Have also found can't just use any balls Gary supplies balls that have points on the edges. Just seems to be a little problem finding Gary these days. Urgh
Nano, the sump buddy 40 is the smallest and it's really hard to find right now with ETSS in an ownership change of direction. Great skimmers hope they become available on the retail market again.
Its all about the Pump with these skimmers and matching the appropriate amount of Bio Balls. Please note that on my SB40 I replace the Bio Balls once a year. The pump that you are talking about I would put on par with say the Mag 9.5 that I received from Gary with my new SB40 Gary had put 6 of the small (1 inch) bio balls to match that pump. After a few days of running the SB40 with that skimmer I just wasn't happy with the results. The skimmer built foam up but I was used to my 600 skimmer running a HP 40 Iwakie pump so this was a disappointment. Had an external HP 30 Iwakie pump and kept the same 6 bio balls and installed it and that SB40 just spits out the junk. I can fill a milk carton every week on my 100 gallon tank only running the skimmer 8 hours a day. Keep in mind these skimmers really run best with HP pumps and they are dialed in best with what is know as a wet foam. Your skimmer will work fine with your pump and 6 bio balls but if you can get a HP external 30 pump and watch it rock. The problem with putting a bigger internal pump to drive this skimmer is the heat that is generated.
Hey all, I am setting up a new 110g tank with a SB40. I got it almost new with the aquarium I got but I need to know about how many bio balls to use. The little info I get can get online is confusing. I received 11 mini balls with it but the guy I got it from was vague about it. He just said he ran it just a little to see how it worked then went back to an old skimmer he had. Any pointers on setting this up. Online it says 2-4 large balls or 4-6 mini. Then another place it says 8-10m mini. I am going to be using a dc pump advertised at 3000lph (825gph). It probably is a bit weaker than that.