Not happy with Bakpak upgrade....

[Anonymous]

I replaced the rio with a Maxi-jet 900 and the venturi kit. I am very dissapointed in the results. The flow seems greatly diminished and I am not getting any foam collection in the cup at all. Any one have any pictures of how you have it hooked together? Maybe I'm just not doing it right.

Glenn

 

[Anonymous]

when i made the switch, i got no foam for more than 24 hours.
i had to open the air valve all the way, then make sure another PH was aimed up a little disturbing the surface.
even still, no foam for at least 24 hours.
not much you can do.
but i did notice the flow was greatly enhanced. was this a brand new maxijet, or a used model?
if used did you clean it well?

 

[Anonymous]

if you click on my link below, it'll take you to my homepage.
on that page (at the top and a bit right) is a link to new coral pics.
if you go to that page, you can see some shots of my maxijet at work skimming.

 

[Anonymous]

It was a brand new one.
I looked at your site. that is how I have it hooked up. It seems as if I have water in the air valve tubing. Is that normal??
The water level in the tank is also a bit low right now. That may have something to do with it.

Glenn

[ August 09, 2001: Message edited by: Rover ]

 

[pperez]

The other upgrade i recommend is to dump it. Seriously, i have found the bak pak to be garbage. Its way overrated and very inefficient. Thats just my experience. I would recommend the remora line of skimmers. But if you want to beef it up try the airstone mod, thats really helps. JMO

 

[tetra]

Has anyone try a mj1200 on it? How does it work?

 

[Anonymous]

Rover,
I always seem to have a bit of water in the tube too. Makes the PH kinda chug chug. Not to worry.
Give it a day or two and see if you get some good skimmate.

 

[Anonymous]

Well I don't think it is garbage exactly. I was perfectly happy with it with the rio on it. I just figured that by putting the Maxi-jet on it would be even better. I spent a lot of money on it just to "trash" it. I'll give it a few days and maybe I'll go back to the rio.

Glenn

 

[pperez]

Rover,
just to clarify, i'm not saying to trash it as in throwing it away. Just being sarcastic. But like i said, its an overrated skimmer. With a tank your size, and depending on your bioload, i would look elsewhere. I mean the only thing that greatly improved my bak pak's performance was the airstone mod. But now i have a remora pro on the system and i will not look back. HTH

 

[Anonymous]

rover: how far above or below the water surface do you have the collection cup? i keep mine at about 1/8 inch below the surface and it skims like crazy.

tetra: i have the 1200 instead of the 900, it works great. it still took about 24-36 hours to start skimming but once it started...

moe and rover: i never have any water in my air intake tube.

 

[JeremyR]

The only problem with the maxi-jet mod is that the maxijet venturi isn't as good as the rio version, the ideal setup would be a pump with the reliability of the maxijet with the air intake of the rio.

 

[Mike02]

Here is a response from CPR Tech Support regarding a pump "upgrade". This is from their BBS at their website ......


posted May 11, 2001 08:50 AM
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is it possible or recommendable to go up a size for the pump on the bakpak skimmers? would it help>>
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Ted
Support Moderator posted May 11, 2001 03:08 PM
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A larger powerhead is not easily adaptable to the inlet of the Bak-Paks, and it would not be advantageous. The higher flow rate would decrease the bubble dwell time, and contact time, within the skimmer chamber, and micro bubbles would be whisked out in the aquarium. Please let us know if you have any questions.
Ted

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[wasabi]

i have a maxi jet 1200 upgraded on my bacpac and it has worked great. you need the venturi for it to really work properly.pperez i would suggest dumping the remora compared to my precision marine hot1 the remora is trash

 

[Anonymous]

I've tried blowing in it. It didn't seem to work.

Glenn

 

[Anonymous]

Moe, I missed your previous post. That is exactly what mine is doing (chug chug). I'll give it a few days and we'll see what happens.

Glenn

 

[Anonymous]

Take a breath and blow down the air intake. This should blow out the water in the line.

Dan

 

[Bear-E]

Hey all,
I upgraded my bakpak about a year ago to an mj1200 and have been super pleased. I had the venturi kit from PA, but all i ended up doing was sticking the airline into the intake in one of the three slots. Foams like mad. Works great! Any questions email me at [email protected]!!

Barry

 

[Anonymous]

Which three slots??

Glenn

 

[fishpoo]

no matter what everyone thinks of Rios, they are the best for skimmers as far as producing foam. That's why the majority of skimmer manufacter's include a good old Rio.

 

[gagnu]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote

no matter what everyone thinks of Rios, they are the best for skimmers as far as producing foam. That's why the majority of skimmer manufacter's include a good old Rio.

Most manufacturers include the Rios because they inexpensive. I'm sure there is a heavy mark up on the skimmers, and when you can reduce the amount that you are paying for the pump, you increase the amount you make per skimmer. Also don't be fooled when they tell you RIOs pumps perform the best with their skimmers. What do you expect them to say, the pump they are shipping w/ skimmer are inferior. I have modified two CPR Bak-Pak 2R with Maxijet 1200 and the difference is amazing. I must also say that I tried the Maxijet 900 and it only gives minimal results vs the 1200. Here's a pic of what my Maxijet setup looks like. What I do to get the right bubbles is first close the air valve completely. This will just cause the Maxijet to pump water through the skimmer. I then slowly open the air valve until the bubbles start at this point I give it just another turn and that should be good. Here's a pic that I drew up of what my Maxijet setup looks like, I try and get a digtal image of it.