Skimmer for 700 gallon

hobbzz

hobbzz

How do I change this?
In the beginning planning stages for a 10' x 4' x 30" 700 gallon reef, a final upgrade from our current 300g. Heavy feeding, 60-80 fish, mostly small, and using a methanol denitrator. It should have a fish room (for now). Looking to try out something like an MTC, or MRC external. I've emailed both companies but would like to hear some thoughts from hobbyists.

I know they both companies do custom work, but for starting points I was looking at the HSA-1000 from MTC. MRC has a lot more options which makes my job even harder lol. From them it looks like the MR-4 or 6 (not keen on the relatively short height of the 4), MR-6R, or Orca Pro II. Anyone have any input?

If for whatever reason I went with an in sump NW skimmer I already know what I would do so I'm just looking at venturi and becketts right now.

Thanks in advance.
 
I thought the mr-2 was a smaller one? Their site says up to 300 gallons. I like the look of the MRC stuff. I actually heard back form them already. At first they recommenced the orca since there is less maintenance. Although the cost of a replacement impeller kinda irks me. After telling them that the beckett cleaning would be no problem they recommended the standard recirculating like the MR-6R. I still need to get some info from people that have had their beckett skimmers and see how often they need to be cleaned and how long it actually takes.
 
hobbzz said:
I thought the mr-2 was a smaller one? Their site says up to 300 gallons. I like the look of the MRC stuff. I actually heard back form them already. At first they recommenced the orca since there is less maintenance. Although the cost of a replacement impeller kinda irks me. After telling them that the beckett cleaning would be no problem they recommended the standard recirculating like the MR-6R. I still need to get some info from people that have had their beckett skimmers and see how often they need to be cleaned and how long it actually takes.
Click to expand...

I've had a big Barr Aquatics Dual Beckett skimmer which I sold in favor of my Bubble King. I can tell you from experience that Beckett valves should be cleaned every week or so to maintain best efficiency. This holds true with all beckett skimmers. I will also note that Beckett has discontinued the production of the beckett valves. MRC likely have plenty on hand but if you decide on a beckett skimmer, be sure to buy some spare valves in case you ever need them because they do need replacement every so often although they should last you years.

My gripes with the beckett skimmer was the weekly maintenance in cleaning the valves, noise from the beckett valves which sounds like a jet. Then there was the power consumption from the pressure rated Iwaki that was pretty rediculous. Other than that, the skimmer performed amazingly and if you can live with the above pitfalls, Beckett skimmers are great. Still, I'd never go back. I love my Supermarin and it pulls every bit as good as the Beckett and does so silently and efficiently.
 
Thanks Slief. Supermarin 300 was going to be my internal choice. MRC said all things being equal there should be no performance difference between the ORCA II and the MR-6R beckett, which is good for the ease of maintenance route. That kinda makes me lean toward the orca. They also said about five minutes of cleaning every week or two. What would the 300 draw as far as power?
 
I thought about those but I cant find any recommendations for tank sizing. Even the 10 seems too big.
 
hobbzz said:
Thanks Slief. Supermarin 300 was going to be my internal choice. MRC said all things being equal there should be no performance difference between the ORCA II and the MR-6R beckett, which is good for the ease of maintenance route. That kinda makes me lean toward the orca. They also said about five minutes of cleaning every week or two. What would the 300 draw as far as power?
Click to expand...

The SM300 with the RD3 draws 50 watts or less depening on where you have the pump set. I'd also consider the Deluxe 300. It too is a great skimmer. The Supermarin is more of a wet skimmer where as the Deluxe will do dry skimming better but also wet skim. Maintenance on the BK's is draining the cup and cleaning the neck on an as needed basis. I run an SCH so I never have to clean my neck. All I do is drain my cup and clean the pump every couple months. The Orca is a great skimmer too. The BK is however much more efficient and requires less maintenance.
 
I'm seeing all the supermarins with 2 pumps. I'd prefer to stick with the laguna based pumps and not the dc if I went with an internal skimmer under the tank.
 
hobbzz said:
I'm seeing all the supermarins with 2 pumps. I'd prefer to stick with the laguna based pumps and not the dc if I went with an internal skimmer under the tank.
Click to expand...

The new Supermarins and deluxes are all single pump models with the RD3. Having run both the Laguna and RD3 pumps on my skimmers, I would never go back to the Laguna based models. The Laguna based SM300 and Deluxe models did run two Laguna pumps. I can check and see if they still have any of the SM300 Laguna models if you would like but the RD3 makes fine tuning so much easier and it's also more efficient.
 
Premium has it listed with the RD3 and also another slave, so the total draw is 88 watts? No need to check, this build will take a while, but thanks for the offer.
 
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