Q: How do I tune my Beckett skimmer so that I know I am getting optimal performance?
A: This is a good question. Many, if not most, of the skimmers in operation today do not operate at peak efficiency and there is no easy way to tell how to get them running their best. We think we know a better way. We have integrated our Air Flow Meter as a standard part of all our protein skimmers (1 air flow meter per Beckett injector). With it installed, you will be able to tell at a glance how your skimmer is performing. If you don't measure it you can't really tell how well you are doing from day to day. See our writeup in Instructions under the Support page for more detail on how to do this. And if you ordered a skimmer without the flow meter options we have handy kits that have one or two of the flow meters and instructions on how to easily add them to your existing skimmer. Even if you have a skimmer from another vendor, you should get a Air Flow Meter so you can see how well it is working.
Q: Why do your calcium reactors look different than the others I see? Where is all the tubing? And why do you have 2 media chambers?
A: Our calcium reactors are the best engineered in the business. First, we don't have excess tubing running all over the place that can clog or catch on other equipment (or get plugged into the wrong outlet). Our unique clean dual chamber design has a built in internal CO2 scavenge port to recycle the CO2 back through the calcium reactor and a second chamber to further dissolve the calcium media and raise the PH back towards the target level. Unlike some other designs, you can often run our calcium reactors even at night with the lights off without driving the tank PH too low. Our compact footprint allows you to put much more calcium reactor in a small space than you can with other reactors - great for the limited space often found under tanks. Our protected German-engineered water pump does the job of feeding the reactor and recirculating within the reactor to get the maximum amount of dissolved calcium and then pumping the effluent back into your tank or sump at the correct rate. We have reverse flow through both chambers to minimize media channeling and clogging and to provide the most efficient calcium production.
All Austin Oceans calcium reactors have an integrated Water Flow Meter to measure effluent output. This gives you the control you need to dial in your calcium reactor No more guessing about how much flow is too fast or not enough. Plus, with our "In the Reactor" PH probe port, you can see immediately if the PH is getting too high or too low and have your controller take corrective action. If you measure the PH at the outlet side you will introduce a delay that may let the PH keep going in the wrong direction for a while. By measuring the PH inside the reactor itself you can respond immediately to out of bounds conditions.
We also have an add on kit for all Barr Aquatics Calcium Reactors that will let you easily add the water flow meter to an existing calcium reactor. See Options at the bottom of the Calcium Reactor page. This add on will also work with many calcium reactors from other vendors.
Q: What is the warranty on the products you make? What if I buy a skimmer from you and it stops working in 13 months?
A: Our warranty is simple. We offer a limited warranty that any product we build will be fit for it's intended use for 5 years. If it doesn't work as it should we'll replace it if it can't be repaired. We believe our products are the highest quality available and will perform well for as long as you need it to. We stand behind our products.
The products we don't manufacture come with their own manufacturers warranty. For example, Sequence pumps have a 3 year warranty. The Milwaukee CO2 regulator comes with a 6 month prorated warranty. If you want, we will provide you with detailed product information before you buy. For any product we sell from another vendor we will be happy to tell you who the manufacturer is and what the model number is - just email us. That way you can compare and make an informed decision as to whether to buy from us for the convenience of getting everything from one place or if you want you can buy it elsewhere - or even get a different model if you prefer (email us if you plan to get a different model than we sell or recommend to make sure the different model will fit well with our products).
Q: Your website has a "Custom Sumps" section. Are you actually shipping custom sumps to customers?
A: We've been shipping a limited number of custom sumps for some time but we've now opened this up to anyone. If you need a sump, refugium, or aquarium built from the finest cell cast acrylic with great craftsmanship send us email and tell us what you need. See our Custom Sumps section for more detail.
Q: How do you calculate shipping costs? My shipping costs seemed a little high.
A: We use UPS Ground for almost all our shipping. They are reasonably reliable (more so than USPS) and usually less expensive than FedEx. We have tied into their realtime online shipping calculator and we use that to determine the shipping cost. In fact, the easiest way to get the shipping charges is to just proceed with placing an order. Before the order is finalized you will see the shipping cost. If you think it's wrong just don't click on the "Place Order" and send us an email. Keep in mind that although cast acrylic is 10 times stronger than glass, it is still breakable. In fact, you can't imagine what we've seen done to some of our shipments. So we try to package for worst case handling and that makes the package a little larger and heavier than you might expect. Also, we charge a $15 box charge so that increases the shipping cost. For very small items we are trying to bundle the shipping cost into the item to minimize the shipping charge but we can't do that all the time because if you order a small item with a larger item it just goes in the same box and there is no incremental shipping associated with it. Bottom line, if you think the shipping charges seem too high, let us know. We have had errors in our database in the past and we will quickly credit you for any excess shipping charges. Finally, UPS usually charges about $5 more for delivering to a residential address rather than a business address. If you want to have us ship to a business address, make sure you tell us this is a business address when you order.
