Protein Skimmer

[mhenning]

I am looking to start a 50 gallon reef tank with some soft corals in the future. This will be my first SW, but have a lot of experience with FW tanks. I understand the basics of the amonia,nitrite,nitrate cycle. I am trying to determine what equipment I should get. After reading this forum, I have come to accept that I should use a decent protein skimmer. I will also setup a refuge. Should I put the skimmer before, or after the refuge? Also what skimmer should I get for this size tank? It seems like I should underskim a bit, as I do not want to remove anything beneficial floating around in my tank. Any suggestions?

 

[acrylic51]

Put it before the fuge.....You don't want your fuge water running through your skimmer.....Skimmers are really effective when drawing raw tank water

 

[mhenning]

Thanks, That makes sense. Do you have any suggestions on skimmers? I found a pinwheel skimmer for around 80 bucks, and some air-driven skimmers for around 20 or so. I heard that the pinwheel types require little to no maint. and the air driven ones just require periodic air-stone replacement. I would not mind replacing the air stone twice a year or something and would like to save the money, any suggestions on a type or brand of skimmer?

 

[acrylic51]

ASM or GEO skimmer line would be good

 

[sleeper]

Euroreef is a solid piece of skimmerhood.

 

[acrylic51]

Yeah, but why pay for material, when you can get same quality of skimming power from ASM???? Doesn't make much sense....They don't skim any better, and GEO's are better made than both of them, and have a problem with your EuroReef and see why type of customer service you get???

 

[sleeper]

You're actually probably right acrylic, mine was bequethed to me, so to speak, and it's unquestionably high quality, but I'm sure if I'd had to pay (full price) for it, I might have gone ASM.