I have read post, researched with vendors, gone to stores and talked to friends about skimmers and can't decide what to buy.
Start with my tank: 90 gallon aga with 30 gallon sump (10" deep sump fixed water level with topoff)
Medium stocked with fish(7), tons of other life(snails, starfish, crabs, micro fauna, etc) getting overgrown with mixed corals over the years, been going 7-8 years. 4-6" deep sand bed and lots of coraline covered live rock. Lots of water flow and a wavebox that moves everything to the sump for the skimmer to process. Large filter sock changed weekly, skimmer cleaned once a week at same time. Tank has been working great for years.
Skimmers I have owned:
Aqua-c urchin pro
Aqua-c ev-120
ASM g3
MSX/SWC xtreme 200 - Current skimmer works good, but not great
I'm getting tired of messing with sicce pump. Broke ceramic shaft, replaced with hobby store carbon fiber rod that works. Have used lg ppw(broke), mesh, stock pinwheels, all worked ok, but not great. Start up issues more and more as pump gets older(1.5-2 yrs old). Loud, moody, vibrating, hates to be cleaned, pain to open(even with special tool-1.5" pvc tee cut to fit grooves). All that said about sicce pump - when it's working the thing is great at making bubbles. Rather than spend $110+ to replace, I'd like to try a new skimmer.
Past skimmer experience makes me want a few things.
Good construction. Quiet operation(not silent but ya know).
Deeper water level operation - Had a bad experience with eggcrate skimmer stand tipping over/breaking pouring skimmate in stand. Really ****ed off my wife cuz house stunk. Been using drip tray out of old wet/dry filter that gives me 1.75" lift so my current skimmer sits in 8.25" water depth. I can build a larger skimmer stand if I need to, but it also makes it hard to remove cup if it's on a 4" stand. Why haven't skimmer manufacturers figured out how to incorporate adjustable base to raise skimmer to working height? They have to look/work better than the ghetto rigs we're putting our beautifully built skimmers onto. But I digress.
Disclaimer - I am not trying to bash any of these products or want to have arguments about the information and opinions expressed, just want to find a product I WANT TO BUY FOR MY SYSTEM
Skimmers I have been looking at:
SWC Xtreme 160 Cone
Like build of my current swc 200, so I know it will be nice.
Don't have any experience or have never seen atman pumps. Look cheap but functional. Worried about mesh/needlewheel durability. Love the small footprint with pump inside. Good that it works in deeper sump depth of 8-9". Great price at under $300.
Octopus SRO 2000 or XP 2000
Played with one (XP 2000) at local store, bb pump is big, impressive, nice pinwheel, but really worried it will be too loud/humm/vibration/etc. Not good that it works in shallower depth at 6-7". Good price at $350-$400.
I-tech 100 or 200
No experience but fantastic reviews. Main thing that I keeps bringing them up to me is Tunze Hydrofoamer Silence Pump. I love the Tunze pumps I have (2 x 6085's and nano wavebox). Wish there was more information on these pumps and skimmers, have read all the forums and reviews I could find and talked to store briefly. They suggested the 100 model with 9410 tunze pump for my size system. Not good that it works in shallower depth at 6-7". Little higher price at $500-$650.
These are the main skimmers I'd buy at this point. Lots of other higher priced models I'd like but probably won't spend the money.
Please give me any information about the above skimmers you can - Id like to hear what you like and mostly what you dislike or wish they had built better before I buy.
Thx,
Matt
Start with my tank: 90 gallon aga with 30 gallon sump (10" deep sump fixed water level with topoff)
Medium stocked with fish(7), tons of other life(snails, starfish, crabs, micro fauna, etc) getting overgrown with mixed corals over the years, been going 7-8 years. 4-6" deep sand bed and lots of coraline covered live rock. Lots of water flow and a wavebox that moves everything to the sump for the skimmer to process. Large filter sock changed weekly, skimmer cleaned once a week at same time. Tank has been working great for years.
Skimmers I have owned:
Aqua-c urchin pro
Aqua-c ev-120
ASM g3
MSX/SWC xtreme 200 - Current skimmer works good, but not great
I'm getting tired of messing with sicce pump. Broke ceramic shaft, replaced with hobby store carbon fiber rod that works. Have used lg ppw(broke), mesh, stock pinwheels, all worked ok, but not great. Start up issues more and more as pump gets older(1.5-2 yrs old). Loud, moody, vibrating, hates to be cleaned, pain to open(even with special tool-1.5" pvc tee cut to fit grooves). All that said about sicce pump - when it's working the thing is great at making bubbles. Rather than spend $110+ to replace, I'd like to try a new skimmer.
Past skimmer experience makes me want a few things.
Good construction. Quiet operation(not silent but ya know).
Deeper water level operation - Had a bad experience with eggcrate skimmer stand tipping over/breaking pouring skimmate in stand. Really ****ed off my wife cuz house stunk. Been using drip tray out of old wet/dry filter that gives me 1.75" lift so my current skimmer sits in 8.25" water depth. I can build a larger skimmer stand if I need to, but it also makes it hard to remove cup if it's on a 4" stand. Why haven't skimmer manufacturers figured out how to incorporate adjustable base to raise skimmer to working height? They have to look/work better than the ghetto rigs we're putting our beautifully built skimmers onto. But I digress.
Disclaimer - I am not trying to bash any of these products or want to have arguments about the information and opinions expressed, just want to find a product I WANT TO BUY FOR MY SYSTEM
Skimmers I have been looking at:
SWC Xtreme 160 Cone
Like build of my current swc 200, so I know it will be nice.
Don't have any experience or have never seen atman pumps. Look cheap but functional. Worried about mesh/needlewheel durability. Love the small footprint with pump inside. Good that it works in deeper sump depth of 8-9". Great price at under $300.
Octopus SRO 2000 or XP 2000
Played with one (XP 2000) at local store, bb pump is big, impressive, nice pinwheel, but really worried it will be too loud/humm/vibration/etc. Not good that it works in shallower depth at 6-7". Good price at $350-$400.
I-tech 100 or 200
No experience but fantastic reviews. Main thing that I keeps bringing them up to me is Tunze Hydrofoamer Silence Pump. I love the Tunze pumps I have (2 x 6085's and nano wavebox). Wish there was more information on these pumps and skimmers, have read all the forums and reviews I could find and talked to store briefly. They suggested the 100 model with 9410 tunze pump for my size system. Not good that it works in shallower depth at 6-7". Little higher price at $500-$650.
These are the main skimmers I'd buy at this point. Lots of other higher priced models I'd like but probably won't spend the money.
Please give me any information about the above skimmers you can - Id like to hear what you like and mostly what you dislike or wish they had built better before I buy.
Thx,
Matt
