Skimmer Advice

[DJM28064212]

Hey I have had a lot of input lately on what to do when I set up my new tank. I have now gotten down to 2 things, skimmer and return pump. Alex is selling me his 50 setup (50 stand/canopy and 2 175w MH, with relector and cutouts for VHO and 2 VHO actinics). I am planning on putting the 29 down for a sump and try the whole fuge/sump like he has setup for his current tank. I have looked at a few skimmers and I would like imput from everyone.
First is the ASM G3 with the recirc mod. (I was looking more for like the G1x, but everyone says G3.)
Second, I just found this skimmer. http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merc...duct_Code=TURBOFLOTOR&Category_Code=Aquamedic I was going to get the OR 2700 when it was available.
Anyone else have input on what skimmer would be good, I was trying to keep it under 300 for the skimmer and pump.
Thanks Doug

 

[jocoxVT]

I am sure Matt will chime in when he can (although I dont know if his home computer is working right now so it may not be til Monday) but he use to run a turboflotor and for that matter I did on my 29 and now my 90 as well. It works but if you can afford it I would suggest the g3 i know its more then twice as much but I bet you will thank yourself in the long run. Dont get me wrong the turbo is a good skimmer but its hard to beat the g3 for the money.

JC

 

[jocoxVT]

Correction not twice as much since you have to add the OR 2700 in.

 

[surfnvb7]

for your return pump, you should research 2 different ways of doing this.

1) would be using a large return pump, that would accomplish the needs for almost all of the flow coming into the main tank.
pros- dont have to add any ugly powerheads that take up space
cons- not able to aim higher flow into specific areas, will most likely need to have a pump or two in the main tank anyways. also, alot of people *say* the sump shouldn't have a high turnover rate. as the water being diverted off to the skimmer wont really get that much skim time if its blasting through the sump so fast. also, whatever pump you have could be very noisy (like a hot tub pump), and may draw a high wattage. melev talks about problems with microbulbes returned to tank with high sump turnover.

2) use a small pump like a Mag3-5.
pros- slow turnover rate in the sump. so you will supposedly have better skimming performance, again...supposedly, i have no personal experience with this. just from what i've read. a small mag pump is also easier to service and take off line to clean. if you can figure out the intake gph for the skimmer you want, you could have the overflow box empty directly into the skimmer which supposedly increases skimmer performance greatly.

cons-you will have to add alot of pumps inside that tank to get the flow moving around. this will look very cluttered unless you can get some of the big tunzes/rio's.

...its total personal preference though.

i'm not sure i could stand the sound of a Jacuzzi pump either in my bedroom or in the living room where i'm watching tv though. i think there are quieter models out there though.

if you want to make a sump/fuge, with the glass baffles that eliminate the microbubbles, i'd recomend going with the smaller pump. a larger pump would just nullify the purpose of the glass baffles to eliminate microbubles. the bubbles will be carried through the baffles at such a high velocity they wont have a chance to surface and *pop*. thus giving you alot of microbubbles in the main tank.

matt may have some good ideas to make a seperate fuge tank. that way you can have a very large sump for lots of equipment, and lots of room for evaporation if you go away for a while.

HTH

 

[DJM28064212]

I got one more. Ha anyone heard anything about the reef devil?
http://www.aquadirect.com/store/product.php?productid=450&cat=202&page=4

 

[manderx]

turbo is a nice little skimmer for smaller tanks, but they hit a brick wall at 60+ gallons. G2 would be a much better purchase, probably skim a fair bit better (much bigger body) and give you more headroom for upgrades, but then the G3 is only *slightly* more expensive with a bigger pump so you'd be stupid not to bump up to that.

reefdevil is a downdraft skimmer. they became rather pointless when becketts came out. they (both) need a beefy pump to do anything which is watts and heat (or complexity if you go external) and noise. becketts probably skim better than anything these days, but needlewheels are easier and cheaper to deal with.


i don't like fuges in the sump. i like to keep light away from all my tubing and equipment down there so algae doesn't grow in them and also to keep grit and macro from getting into pumps. but if you really want to, we can figure something out. 29 is a pretty tall tank to use as a sump under a stand. makes it hard to work in. 20L would probably be alot better.

a 50 is right on the edge of making it hard to decide between providing flow from the return and flow from in-tank circulation. any smaller and you could cover the whole tank easy with a return pump. any bigger and you could hide in powerheads or something alot easier. on my 50, i have 3 maxijets plus a slow return (slow moslty because it's split so many ways and i don't want to put on a bigger pump- noise) and it's nowhere near enough, at least not for the barebottom. it would probably be fine if i had sand. the biggest problem with 3-4 maxijets is the heat. 900s are the best bang-for-the-watts(heat) but even still they don't provide anywhere near the flow for the watts that a prop-type pump does (stream, seio, ecotech). but those get expensive and bulky. dave's modded maxi-stream is pretty cool, 2 of those would be fantastic but the pre-built kits are expensive and they stick out a bit obtrusively into the tank. though i'd do them for sure before doing a seio these days.

joe is having alot of luck with using a scwd on his return pump and no other powerheads in his 54 corner. another option (and probably the best) would be to do a closed loop. either over-the-shoulder or we can drill a few holes. then hookup an external pump and let fly. i've never done one though because i can never decide where i'd want holes to be forever. if you have a spare HOB filter they actually provide lots of flow for cheap, plus the pumps are external so they probably don't heatup the water much. only problem is splash and salt-spray.

after having a kalk accident (~2 gallons of slurry dumped in under 2 hours), all my pumps got bound-up with calcium deposits on the impellers *except* for the eheims. they were clean as a whistle. i'm so impressed i strongly recommend using them whenever applicable. they're not *that* much more than mags anyway.

 

[Shivaji]

Just one comment, Matt. Not all HOBs have external pumps - case in point are the popular CPR BakPak and the AquaC Remora. The Red Sea PriZm has an external pump, but it does not give you as much flow as the ones mentioned above.

I am working on a sump for my acro tank (thanks for the advice and the acrylic seperator yesterday, Matt) and will probably put in the SCWD I have sitting around for over a year in the return path and use a G-xx skimmer in the sump - have not yet decided on which one.

 

[manderx]

by HOB filter i meant something like a whisper or aquaclear.

 

[Shivaji]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7320448#post7320448 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by manderx
by HOB filter i meant something like a whisper or aquaclear.

OK - I thought you were talking about HOB skimmers.