18 http://www.ultramarinemagazine.co.uk
First of all, we’ve been
impressed with Vertex’s
packaging on numerous
occasions before and the
presentation of the Omega
certainly lives up to our high
expectations. As ever the
sturdy box is perfectly sized
and the generous internal
padding is both neat and
more than adequate to keep
the contents safe and sound
(however inept your delivery
driver!). Instructions are all fine;
simplicity is the overriding
theme here and this carries
through to the product itself.
On removing the skimmer
from the box we can
immediately feel that this is
a high quality product with
the hot-welded PVC and cast
acrylic components mating
beautifully. The assembled
unit feels solid, stable and
reassuringly heavy! The
Omega boasts numerous
high-end design features too,
such as corrosion resistant
Titanium screws, separate
vibration-absorbing rubber
feet, an adjustable venturi,
swiveling skimmate drain and a
dedicated ozone injection port.
Furthermore, the custom volute
and needle-wheel equipped
Askoll pump engine in the 200i
(replaced with a Sicce SK-
pump in in the 180i) is located
internally (as denoted by the ‘i’
in the product name) and has
also cleverly been lain on its
side to maximize head height
in the reaction chamber, thus
increasing bubble contact time.
Renowned for durability and
reliability, this pump promises
years of trouble free operation
while consuming just 38 watts
and drawing an impressive
2000lph max of air. As said,
this isn’t a controllable DC
pump engine but this does
have advantages... for a start
control becomes simpler with
just a twist of the riser tube
controlling the water/air mix
in the chamber and there’s
no control box to mount (and
correspondingly less cablingand/or hot transformers to deal
with).
On the subject of dimensions,
we measured the footprint as
10.75” x 11.25”and the bubble
chamber has a ?′′ diameter at
the widest point, tapering to ?′′
at the neck. The large collection
cup screws on/off smoothly
and remains water tight with a
rubber O-ring (so no irritating
dripping and splashing from
the neck joint). Given the body
size and pump stats, this is
clearly one powerful skimmer
that is capable of handling
a large bioload (indeed be
aware that systems that don’t
have a sufficient bioload may
be subject to inconsistent
skimming). Vertex rate the
200i for systems of 400 - 800l
volume but we’d suggest the
upper limit is fairly conservative
if anything and it should be
fine for even larger systems if
stocking density is taken into
account. Also, bear in mind
that this skimmer works best
sat in a water depth of 7 – 8.
inches. You’ll also need to keep You couldn’t get much more minimal but Vertex’s packaging never fails to impress It all fits together beautifully and feels solid and heavy. Top quality!