Skimmer ratings

[kris]

Since alot of people are wondering which is best before they blow a whole bunch of money, I'm asking everyone to rate their skimmer--base it on
ease of assembly and mainteance, cost, effectiveness (do you notice it pulling out lots of stuff) Also add a note if your model required purchase of other stuff to make it run like a pump) Alot of us are in the market and would REALLY appreciate your input here. Thanks

 

[jakob4001]

we have been using the sea clone for the 135 for the past few months or so & it has done it's job well enough even though it was rated for smaller tank & all the problems that were stated w/ this brand/model...I guess we got lucky w/ petwarehouse having only the newer models w/o the existing problems of the old ones...it came w/ everything it needed...about the only maintenance done most on it is clean the prefilter & occassionally the main chamber...the pump is quiet & the waste chamber is large enough & best of all it was only about $70 w/ the S&H; we learned not to by skimmer locally as LFS seem to at least double the price

 

[lordofthereef]

my berlin turbo (in-sump) is a breeze to operate and clean. all the parts come apart, including the tubes inside of it. the pump can't ever be heard. the collection cup is huge, but that dosen't even matter since there is a fitting with a tube attached, so it just drains into a bucket. the price is fair (around 200 dollars for the sump model). and it sucks junk like i've never seen junk sucked before.

 

[dcsg]

I have the ETSS 800 and an Aqua C 180, both work great. The ETSS 800 is on a 200 gallon and the Aqua c 180 on a 150. The difference between the two is the ETSS is more powerful but energy cost is a minus. The Aqua c 180 is a little easier to clean and adjust and costs less to operate but I think IMO the ETSS 800 is a better skimmer in respect to the job of skimming. You could not go wrong with either.