Hardest thing to research...

fdokinawa · 04-23-2006, 08:43 AM

It has to be skimmers. So many brands, and 10x's as many opinions.

After 12+ hours today(slow day at work), I don't think I'm any further in finding a skimmer. Hopeing one of you guys can give me some more info or ideas.

My setup is a 55gal and a 20gal sump. After 12 hours I do know that the skimmer I want has to be a neddlewheel type and would like it to be external. I have the room outside my sump for an external, and I don't want the sump level to dictate skimmer level. I've been looking at re-circulating models too, seems like a good way to get more bubbles. Just not sure if its worth the added power cost of a second pump.

Price wise, I'll entertain any idea from $200-600

soooo.. any ideas?

ReefNeck · 04-23-2006, 09:02 AM

I have had great performance from a Coralife Super Skimmer 125. They are very cost effective, Use a needlewheel pump and work great for the price. Can be mounted as a hang on or in sump.

If you can afford it an ASM, Euro Reef or Deltec would be the absolute best.

fdokinawa · 04-23-2006, 09:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ReefNeck

I have had great performance from a Coralife Super Skimmer 125. They are very cost effective, Use a needlewheel pump and work great for the price. Can be mounted as a hang on or in sump.

If you can afford it an ASM, Euro Reef or Deltec would be the absolute best.

Ive been looking at the ASM, Euro Reef and Deltec's all day. Been searching all through other forums, and ran into a LOT of conflicting info on all of them. I got to the point where I just stoped reading them.

Im shying away from hangons.. guess I should have said what my current set up is. I have a CPR hangon, it sits in direct light, so ive have to clean algae out of it about once a week. It came with a Rio, replaced it with a maxi-jet veturi set up, but its really not makeing the bubbles very well. Also my collection cup dosnt like to stay together so about half the time all the skimmate goes back into the tank.

Ive been leaning towards the Euro Reef due to the re-circulating. But its on the top end of my price range. Does anyone know of a similar re-circ brand thats cheaper?

fdokinawa · 04-23-2006, 09:52 AM

humm.. just thought about it. wonder if I could get a cheaper good external skimmer and then DIY a re-circulating pump.

Geoff · 04-23-2006, 11:32 AM

i am not a big fan of the needle wheel skimmers. they are very dependant on a consistant water level from where they draw thier water from. any fluctuations in this level can cause dramatic changes in its ability to skimm.

i prefer the pressure skimmers, venturi, beckett, eductor. these are a lot less dependant on the water level.

G~

fdokinawa · 04-23-2006, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geoff

i am not a big fan of the needle wheel skimmers. they are very dependant on a consistant water level from where they draw thier water from. any fluctuations in this level can cause dramatic changes in its ability to skimm.

i prefer the pressure skimmers, venturi, beckett, eductor. these are a lot less dependant on the water level.

G~

See, this is what I was NOT finding before. Reasons why I should go with one type of skimmer over another. All anyone could say was.. model X is good. Model Y bad. ok, but why is model X good?

Ok, so.. back to looking at pressure skimmers. Guess one pressure pump wont draw to much more power than 2 non-pressure pumps.

motorslave · 04-23-2006, 06:08 PM

If you do decide on a beckett skimmer I would recomend looking at MRC. Maybe the MR-1 or even the MR-2. They are expandable so a bigger system down the line doesnt mean you have to buy another skimmer.
I have a Euroreef CS6-1 that I ran on a 55. In sump and it worked great. easy to set up and run. I now have an MR-2 for my 150 and just ordered a second injector and a 8" riser extension for it. Beckett skimmers take a bit to get used to as far as dialing them in but when you get it dialed, they pull lots o goo! Ill never use another skimmer!

Robert

Loverotties · 04-23-2006, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ReefNeck

I have had great performance from a Coralife Super Skimmer 125. They are very cost effective, Use a needlewheel pump and work great for the price. Can be mounted as a hang on or in sump.

If you can afford it an ASM, Euro Reef or Deltec would be the absolute best.

He said everything I was going to say!

leveldrummer · 04-23-2006, 07:28 PM

depending on how your sump is built, water level might not be an issue, i built my own, and i have the coral life super skimmer 65, water level never drops in the skimmer chamber. works great, most skimmers i read about need constant tinkering to keep it running, not this one, set it and forget it. (except to empty the stink)

Wiskey · 04-24-2006, 02:43 PM

I love my MRC MR-2, I too will never use a diffrent type of skimmer, (tried some others and this is by far the best I have used) I currently have it on a 50 gallon tank, but this is only because I plan an upgrade to a 120 gallon in the near future.

70% of the performance of a bekett skimmer comes from the pump you use though, so that selection is very important. You NEED a pressure rated pump, like a GenX PCX 55 (best for a MR2 imho) otherwise your skimmer just won't work right. Don't cheap out and just get a mag 12, or you will be sorry.

HTH,
Whiskey

Hawkfish · 04-26-2006, 06:21 PM

I agree, skimmers are one of the worst things to research next to lighting.

I have tried a few different skimmers on my tanks over the years. The first was an ETS reef devil which worked well on my 75 gallon but I am not sure if they are still making skimmers anymore. It worked well and was pretty easy to maintain and clean.

The next was the Precision Marine Bullet which makes really stinky smelly skimmate and a good amount of it too. The only downside to the model that I have is it is a pain to clean the Becket injector. I see that they have a new version now that looks like it is easier to maintain but I have not seen one in person yet.

My current skimmer is an external EuroReef RC6 or something, I cannot remember the part number. I am not very impressed with it overall. I felt that the PM Bullet and even the ETS did a better job overall job and pulled out much more smelly gunk. The EuroReef is pretty easy to clean but the skimmate just does not impress me much.

Goldstripe · 05-05-2006, 09:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leveldrummer

depending on how your sump is built, water level might not be an issue, i built my own, and i have the coral life super skimmer 65, water level never drops in the skimmer chamber. works great, most skimmers i read about need constant tinkering to keep it running, not this one, set it and forget it. (except to empty the stink)

I agree. I'm in the same situation. I built my sump and the drain/skimmer section water heigth is determined by the first baffle. It stays constant so it's never a problem. I have an ASM G3 that has the gate valve mod and soon will have the recirc mod with a direct feed off my return pump. What makes the ASM and Euro Reef skimmers so effective is the Sedra pump / needlewheel. They've got the perfect matchup IMO. I know someone who has the Octopus brand which is very similar in design and he modded it with a Sedra, works as effectively as an ASM.