protein skimmers

[gunthersr]

I need some feedback on what kind of hang on back style protein skimmers are best for my 70 gal reef. I have a 10 yr old red sea prism pro and hate it. I've heard good and bad about remora. Tell me more.

 

[sir_dudeguy]

remoras are good, but unless you get one of the larger aqua c skimmers, it probably wont be enough for a 70.

 

[Sk8r]

I have an Aqua C EV120, for a 54g tank, and am happy with it. My sense is that you're going to have to go with an external skimmer and some hose to be really happy with the result. An underpowered skimmer can be all sorts of problems to your tank down the road---I had an Urchin [like the Remora, but in-sump], which was rated for 50g. Wrong. It gradually let stuff build up that nearly cost me my whole tank. My advice: get a skimmer rated for twice the tank you've got and you'll never have that kind of problem.

 

[EdKruzel]

Good point Sk8r, often I hear hobbyists say their skimmers are doing so well because of how often they need to empty the cup. In retrospect, their skimmer is insufficient for the bioload of the system and therefore not able to reduce the waste on the level needed. It's kind of like turning your tub's faucets on high and trying to remove the water with a table spoon before it overflows. The spoon is always full yet the water level will quickly run out on to the floor.

With a proper sized and efficient skimmer, the cup should only need to be emptied once a week at the earliest. Maintenance will be more frequent on cleaning the riser tube than what is collected in the cup. All of this is of course on a mature system with a skimmer that has been properly broken in.

 

[EdKruzel]

Another note on skimmers and their efficiency has to do with the system itself more than the size of the tank. A heavy bioload requires more skimming, but a heavy bioload of filter feeders such as in many reef tanks will make a skimmer seem nearly useless (although they are not). My current system has a sump twice the size of the tank and two DSB's; one in the sump is teeming with life of which contains many filter feeders. The second is in the main tank and nearly equals the amount of small creatures living within the grains. Total water volume is about 15-17gals and I have a CPR BakPak that I estimate can handle a fairly heavy bioload on tanks up to about 40gal (manufacturer reports 60gal).
I have gone over a month and there is maybe a 1/4'' of dark green sludge in the cup. The tank has a huge bioload and I feed with less than moderation (a friend joked that he doesn't feed his 75gal as much). The benefit I have is one more insurance of added oxygen entering the system, especially after lights out.

Go with a larger rated skimmer and I promise you won't be disappointed.

 

[sir_dudeguy]

oh, also...i didnt read the last 2 posts, so hopefully they didnt mention this. But i've found that my skimmers always work a lot better with the more flow i have. Especially HOB ones for me. When i had my 55 with only 12-15 times turnover, my remora was good....but i felt it could do better. After i bumped the flow up to about 20-23, not only did my corals like it much better, but my skimmer began to pull stuff out at a much much faster rate and i actually had to empty the cup more than once a week.

 

[Andrew]

If you have some room inside of your tank, than a Tunze DOC skimmer would work. They are very good in-tank compact skimmers.

 

[Norward]

E-mail AquaC techs for info

E-mail AquaC techs for info

I found the Aqua Clear folks to be really helpful in choosing my skimmer: support@proteinskimmer.com

 

[zma21]

I got my Coralife Super Skimmer and I love it! It's cheap too, i would give it a look.