Looking for a beckett skimmer

[Jay357]

Needs to be a nice one for my 120 gallon reef tank. No junk skimmers that dont work. Can anyone recommend a good model? One with good user reviews I can read about or a website that rates skimmers with customer feedback? I do want a beckett skimmer. I already have the pump

Jay

[chrischris]

euro reef is the best you can but imo but i have no idea other wise because i dont use anything eles

[xaoss23]

Euroreef is a needlewheel skimmer... If youre set on a becket, MRC is TOP quality.
They just changed owners recently but the quality of the product is the same (and probably better service).

[Hop]

MRC is good. If I had to do the best I think that Barr Aquatics makes a superior beckett.

And ER IMO is far from the best NW skimmer out there Bubble King, Volcano and Sequence are on track for the best NW IMO

[Jay357]

Ok great...how about bang for the buck beckett skimmers? I really dont want to shell out 4 hundred bucks. I will check those manufactures skimmers to see what has the best value.

Thanks for the advise guys.

Jay

[Hop]

You may want to look in the used section. Otherwise MRC will be your best bet. What pump do you already have and I'll have a better idea what direction to lead you

[chrischris]

i have bad exsperiences with bubble king and sequence but the glory of reefing is any body can like and hate what they want but id like to here you side of the argument please pm me and well see if i can be persuaded into another brand of skimmer

[Jay357]

Its a genex. Its blue but I dont know what model it is. It is external to my sump plumbed with PVC. It goes to the return to my tank from the sump. There is a PVC manifold with ball valves and 1 goes for return and one for skimmer. I can control how much goes to the return or skimmer with the ball valves.

Jay

[Hop]

Alright jay.. We need to know which pump so we can recomend a skimmer. the flow rate is very important and odds are the gen-x is a medium to high rated pressure pump, so that is good. The MRC MR-2 may be the way to go for you. I'm not a big fan of the MR-1, but it would work as well.

You do realize that beckett skimmer are a bit noisy, so be prepared to do some DIYin to quiet it down if it's in an area with a lot of traffic

[Hop]

Originally Posted by chrischris

i have bad exsperiences with bubble king and sequence but the glory of reefing is any body can like and hate what they want but id like to here you side of the argument please pm me and well see if i can be persuaded into another brand of skimmer

I'm refering to bubble king... Not bubble master... $4-12,000 skimmers. And the sequence skimmer just came out...
But you are 100% right... I mean, I have a custom made skimmer comparable to the ER RC750 and a deltec for 2-3K less than what they wanted

[Jay357]

Its a Genex PCX 40. I think it says 1150 Gallons per hour. This is split between my skimmer and return line with a manifold and ball valves. I can adjust all the flow if I want to the skimmer but do need to have some for the return to the tank. However my display does have 2 seio powerheads for current also.

Jay

The tank specs in my signature file are all outdated. This is a 120 gallon cube tank with center overflow and 40 gallon sump/fuge

Jay

[Jay357]

Originally Posted by Hop

Alright jay.. We need to know which pump so we can recomend a skimmer. the flow rate is very important and odds are the gen-x is a medium to high rated pressure pump, so that is good. The MRC MR-2 may be the way to go for you. I'm not a big fan of the MR-1, but it would work as well.

You do realize that beckett skimmer are a bit noisy, so be prepared to do some DIYin to quiet it down if it's in an area with a lot of traffic

I can always insulate the cabnet. What other types of skimmers would you say works as well as a beckett type skimmer. I have used AquaC Remoras and Remora Pro skimmers before this venturi that I have now. I am not pleased with this skimmer I have now. This is the skimmer that I have now. It came with the tank when I bought it. Its is model PS-250L Protein Skimmer. Pacific Coast skimmer. Junk IMO


http://www.pacificcoastimports.com/p...ys%3D%26pg%3D1

Jay

[Hop]

Cool. For a single injector you will need about 700gph from that pump. Obviously the head added to the pump due to the beckett will rob some power in addition to making the initial tweaking a little harder, but it is possible. In reality I would recommend running that pump solely to the beckett, but I under stand constraints And I think the MR-2 is the best bet considering the info so far. No need for a second injector right now and the quick release is kind of a pain IMO, the thumb screws always worked better for me when I had my MR-3. So you are looking around $325 plus shipping new, or you may be able to find a used one in the $200 range.

[Hop]

Originally Posted by Jay357

I can always insulate the cabnet. What other types of skimmers would you say works as well as a beckett type skimmer. I have used AquaC Remoras and Remora Pro skimmers before this venturi that I have now. I am not pleased with this skimmer I have now. This is the skimmer that I have now. It came with the tank when I bought it. Its is model PS-250L Protein Skimmer. Pacific Coast skimmer. Junk IMO


http://www.pacificcoastimports.com/p...ys%3D%26pg%3D1

Jay

Right now IMO the best dollar to skimmabilty skimmer out there is the Octopus NW200. For $200 it's a great skimmer that right out of the box will handle your tank with ease. In reality I hated my beckett skimmer, not because it didn't skim, but because it needed constant tweaking. After I finally got it dialed in it still needed 1-2 little adjustments a day to keep running right and it was very proned to going nuts for no reason.

Since then I had a custom GEO made, but they are a little pricey. I've ran PMs, CPRs, ERs and borrowed a deltec for a short time. The best was my GEO hands down which I still run.

Given what I know about your system so far, I would grab a octopus NW200, spend $40 to install a gate valve and downgrade the return to about 500gph. Then it would be a set it and forget it ordeal where you could move on to working on other parts of the tank, not worrying about the skimmer and return

[Jay357]

Wow...this seems like good advise from someone who has tried them. I will look at that Octopus skimmer ans see what I think. I always like to use what is tried and true. Thanks for your help....really

Jay