Cone skimmers
- Thread starter gaucho30
- Start date
tufacody
New member
I have an SWC cone (askoll) and I have to say it is the best skimmer I have ever had or seen. I am thrilled with it. I have used everything over the years, from airstones to venturi to beckett, and this skimmer rocks them all at a fraction of the electrical cost.
The expense is a combination of things you mentioned. They are hot right now, so yea they are getting a premium price. However that is changing fast, and there are already some very affordable cone options. Fabrication costs are almost always absorbed in the first few generations of a new product. They will continue to drop in price.
As for whether the performance increase v. cost increase is there, that is highly debatable and subjective. It also can't be answered fully without have a good idea of what your bioload is. Many systems work just fine with traditional skimmers because there isn't enough bioload to begin with. If your traditional skimmer is pulling out all of "x" amount already, then a cone might not show any improvement.
However, in my case, my jaw hit the ground when I say how much MORE gunk the cone was pulling, and how fast it did it. I went from emptying about a cups worth of gunk every week to emptying about 4 cups of much darker gunk every week.
Its also hard to put a price on effectiveness in this hobby. Sometimes this argument brings up car analogies. I never bought those comparisons, because we are talking about the health of these animals which we have spent huge $$$ on, and frankly have fallen in love with - not whether we can get to the supermarket or not. There is a utility here which exceeds the practical. For many people, spending a lot more for a slightly better product doesn't equate with economics, it equates with love for our animals, and that alone justifies it.
The expense is a combination of things you mentioned. They are hot right now, so yea they are getting a premium price. However that is changing fast, and there are already some very affordable cone options. Fabrication costs are almost always absorbed in the first few generations of a new product. They will continue to drop in price.
As for whether the performance increase v. cost increase is there, that is highly debatable and subjective. It also can't be answered fully without have a good idea of what your bioload is. Many systems work just fine with traditional skimmers because there isn't enough bioload to begin with. If your traditional skimmer is pulling out all of "x" amount already, then a cone might not show any improvement.
However, in my case, my jaw hit the ground when I say how much MORE gunk the cone was pulling, and how fast it did it. I went from emptying about a cups worth of gunk every week to emptying about 4 cups of much darker gunk every week.
Its also hard to put a price on effectiveness in this hobby. Sometimes this argument brings up car analogies. I never bought those comparisons, because we are talking about the health of these animals which we have spent huge $$$ on, and frankly have fallen in love with - not whether we can get to the supermarket or not. There is a utility here which exceeds the practical. For many people, spending a lot more for a slightly better product doesn't equate with economics, it equates with love for our animals, and that alone justifies it.
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