I want advice on a new skimmer

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spscoral

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Hey I have an eighty gallon with a limited budget. I have a pretty heavy bioload. I broke my old skimmer so I want advice...
Thanks
spscoral
Happy copopoding

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I want weird stuff for my reef.
Email me if you have any.
 
I know they get a lot of criticitzm (spelling?lol) on this board on other; but I have had a Seaclone Protein skimmer for a few months and it has done a great job for me.. Pulls out ALOT of green and brown stinky liquid. I have a 55 gallon and use it as a hang on but it can be used in the sump. I got mine for $69 from Pets Warehouse... The bioload I have is put out by my yellow tang, 2 false percula clownfish,bahama starfish, and hermit crab I know not much but that skimmer pulls out alot of "gunk" .... hope that helped some.. hotkyprep1@aol.com
 
Actually, if you are going to spend $69 on a Seaclone, go ahead a spend a couple more bucks and get a CPR backpack. Much better skimmer. Seaclones work well on very small tanks. Matter of fact, its a night & day difference in performance between an 80 and a 55.

If your budget is a little higher, check out the ETS's or Turbofloaters. These are really the skimmers you want to be looking at for that size tank.

Cheers
Dave

[This message has been edited by Scooby Doo (edited 11-27-1999).]
 
Do you have a sump? If not you are limited and what $$ range are you looking at? What is the bio-load fish or inverts? Fish = high waste bio-load and inverts= not that bad. With a high fish load I wouldn't skimp on a good skimmer. Might be able to get away with it if mainly inverts.


[This message has been edited by Ironreef (edited 11-27-1999).]
 
I have a sump
For fish I have a purple tang, 3 bar gobies, a watchman goby, firefish, rusty angel,
I only have 65 lbs of live rock

------------------
I want weird stuff for my reef.
Email me if you have any.
 
Well that may be true and I dont know beings that I dont have a bigger tank... I dont think it would be "a few more bucks" i checked into them before I bought my Seaclone and at the time it was $60-$80 more dollars....at the time I couldnt afford that.And im happy I bought the Seaclone despite all the bad things said about it.. It does a great job on my tank :)
 
I've had luck with a SeaClone before also, but I think it should be used on a small tank.

Presently I am using a Red Sea Berlin (HO), and am very happy with it.
 
I've used both the SeaClone and the BakPak2, and on a heavily loaded 80 gallon I think they are both out of their league. I would look at either the Turbofloater, the Red Sea Berlin, ETS Reef Devil, or the Sipedon which I know nothing about but gets a lot of good comments.


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Larry M

View a list of RC Member's websites at:
http://www.reefcentral.com/membersites.html
 
I have to agree with Larry 100% I to have used those skimmers and imo they won't handle that size tank. I have seen the RedSea Berlin's and must say they appeared to work well. I currently use a Sipedon 500a and would put it up against an HSA in both performance and quality. The price was a whole hell of a lot better though.



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BW
 
I agree with LarryM. I don't know about the seaclone but I used to own a CPR bak-pak. Great little skimmer for a 40-50gal. Even at 50gal I would investigate a more "aggressive" skimmer. The list of skimmers Larry listed should fall within your price range.

fyi I upgraded to a sipedon and am very happy with it.
 
hi there
i have had a really bad day with skimmers in fact inspite of everything i am a proud owner of a turbofloter which i bought today from jason .this is the 3rd skimmer i had on this 55 gallon tank i started with a seaclone not only was it hard to adjust and skimmed very little .if you are not careful you can knock off the tubing and half flood the house and upset roomates which i did several times. beginners sometimes move faster then they should knocking things around anyway needless to say it was very bad scene. i got a big mombosa and it worked better then the seaclone esp for the first 4 months. when i got my other tanks i put excaliber skimmers on and they out skimmed the big mombosa serious big time . then after some time it seemed to get harder to adjust . now it over skims and i cant contain all the water and so called waste it gets in fact it has gone beserk hopefully this time i got it right but i would not recommend a big mombosa or a sea clone to my worse enemy.

Ashley
 
yup i thought i was doing good with the big mombosa the petshop i go to is a pretty good one and they are very sincere but at the time they did not know any better they were learning right along with me infact they switched to turbofloters as well and i was not on the boards .this 55 was my first tank and it has come along way the only thing that has not changed is the tank itself i even changed the stand it was metal before lol live and learn .you cant cut corners in this hobby ,it usually comes around and bites you in the hind end later.

; )
Ashley
 
I just received my Aquamedic Turboflotor (HO) today also, but its was damaged in shipping. I got the Turboflotor to replace a CPR bakpak II on my 75g reef tank. Wow, those really are two very different machines. I originnally thought the CPR would be enough if I used lots of live rock and kept a light bioload, but it wasn't enough. The CPR is probably a great skimmer for a smaller tank.

I would echo the advice - Do it right the first time.
 
Red Sea Berlin doing very well in a heavy loaded 55. I have used the excalabur w/ some sucess, just not close to what the Berlin is pulling out. (I made the same mistakes...too small a tank, wrong equip. Decide 1st then spend the money, it will save you in the long run. The Berlin is in anticipation for a larger setup)
 
If you don't mind having the skimmer outside of your cabinet you could try the Larry Jackson skimmer(DIY).

I use a similar skimmer and I like it vey much.

Currently, the only skimmer I would concider other than a counter-current airpump driven skimmer is an aspirating skimmer, i.e. Euroreef and turboflotor.

ttyl,
KW
 
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