need help picking a skimmer

derrell

Member
can anyone guide me in the right direction. i have a 180gal tank with a 55gal sump and looking for a really energy efficient, productive skimmer that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. can anyone tell me what i should look for when purchasing a skimmer
 
I tried 5 different brands. The euro-reef rs-250 worked awesome on my heavily stocked 150. I would highly recommend them.
 
If you could give some parameters it would be very helpful:
- How fully stocked is your tank?
- What kind of tank is it (softie reef, SPS, fish-only, etc?)
- What skimmer is on there now, and what don't you like about it?
- How much are you able to spend on a new one?

Thanks,
Dan
 
it's a mixed reef tank including, lps, sps, softies, rics, muchrooms, sponges, gargonians, etc. also have tangs, reef safe angels, anthias, gobies, jawfish, chromis, maroons, cardinals, wrasses, shrimp, etc. i have like 15 fish now and would like to get a few more species. i have a coralife 220 skimmer on there and i think it works fine, i haven't had any other kind so not sure if i could do better, but i think the corallife is causing all the microbubbles in my tank. i don't want to spend a lot of money on it but i thing everyone say that but i also know that is skimmer is very important, so i would like to get something that is energy efficent and very productive.
 
If you want best bang for the buck i'd go with a das ex2, msx200 or wait and see how the octo pro 250 turns out as i think it'll be nice once they get the pump going accordingly. Respectively, ex2-1000lph air at 20-40watts and 400bux, the msx200-1400lph air at 15-25watts at 350bux and octo pro at 1000-1400lph air at 35watts and 500bux. The das is a recirc, the other are single pass. All three will work nicely.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12222744#post12222744 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by derrell
was that suppose to be a joke?

What the prices luke33 posted? Those are powerful skimmers for a very reasonable price. Whats your budget?
 
For $200-$250 you're not going to get much better than you CSS IMO, unless used.
You could do octo w/ mods like luke33 did and do better.
I just switched from CSS220 to BM200 on my 180g, and WHAT A DIFFERENCE!(thanks luke)
Less than 40w
Now I did get mine used for $350, but got a good deal.
 
You can buy my DAS EX1 for $240 shipped. but its too small for a 180.

The MSX200 is the cheapest you will find that will work on you system. DAS are great little skimmer but the EX2 is $399
 
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