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Long story short I purchased a preowned (but never wet) Gen 2 MBK200 from a user on the "other message board". The purchase was still expensive, but I did manage to save around $400.
This is a "First Impressions" review. I will post a video review later, once I have had it running a few days. I know its hard to do without pics, but just hang in there with me.. its coming.
The first thing I noticed was the SIZE of the body. It's only about 22 inches or so tall, but the ENTIRE footprint is taken up by the BODY TUBE. Because if this it really looks short and squat when the cup isn't on it. VERY heavy material. Very well made, as I expected.
This 2nd gen comes with a Red Dragon pump that states "special for the mini 200" whatever THAT means (but it still made me grin). The factory label on the pump states 1700 LH at 38 w/h. The gen 1s were at 1000 LH at the same w/h.
Once I gave everything the once over I sat it in my sump ( it JUST fit) and plugged it in. The pump kicked on and started creating an insane amount of macro bubbles in the body tube. The thing that struck me, though, is that the skimmer runs DEAD quiet. I mean SILENT. The sound of the froth popping at the top of the body is actually louder than anything else on the skimmer (a HUGE improvement over my last skimmer).
At this point I took the 200 lb (or so it seemed) collection cup and gently sat it in its place. The cup doesn't screw, bolt, or fasten on, it just sits there (its heavy enough so that it doesn't leak around the base).
And, that's where I am now, waiting on the skimmer to really break in. After running for about 12 hours I noticed froth about 1/2 the way up the cup neck, but no skimmate yet.
B
This is a "First Impressions" review. I will post a video review later, once I have had it running a few days. I know its hard to do without pics, but just hang in there with me.. its coming.
The first thing I noticed was the SIZE of the body. It's only about 22 inches or so tall, but the ENTIRE footprint is taken up by the BODY TUBE. Because if this it really looks short and squat when the cup isn't on it. VERY heavy material. Very well made, as I expected.
This 2nd gen comes with a Red Dragon pump that states "special for the mini 200" whatever THAT means (but it still made me grin). The factory label on the pump states 1700 LH at 38 w/h. The gen 1s were at 1000 LH at the same w/h.
Once I gave everything the once over I sat it in my sump ( it JUST fit) and plugged it in. The pump kicked on and started creating an insane amount of macro bubbles in the body tube. The thing that struck me, though, is that the skimmer runs DEAD quiet. I mean SILENT. The sound of the froth popping at the top of the body is actually louder than anything else on the skimmer (a HUGE improvement over my last skimmer).
At this point I took the 200 lb (or so it seemed) collection cup and gently sat it in its place. The cup doesn't screw, bolt, or fasten on, it just sits there (its heavy enough so that it doesn't leak around the base).
And, that's where I am now, waiting on the skimmer to really break in. After running for about 12 hours I noticed froth about 1/2 the way up the cup neck, but no skimmate yet.
B
