I hate protein skimmers.

[daytonben]

Hate them? Oh yes! HATE them.

I am in the process of constructing my 200 gallon reef. It's a shallow tank and I am going with a pair of refugiums + protein skimmer as the main filtration process. Still toying with the logistics of including an algae turf scrubber in my alotted space, but let's leave that off the table for now.

This post is about the confounding choices presented by the skimmer market.

It's a decent sized tank and I want something as effective as I can get, regardless of the cost. The one guiding factor for me is the monthly electric bill. I can front the cost of the skimmer just fine, but I run into a real problem when my wife sees the electric bill double, lol. No getting around that.

So! I'm stuck in skimmer hell.
1. Build my own Beckett-Injector? That requires a pump that pushes 40$ a month in juice, or so.
2. Fork out 1000-2000$ for a cone skimmer that still requires a sizable pump...
3. Enter the crazy world of recirculating meshwheel "I did this mod to make it actually work" skimmer. Saves on electricity a good bit.

(Forgive my snarkiness. I've gone blind reading forums on skimmers and still have no clue what to buy.)

It would seem that I need to learn more about recirc / needle-mesh wheel skimmers. I don't know what model works better or worse. I don't know which pumps are more or less dependable and can be modded. Anyone out there with info on these, it would be greatly appreciated.

I think I may turn this post into a $-spent-per-month-to-run post about the skimmer options out there. At any rate, more research and info coming here.

btw, did I mention that I hate protein skimmers now?
-thx for listening.

 

[syrinx]

The most important thing we should know- what are you planning on keeping? That makes a big diff in what might be suggested. Also bear in mind that a lot of very nice tanks existed before any of the skimmers you mention were designed.

 

[daytonben]

*nod*

I know that there are a lot of good skimmers out there. I was a AquaC fan for a long time. In my recent search it seemed like the 3 types battling it out for superiority were: Beckett-injection, Cone-styles with bubble plates, and Recirc with pump mods.

As far as my tank specifics: DT wil be 24" deep x 18" tall x 96" long. 2- Vortech Mp40's mounted one on each end, 5' Chaeto fuge below the tank, Mangrove fuge in the fish room, sump with calc reactor, skimmer, return pump.

I plan on keeping a mixed reef with a medium bio load of smaller fish. Anemone's, zoas, and ricordia mostly. I tend to stay away from LPS and soft corals. I may have a clam or 2. Lots of inverts. I may possibly mess with SPS eventually, but my focus at first is going to be anemone's and polyps. Clowns will most likely be the largest fish I keep with the possible acception of one angel down the road.

Lighting is going to be LED boosted with T5 and I am not going to run a chiller.

 

[ChuckLawson]

At the risk of suggesting something fairly far off the beaten path, I'm running a Tunze 9015 on my 210.

There are undoubtedly skimmers that outskim it, but it produces a pretty prodigious amount of skimmate with virtually zero maintenance (about all I do is dump the waste container; I clean the collection head (think "cup", except it pipes directly to the container) about once a week, or whenever I can't stand to look at it any more, but it doesn't make any difference if it goes several weeks.)

I never have to fiddle with it to keep it producing, it could care less about the water level in the sump, it sips 21 watts of electricity, and it's pretty cheap compared to some of the newer high-end skimmers.

 

[daytonben]

No, I don't mind any solution to the problem.

I'ma go check them out.
I know Tunze to be a great company.

 

[boz151]

I had the same concerns you did about electricity etc. I really like the Aqua-Medic Baby skimmer. I have it fed off of my return pump so I have cut out the electricity required for the feed pump, and it runs on an Oceanrunner 3700 which uses 65w. It's been up an running about a month now, and it has been great. Some on here might not like the skimmer but I think it's great. 4' of contact time for the chamber and pretty small power consumption in my opinion.

 

[BigJay]

Most of the pinwheel cone skimmers use smaller powerheads that pull maybe 30-40 watts (sicces, tunze, red dragon). That's not a whole lot of juice, more like a few dollars per month.

I'd be more worried about your lighting, heating/cooling, and return pump for electric usage.

 

[THE ROOK]

An MSX-250 would get you going and only cost around $400.00. Plus if decide to upgrade the resale is very good. They don't last much more than a couple of days in the used forum.

 

[sjm817]

If electricity is a concern, you can get many reliable NW based skimmers that use less than 50W that would skim a 200G tank very well.

 

[Peter Eichler]

There are plenty of great cone skimmers out now that are $1000 and under, run with needle wheels, will handle a system your size, and use very efficient pumps such as Sicce's. Royal-Exclusiv Alpha 250, MSX1S, MSX2S and ATB 1050 just to name some. Also, like mentioned, the MSX200 and 250 are pretty killer skimmers and can handle a system your size with little issue for <$400.

 

[GSMguy]

The cones using sizeable pumps, which ones? All the cones I know of run 16-43w FWIW a recirc skimmer won't use less energy.

 

[moondoggy4]

Chasing skimmers is like going down a rabbit hole with countless turns you will get lost before making a decision. So set a price, decide which type; becket, pin wheel, rec. and then make your decision or you could be shopping for a year.

 

[95accord]

just buy a Tunze skimmer......energy efficient.....quiet.....pull alot of gunk out of the water and are always a good bang for buck. (and wont run up your electric bill too much IMO)

 

[Marinworld]

I Hate Protein Skimmers

I Hate Protein Skimmers

Daytonben,

I have been in the Marine Aquarium business for, 43+ years. Running a successful Retail shop, along with a wholesale livestock importing business, as well as a aquarium servicing company. I imported livestock from all over the world, and supplied many successful retail stores around the country. Along with this operation I imported Protein Skimmers from Germany going back to 1966. I have sold, used, and installed most every design principle of a skimmer that has been made. I am simply amazed at the inflated prices that this device has been driven up to.

I can remember the time when skimmers were simply a plastic tube, with a collection cup, and a wooden airstone. THEY WORKED! Likewise the latest designs with needle wheels, bubble plates, cone shapes, etc., THEY WORK.

The question arises, IMO, when do you reach a price point that is ridiculous? Ridiculous in relation to just how much this ONE devise can accomplish. I know of no one that has ever really done a controlled, side by side comparison of the various designs. That certainly would be the way to prove what design is superior. One would have to use each design on a control tank, for a given period of time. As well as somehow have conditions stay the same for that period, that particular design was used. The winner would most likely have to be the design that produced the richest skimmate. Now the problem.

As you all know, there are so many variables that can change the output of a skimmer, that it would be very difficult to draw an accurate conclusion.

What I'm saying is, don't be duped to buying on price alone. That $2,000.00 skimmer may not really perform that much better than that $200.00 model.

Doing proper maintenance, proper feeding , etc., can be just as important as spending mega money on a handmade, cellcast acrylic skimmer, imported from overseas.

Open to members comments.

Good Luck,
Don

 

[daytonben]

You know, I think that is it EXACTLY. There is no real way to imperically judge one skimmer vs. another due to the myriad factors that can fluctuate and effect skimmate production and quality.

I think this is the reason that the skimmer world seems much more like religion than science.

We all have our favorites and just have to go with personal belief or trial and error.

Personally, I am looking deeper into Recirc vs Cones right now.
In the end, I think I am going to say the hell with it and pick the prettiest one that matches the colors in my fish room.

I went to Kinko's this morning with the MarthaStuart color catalog and had them condense the thing into a perfect circle with pie shaped divisions. I am going home and attaching it to my dartboard... blindfolding myself, spinning in a circle 3 times, and tossing the DART OF SKIMMER DESTINY.

Whatever color we get, that's the color of the fish room. Whatever skimmer matches that, gets to come home with me.

Thank you all for your participation in my decision! I will be posting pics of the aforementioned dartboard and color choice as soon as the room stops spinning and the blindfold comes off.


**edit** Pray I don't hit Red, cause BubbleKing is $$

 

[Marinworld]

Daytonben:

I like that answer!!! You are definitely a REALIST. The hype about skimmers has, IMO gotten completely out of control.

Bet you could set up your system, use 2-3 different brands of skimmers, and still be successful, providing you use good judgement with your maintenance routines and feeding regimen.

So.................toss that dart. Hope it lands on a nice color.

Regards,
Don

 

[daytonben]

Ok, well damn.

I hit pink (and closer to red than white), and definitely don't want to fork out 2000$ for a BK.

So I'm thinkin ... I am proficient with most any DIY item and have custom built tanks and sumps for years. Never ever messed with a skimmer though.

But really, how different can it be? It's made of the same stuff as all good things. Inert plastics, some solvent, a little cut here, a little sanding there... toss in an inordinant amount of yelling and voila, SKIMMER!

So, I wanna make a Cone-shaped skimmer powered by a meshwheel pump of some sort. Gonna use a bubble plate to control the turbulence in the riser.

The thing that I don't know about -at all- is sizes and scale. Like, yeah.. no idea on what pump needs xyz chamber or height or any of that.

Is there a place that anyone knows about that supplies dimensions or blueprints for something like I am talking about building? Really if someone from the BK or Vertex factory could just secretly chime in here with a schematic or two that would really make my week.

lol, well wish me luck as I investigate design and look for a blueprint that is legible.

 

[j tavares]

I agree totally with you it is like having the latest skimmer at great expense usually is now it seems more important than the tank or livestock. I use to have sanders air driven skimmers for yrs then got caught up in the hype and soon realized most of the newer skimmers did not perform as well as they were hyped to and I lost my money and stopped enjoying this great hobby, so I went back to basics and my tanks look better than they ever did . My opinion cosider not getting caught uo in the hype.

 

[kc350twin]

Check the I-techs out. They are a economical choice and many of the people that use them love them.

I also saw on there someone posted a acrylic supplier that makes the cones that look exactly like them.

Food for thought.

 

[tufacody]

"You know, I think that is it EXACTLY. There is no real way to imperically judge one skimmer vs. another due to the myriad factors that can fluctuate and effect skimmate production and quality."


Sure there is. Put one against the other in the same sump.