The video off the skimmer Ultra Reef Typhoon UKD 200
It’s the first time that we incluse a video in a review of ours, that works as a reducted review, it’s our first attempt at all! Let us know what you think about.
The conclusions and Jonathan’s words
Jonathan, what do you think of the Typhoon 200, after trying it for so long? I really like the skimmer, and for different reasons. The first impression I had was its toughness, top quality materials and a perfect construction. It’s a pity that an object of this kind, totally white, is made by rough material that tends to get dirty. If you wanted to make it white again you’d have to wash it with diluited acid. But this is just nitpicking.
What do you think of this configuration with external pump?As for many other skimmers, I find it a very useful choice, both for the cleaning and because it increases the volume of the bubbles, that can start from the base of the skimmer itself. The pump is set in a way that creates a perfect vortex in the cone, you can see it yourselves if you turn on the pump while the skimmer is off. The bubbles rise fast and circularly.
How did you calibrate the skimmer? The pump is electrical so it’s adjustable, but I’ve always used at its maximum, with all the air and the drain open, in order to obtain the driest foam possible for my aquarium’s needs. The level is sump was already set on 21 cm so I didn’t intervene on the slider.
And if you had to say a flaw? I wouldn’t say any, but I’d like to ask Ultra Reef a question. In the skimmer there’s a drain for the foam that I used very rarely because I think it would be more useful a system for the cleaning of the neck of the glass, even if it had to be manual. I regularly drained the glass but after a week of use it gets easily dirty and this compromises the foaming that is thick and abundant the first days. It’s true that I was used to the ATB skimmer (here the review) that has automatic cleaning, so I came up to think about this feature. But I also remember that Ultra Reef had a mechanical or manual cleaning system in the past… that’s it, I wish it was proposed again (Ultra Reef Auto Skim ndr)
Would you like to add any other suggestion? If can ask… Considering a prolonged use over time, it would be great a float, because if you postpone the drain you risk that it overflows.
But speaking of the functioning of the skimmer, considering also the high performances it promises, how did you find it? The functioning is flawless. It foamed perfectly the first day and it’s still stable in its performance! It’s very quiet, and the column of water/bubbles is very thick. It seems almost a white pvc and not a transparent acrylic. This makes the foam dry and really thick, exactly what I needed.
How would you like to conclude? I only have two small observations; they’re not flaws, but I’m pretty particular. The first one is that the air muffler doesn’t seal well. When I turn off the air the return the level rises over the muffler, it fills up with water and when the water starts again it doesn’t come out so you have to intervene opening and draining it out.
The other thing is that it would be great to be able to close the drain by screwing it and open it by unscrewing it.
This last remark makes me smile. I always mistake the verses 😀
Well, I have to say that, for my experience, this is the best skimmer I’ve ever had… until now.
The cost
The skimmer UltraReef Typhoon UKD 200 costs 1019 euro. It surely an high price but absolutely justified by the build quality and performance. So perfect that we find defects in things that, objectively, are really secondary, and of which we normally do not even dream of mentioning.
Conclusions
The skimmer is perfect. The value of treated air is great, same for the treated water, and it’s incredible that the declared data are the exactly what we measured. Ultra Reef indicates this skimmer for aquariums from 500 to 1500 liters, the former for aquariums full of corals, the latter for fish only. We can only agree. The construction is nothing less than spectacular, and we didn’t notice any problem, except for those details that Jonathan underlined.
During the use the skimmer showed itself to be regular, efficient and unstoppable. The external pump is the flagship for every cleaning process.
PROS
Very high value of treated air: 1.300 l/h Very high value of treated water: 2.600 l/h Very quiet Very well built Very easy maintenance
CONS
Water in the muffler if the level in sump increases
Ultra Reef is directly distributed in Italy by ReefLine.
Disclaimer: we really thank Ultra Reef that provided us the skimmer for the tests that made this review possible
