i need a new skimmer, i have no sump, is HOB the only way or is there another?

[lilleahseafreak]

i have a 70 gallon that i just upgraded to (used to have 3 smaller tanks), i have my 2 old seaclone skimmers from 2 of my other tanks on there but they are underated and its starting to show.

i was wondering if there was maybe another kind of skimmer than in sump and HOB. see the tank has a canister filter that goes under the tank and i was wondering if there were any skimmers that work with the same idea of pulling water from the tank and pushing it back in from a large unit under the tank. (or is there a way to make a in sump skimmer work like that?)

i have never seen such a unit.
i get a feeling HOB is the only way to go as i have no sump. if so then what do you recomend that can do alot of skimming and do so without alot of noise.

my tank is overstocked and i know from the past that i can get away with it IF i have a good skimmer (kept a hawkfish, 2 clowns, a blenny, 3 shrimps, 2 damsels and a royal gramma in a 23 gallon with corals including a SPS pavona for a year and a half with no problems!!!!they are now all in my 70 gallon along with another damsel, a pj cardinal, a coral beauty, 2 more shrimp, a watchman goby and a fairy wrasse from my other tanks....yeah lots of fish, and i am considering removing a few)


i have never had a sump and the idea of having one kinda scares me as i am the kind of person who tends to get water EVERYWHERE when i do the simplest thing (luckily mt tanks were on cement floors for the first 2 years before being in a nice room with a nice floor, as my equipment had many leaks and many problems at first)

 

[sjm817]

There is also the Tunze DOC which is an "in tank" skimmer. It is small and doesn't take up a lot of space.

 

[pjf]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9146659#post9146659 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sjm817
There is also the Tunze DOC which is an "in tank" skimmer. It is small and doesn't take up a lot of space.

I second sjm817's suggestion. I have a Tunze 9010 skimmer that can be used in an aquarium and would be no more intrusive than an overflow. Should you change your mind about a sump in the future, you can reconfigure it to go inside the sump. It is quiet and collects a cup of wet skim daily from my heavily loaded system.

 

[Henry Bowman]

The Tunze DOC skimmers are great....I agee with the above.

 

[Sk8r]

If it were my new tank, I'd get a 20-40 gallon sump and a HOB downflow, ditch the under cabinet filter totally, and get 140 lbs of good live rock...ditching the filter would give you room, perhaps, for a good freestanding [non-sump] skimmer, and you'd have a firstrate system capable of sustaining most anything.

Don't be scared of sumps. They're kind of magical: you get the right return pump, that can push water back up as fast as it falls down into your sump, and you're golden. But here's the trick: you set the water level in your sump by filling with power OFF, so you don't overfill your sump. You give yourself an inch or two from the top rim----having a friend serve as human periscope during setting the level helps---and that way even if the power fails, your sump simply cannot over flow, because the water level in the tank above will drop and automatically break the siphon to the overflow before the sump level overflows down below. You just never exceed that fill-line in the sump and you're ok forever.

 

[Tommy Tang]

Tunze Doc skimer

 

[kodyboy]

I have been using a typhoon HOB from D&D marine with great success, for $68 it is great (drfosters).
I also use a tunze 9010, a much better (but more expensive unit). It would be awesome.