looking to buy new skimmer

discusdick

discusdick

New Member
Been looking to buy a new skimmer and was thinking of buying a Berlin Turbo Protein Skimmer until someone told me they were very hard to adjust. So now I am looking at a Coralife Super Skimmer. Any comments? Or are there sill better ones for around $150-200.
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cnall

cnall

Member
I don't know your tank size or if you are looking for a hang on, but I just bought a CPR Bak-Pak (about a month ago) for my 55G and have been extremely happy with it.
 
cjdjok

cjdjok

New Member
Not to hijack your thread but I have a 90 gal and am here to see what skimmer you recomend I was looking at an AquaC Remora Pro Hang-On Protein Skimmer w/ Drain Fitting + Rio 1400UL Pump. Any comments
 
joncat24

joncat24

Active Member
depending on your bioload and whether or not you are doing a reef or fowlr, the ss220 is a good reasonably priced skimmer. I had one on my 180 and I loved it, but it just couldn't keep up with the load.
I would spend a little more now and save some headache down the road.
I just got a etss reef devil and it is awesome. The octopus skimmers are also rated very highly and don't cost much more than the coralife. The mrc skimmers are incredible too, they are way too pricey for me though.
the reef devil is 289 with pump
and you can get a good octopus for 200-250
Just my opinion
 
ncoastconstceo

ncoastconstceo

Member
I have a 180g Reef satup with a 55g fuge. I have the SS220 and it works great. You can pick them up for about 142.00 online. Well worth the money
 
snapperboy

snapperboy

Member
I've got the berlin XL turbo running with a quiet one 1000 gph pump. I got this for free from a friend who bought a commercial skimmer. He swore by it, and i gotta say, it pulls out a lot of poopie! I have the drain line going to a 2.5g bucket that requires dumping once a week. I also clean out the sludge in the cup at this time. I've seen comments here and there about them not being a good skimmer, i can't figure out why :thinking: I can testify that my 125 with 40g sump/refuge hasn't yet seen trates/amm/nitri since the cycle. I have 3x 4-5" tangs and a same size angel, plus 6 smaller fish. I believe a lot of the success i've had has to do with the skimmer, and the refuge. oh ya .. LR, snails, dsb, water flow help a little too
anyway, If i were buying a skimmer based on price/tank rating, I'd go with this one or the prism deluxe skimmer. I don't know anything about the other but it looks like it functions pretty much the same way they all do.
 
kanicky

kanicky

Member
We have a 45 with the Coralife Super Skimmer and we have been very happy with it this past month since we set it up. It was a tad difficult to get the micro bubbles "just right" but after that, we had no more issues. We empty the cup once a week, although we probably could wait longer, but might as well get it out of the way

I have heard that the Aqua C Remora Pro and the Octopus are very highly rated, so you could go with any of these three, and I think you'd be pleased.
 
wyvern

wyvern

Member
Originally Posted by joncat24
depending on your bioload and whether or not you are doing a reef or fowlr, the ss220 is a good reasonably priced skimmer. I had one on my 180 and I loved it, but it just couldn't keep up with the load.
I would spend a little more now and save some headache down the road.
I just got a etss reef devil and it is awesome. The octopus skimmers are also rated very highly and don't cost much more than the coralife. The mrc skimmers are incredible too, they are way too pricey for me though.
the reef devil is 289 with pump
and you can get a good octopus for 200-250
Just my opinion

Hey joncat24,
I'm looking to get the reef devil. $289 seems to be a good price. :thinking: Where did you get it from? If you need to e-mail it's hferg3@hotmail.com
Thanks alot!!
 
stanlalee

stanlalee

Active Member

Originally Posted by discusdick
until someone told me they were very hard to adjust. So now I am looking at a Coralife Super Skimmer. Any comments? Or are there sill better ones for around $150-200.
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well thats not exactly coralifes strong selling point if thats the only reason you are considering a different brand.
 
shiveley

shiveley

New Member
If you get the Remora, go with the MJ1200 pump, and not the Rio. You'll be happy you did. The MJ is more efficient, quieter, runs cooler, and is more reliable.
 
cjml

cjml

Member
How would you know if your skimmer was not doing the best it could for your tank? Would it be increased algea, or nitrates or cloudy water etc...Thanks! :happyfish
 
aztec reef

aztec reef

Active Member
if you're not emtying the collection cup once or twice a week then it's not doing it's best. also it depends on what else you have for filtration and how big bioload is..the fact is that is hard to tell because no set-up is exactly the same..
 
stanlalee

stanlalee

Active Member
you cant tell by the amount of skimate production which is a function of bioload and dry/wet skimming as much as it is of effective skimming (with my bioload I have to empty my cup every few days). if you are able to keep nitrates and phospates where you want them (which is zero for me might be 20ppm and 0.5ppm for someone with an aggressive tank) without excessive maintainence (water changes) its safe to assume your skimmer is effective enough. at some point after several months the amount of algae your tank produces should be predictable and consistant, I wouldn't corelate it directly or completely with skimmer function.
this is why I always thought it was silly of people to tell me I should have upgraded my seaclone on my 30g when I had zero nitrates and a thriving system. once something is working as well as you want it to dont worry about "if" something could be better. that same philosophy keeps me not divorced too.
 
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