How Much Protien Skimmer do I really Need?

W

wildara

New member
The purpose of this thread is to discuss how much protein skimmer do you really need?

I mean Really!!!

I have a 400 gallon Reef system.
Two sumps 30 gallons of water each
One of them is a refugium with deep sand bed and caulerpa.
The other houses my Korallin sulphur based denitrator, works great Nitrates always undetectable.
Have a reactor for both Granualr Ferric Oxide and Carbon, Phosphates undetectable.
Dose two part.
Have a Dolphin Ampmaster 3000 for filter and Iwaki 70 RLT for my closed system, Hooked to a SCWD current switches every 45 seconds so far so good.
oh yeah did I mention I have about 1000lbs of live rock too.

I started the system with a ASM G4, most would say this is underkill for this system.
I also dose ozone 25MG per hour I think into the skimmer.

Got board and needed something new and special. Ahha how about a Reeflo Orca way big and kool. Loud compared to the ASM but, did I say kool. Have had this monster for about 2years now. By the way you cannot dose ozone through it. Reeflo told me not to but, hey I no better it's not like they built the thing or anything like that, oh yeah they did.

Impeller started rattling and the pump overheated and quit. P.S don't dose Ozone through your Orca, I'm an idiot.

Reality check!

I get identical production from each skimmer in both quality and quantity. What I mean is I get about 8-10 oz a day from each skimmer of aprox the same consistancy and wonderful aroma from each skimmer.

I wish I had more time I could reall do some qualitative measurements then. But seriously folks I spent two weeks measuring each skimmer and they both averaged the same output.

By the way I have a 4 yearold and a set of twins 19 months old, I have no time I'm just reef crazy. You could say I have Reefer madness,ALLusion to a 1960's anti drug movie for those who don't remember and no I don't smoke pot I just love my fish tank.

This is my brain on Reeftank.

What I am thinking is that with all the other filtration I have, my system eliminates much of the waste and there is only so much for the skimmer to do. I mean a skimmer is removing Dissolved Organic Content before it breaks down into Nitrate, rite.

So really how much skimmer do I really need?

I know you cannot overskim but the Orca is loud and the ASM is just not.

My Orca now resides in my garage. It's just too beautiful to sit there but, isn't there something to be said for efficiency, Being green save the planet and all that goo. It's hard for me to let it just rott in my garage, thats where everthing in my goes to die, You know the garage then the landfill not very Green.

Am I missing something?

Could my theory be rite?

I like all the new territory that my Orca vacated under my tank.

My living room is almost serene now you can barely here the Iwaki sounds like a vacum cleaner on th otherside of the house, well thats not so sarene.

But, the Orca, I don't really clean it the way I should because it is not as easy as the ASM. It's loud comparatively speaking.

What am I missing?

Should I put it back? The Orca I mean.

Or maybe it's just not big enough.

Maybe Just I need a bigger better skimmer.

The highest stack I have had on a protein skimmer is 32 inches. There is a Barr AquATICS 5000 SERIES 48" Beckett injected monster on Ebay. My face is twitching uncontrollably rite now. I kinda feel like doctor evil from Austin Powers, or they way I think Dr Evil would feel.

So now the question is stick with my ASM G-4, hook back up my Reeflo Orca or shift into overdrive and put the skimmer outside my tank, Wife will love that, she's already jealous of my tank. I have a Reeflo Hammerhead sitting around I could use that to drive it with and get a second Beckett injector.

One of these days I am going to vaporize my tank.

What to do?

Looking forward to the feed back.
 
IMHO buy the biggest protien skimmer you can afford. I use euro-reef cause it's so easy to clean them. I have a Euro-reef CS 12-2 for my tank now. before that I had a euro-reef CS8-3 and before that I had a Euro-reef Cs6-2+. Like I said i find them the easiest to clean and are great quality. Pricey on the other hand though.

Thanks
Erick
 
I read something someone posted here not long ago (if I knew who it was, I would give him/her props) don't buy the best you can afford, save till you can buy the best or you will just be buying again later on. A skimmer falls into this category I think, buy the best and biggest you can fit into your system.
 
My opinion - it really depends on your load. If you keep a massive amount of fish that crap all over the place, then yeah - I would say get a great big expensive skimmer. If you keep a few small fish in that large tank, I'm sure the bio-filter would handle that just fine and you may not need a skimmer at all. Water changes bring on another factor. I would assume that since your tank is large, decent water changes are few an far between, so that leads me back to a moderate skimmer. What kind of corals - all SPS? LPS? softies? Mixed reef? Skimmer size and fanciness depend on that stuff too. I see you're running ozone - or were. Skimmer is required - must be cast acrylic or you'll buy another one soon enough. Cast acrylic skimmers are typically "fancier" than extruded ones.

IMO - there's way too many factors involved for anyone to say - get the biggest, baddest skimmer you can afford. If that was the case, everyone would be strip mining the nutrients out of nano tanks with a bubble king....

Sort through your issues of what it needs to do then base your decision on that.
 
In the old days, it wasn't uncommon to see people using oversized venturi skimmers on tanks.

Now that we have super efficient needle/mesh wheel skimmers, people who are significantly oversizing their skimmers are finding out that they don't work as well as they do when they're appropriately sized.

I would consider sticking with the ASM G-4 since you already have it and it performs well.

You have to be careful about oversizing your skimmer when using a good mesh/needle set-up because the foam head can become destabilized due to there not being enough organics to feed the skimmer at any given time. Many people have experienced this with the latest/greatest cone skimmers.

If you're really itching to buy something new, then consider an ATB 1050, or something similar. Efficient and quiet.
 
My opinion is probably not in line with most reefers here but I actually use very little skimming, about 3hrs/day, thinking about reducing it even further. I harvest microalgae in the fuge once every 2 wks, clean the skimmer cup once every month for nutrient export. My acroporas, LPS, including some of the very hard to keep are thriving so I don't know why I have to get a big skimmer for.
 
I would say pick up as big as your budget will allow for what will fit. I thought the Vertex in100 would be too big for my 40g breeder so I debated about getting the in80 but I liked that the 100 was larger in diameter. Both used the same pump so i figured the 1oo was better.
 
I've recently been considering a skimmer upgrade. I currently run a modded coralife 220. If I doubled up on this skimmer and ran two of them, would that be as beneficial as upgrading to a single 'better' skimmer?
 
littlebigaj said:
I've recently been considering a skimmer upgrade. I currently run a modded coralife 220. If I doubled up on this skimmer and ran two of them, would that be as beneficial as upgrading to a single 'better' skimmer?
Click to expand...


No. Get a real skimmer and never look back.
 
I love my ASM. In a lightly to moderatly stocked system, with proper nutrient export they work great. However, if I had the money for the new skimmer I would get a MSX or Octopus Extreme.

I really depends on your system.
 
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