the weird winged needle wheel impeller, the inside out water path in the body of the cone skimmer to the water outflow and water hight adjustment is original in its execution and implementation.
A handful of videos just put up by ReefGreenTech help to elucidate the mechanics of the new R150DC and larger R200DC protein skimmers. The narration is in French but even a hint of experience with protein skimmers will allow to guide yourself through the function of the R200DC featured in the video.
Now while there are a lot of protein skimmers in the aquarium market that are jumping on the DC pump bandwagon in a big way, ReefGreenTech is one of the first to create a custom needle wheel for them and while they were at it, they created a needle wheel impeller that is completely original.
Furthermore, in the body of the skimmer the air-water mixture created by this unique air-slicing needle wheel impeller is injected outside the central column of the inner cone, essentially making this one of the very few newer skimmers not to use a diffuser plate to reduce turbulence inside the protein skimmer body. We’ve grown weary of protein skimmer designs that promote longer contact time through centrifugal or cyclonic water churning but in the case of the R200DC, the effect does seem to result in some very dry and stable foam skimmate.
The narrator points out that the water used in this demonstration video is clean, freshly mixed seawater and that no dirty water or “soap” has been added to the water to encourage foam production. Being a product of France and what we assume is an artisanal style of production, we doubt that the number of ReefGreenTech’s protein skimmers will exceed their domestic demand. We’ll have to wait to hear back from our French reefing comrades about how this skimmer holds up in every day uses but in the meantime, this video is about as close as we can get to seeing this unique design in action. [ReefGreenTech]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlqd6AR6eYQ
