We’ve tested for a long time this skimmer in our aquarium, and we were pretty amazed. Even in this case we measured about 1.300 l/h of sucked air, and this is the second skimmer we have ever tested that gets this close.
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Rossmont is arelatively young company, and this skimmer is the first attempt to enter the market of skimmers. So they implemented some solutions: you can use the skimmer as it has been made, that is with a non-adjustable pump, or with the Rossmont Waver (review), that allows to improve the performance of the skimmer depending on your own aquarium. And we measured incredible values, but you will see as usual in the second page. But first, know that we also measured the water rate, because it’s a value no longer notified by the companies. But it’s very important in order to have the complete picture of the aquarium system.
The skimmer is very well built, and you can change the orientation and the place of the pump, so you can make the skimmer fit every sump, even with the external pump. Rossmont declares neither the sucked air nor the treated water.
Technical characteristics Rossmont Skimer SX 1000
| Skimming pump | Rossmont Riser |
| Treated water volume | ND |
| Treated air volume | ND |
| Pump consumption | ~ 29 w |
| Dimensions | 200x300x530 mm |
| Suggested height of water in sump | 21 cm |
| Price | 399 euro or 599 with Waver |
Costruction
The construction of the skimmer, as we have said, is very weel done, it has no flaws and it has a rubber hose for the implant of the pump, which is a very smart solution. In fact you can put and take off the pump more easily than with the rigid tube. Sure, when you place and move your pump you have to be careful that the pipe doesn’t compress. We love this solution. Well done Rossmont.
From the point of view of the functioning we have a classic set up. The external pump leaves more space inside the skimmer for the contact between the bubbles. The pump pulls air and water inside the central body where they’re pulled through the perforated diffusion plate. The body is conical. The skimming pump is, obviously, a Rossmont Riser that works at few inches from the bottom of the sump. The external white plate can be disassembled and riassembled in the opposite way so you can adapt it to your sump.
The body of the skimmer has a diameter of 18 cm and it’s 53 cm of height, glass included.
In the glass there’s a hole, closed with a rubber stopper, through which you can drain the foaming liquid. We would have liked the classic long pipe with the sink, but only because we’ve already tested the comfort of this solution. But it’s a detail that affects a little the whole evaluation of this skimmers.
The setup of this Rossmont Skimer SX 1000 is very easy and it can be disassembled in a short time. That’s because it has an external pump.
The glass is light, and it fits easily its base. You just have to put it in place and rotate it.
Pump and adjustament
The pump is a Rossmont Riser, with a flow rate of 2.900 l/h in normal conditions. As usual for Rossmont the pump is AC and not adjustable, but it can be connected to the Waver for improvements.
Through the app you can set a daily cleaning of the neck of the glass. Let’s see how it can be done.
You usually set the skimmer with all the air open and you adjust the drain for lowering the level in the neck of the glass. By the Waver you can slightly change the things. For example, I set the skimmer so that the foam would reach the 2/3 of the glass. Very high. Then I lowered the power in the Waver to have the foaming, as usual, at the base of the glass. And in the daily programming I set the maximum power of the pump at 6 am and 11 pm for 10 minutes. In this way the foam rises on the neck just enough to clean it, but it doesn’t fall off. Obviously you have to adjust the system to your specific needs.
Moreover, in the other channel of the Waver I have the return pump, so I can choose to administrate food and at the same time I can set the pump at its minimum and switch off the skimmer. Perfect.
Because it’s a monopump we don’t have to manage the amount of water entering the skimmer and the relationship water-air has already been set. The suggested level of the sump is 21 cm.
The comfort of the external pump shows its potential when you have to clean it. It can be extracted and cleaned in a very short time. This is also useful if there’s any kind of obstruction. You extract the pump and in a few minutes you can come back to skimming.
If you want to change the calibration of the skimmer you have to rotate the drain pipe, that determines the water level inside the body. The drain pipe is silkscreened for a fast comparison.
Set up
The set up is extremely simple. It’s slightly more complicated if you want to change the orientation of the pump, or if you want to use the second hole. When we took the pictures in studio we used one configuration, while I reversed the orientation in my aquarium for distancing the loading and the drain of the skimmer. But the suggested setup is the one with less encumbrance, for rather small sumps.
The article continues on page two with the functioning, the performances and our measurements.
