Recently some photos have been floating around of a Bubble King Cone Skimmer. The skimmer is infact a creation of Klaus Jensen and the Cologne, Germany based Royal Exclusiv Company. However, the photos are not new and that skimmer is not coming to production anytime too soon–if at all?
Update: RE has have teamed up with Vertex [...]
Recently some photos have been floating around of a Bubble King Cone Skimmer. The skimmer is infact a creation of Klaus Jensen and the Cologne, Germany based Royal Exclusiv Company. However, the photos are not new and that skimmer is not coming to production anytime too soon–if at all?
Update: RE has have teamed up with Vertex Aquarisitik/Proline to bring them to market under the Vertex name. What about Automated Conical Skimmers…? RE is indeed working on new sensor and control systems that will automatically increase and decrease the RPMs of the RD2 DC pump–which will directly control the air & water intake. Imagine a skimmer that can sense how much air it’s currently pulling and if needed adjust appropriately…
Myself and others got a peek at this Bubble King Prototype back in 2008 during the “debates” over who originally developed the first cone skimmer. Klaus went as far as publishing a couple of the photos within this set on the popular forum Reef Central in 2008 to show that they did indeed have the ability to produce a conical skimmer design, but at the time RE decided to stick with the Supermarin style sloped neck. Will that change? Nothing is certain, but don’t count on it in the very near future. If it RE does change to a cone skimmer design it will owe some homage to the upcoming RD2 Skimmer pumps.
Right now there is a lot going on behind the scenes which I cannot discuss, but I can say Royal Exclusiv is a maker of all skimmer designs and they have the ability to make many different types of skimmers. 
) We’ll have more on future skimmer developments by Bubble King after this storm blows over.
Currently Royal Exclusiv is working to further improve their RD2 DC Titanium series of pumps, including new controls and manufacturing. Recently RE has been working a new style of manufacturing that allows the creation of seamless plastic parts like this new closed loop volute for the controllable RD2 DC. This volute is specifically designed for maximum efficiency on closed loops by utilizing enlarged inputs and outputs. As Klaus puts it, the cost to drill larger holes in glass maybe more expensive, but he has seen as much as a 100w decrease in energy consumption which makes the holes and oversized plumbing pay for itself with time.
There is a lot going on right now in the skimmer business in this industry. Currently cones are hot, but they are also delicate due to certain legal issues. The biggest question to ask is if a conical designed skimmer offers a significant advantage over cylindrical designed skimmers. Some claim yes, others disagree.
I cannot say for sure, but I will be able to shine more light on this question and hopefully provide more insight on this in the future here @ GBD.
