Have any Alpha Cone owners played with the red nozzle length in the Red Dragon pump? I got ahold of a shorter one (shorter = more air) from Jeremy at Premium Aquatics, about 46mm long, and it dramatically increased the amount of air the skimmer pulls in vs the two I received when I first bought the skimmer (50+ mm in length each).
The way to go about playing with this concept is to use the tube you don't use at all for cutting down on the length:
1. clean the skimmer and cup so you can get a true baseline air/water level. Then make sure your sump depth is whatever is normal for your system (sump depth plays a big part in how high air/water goes in the cone.
2. Open the wedge pipe fully open and leave it open for testing the different cutdowns in size of the tube. The height of the air/water mix should rise each time you cut the red tube down by a millimeter.
3. Insert the red nozzle in the Red Dragon pump. If you want, you can cut the unused nozzle to the length of the one you normally use as a starting point. From that length, cut off 1 mm of nozzle, reinsert into the pump, and see where your air/water level is. With each cut, you should see a rise in the air/water column in the cone because more air is being pulled in the shorter you make the nozzle. Keep shortening by 1mm lengths until the air/water column is just below the narrowest point of the cone with the wedge pipe fully open. This is where the most air is being pulled in while still allowing you some manual control in the height of the air/water column by closing the wedge pipe. It really makes a positive difference, at least it does in my 250.
I think you can also get these extra red nozzles from Premium if you don't want to sacrifice one of the ones that comes with the skimmer itself.
Dave
The way to go about playing with this concept is to use the tube you don't use at all for cutting down on the length:
1. clean the skimmer and cup so you can get a true baseline air/water level. Then make sure your sump depth is whatever is normal for your system (sump depth plays a big part in how high air/water goes in the cone.
2. Open the wedge pipe fully open and leave it open for testing the different cutdowns in size of the tube. The height of the air/water mix should rise each time you cut the red tube down by a millimeter.
3. Insert the red nozzle in the Red Dragon pump. If you want, you can cut the unused nozzle to the length of the one you normally use as a starting point. From that length, cut off 1 mm of nozzle, reinsert into the pump, and see where your air/water level is. With each cut, you should see a rise in the air/water column in the cone because more air is being pulled in the shorter you make the nozzle. Keep shortening by 1mm lengths until the air/water column is just below the narrowest point of the cone with the wedge pipe fully open. This is where the most air is being pulled in while still allowing you some manual control in the height of the air/water column by closing the wedge pipe. It really makes a positive difference, at least it does in my 250.
I think you can also get these extra red nozzles from Premium if you don't want to sacrifice one of the ones that comes with the skimmer itself.
Dave
