Skimmer for a 360?

[teo241]

Just wondering what you would recommend?

Tank is currently in production, but plan is for a medium stocked tank with fish, mixture of SPS/LPS, mainly SPS.

Total water volume will be 500-600 gallons including sump/refugium.

I've been looking at the MRC MR-3R or 6R. I'm also researched a vertex alpha 300 but can't seem to find anywhere that has one. I have a vertex 150 omega on a smaller tank that seems to work well.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

 

[slief]

Alpha 300 will be oversized for you system regardless of what the Vertex specs say. I had one on my 480 and despite my heavy fish load, the Alpha's neck diameter was too large and proved inconsistent. Further that, the Alpha is no longer made by Royal Exclusiv and the quality isn't as good as a result. The ones with the RE Red Dragon pumps were much better. If you can find an Alpha 250 or even an Alpha 200, that would be a better choice but even so, there are other skimmers I would choose before the Alpha.

A few other options would be the BK Supermarin 200, Double Cone 250, ATB 1050. There are some other skimmers out there that would work well too but these would be my first choices.

 

[kris101]

+1 for the BK Superman 200

Mine skims consistantly and is trouble free.

 

[teo241]

Thanks for the thoughts. The differences between the supermarin bubble king and the double cone seem to be the ability to change the pump position and about $300. And the pump I think.

What would you recommend? Avoid a beckett driven skimmer?

 

[kris101]

Teo
I see that you are currently running a Lifereef skimmer. Just recently, I upgraded from a 180 to a 300DD. I was running a lifereef skimmer on the 180 and I have had one since 1994 so I am pretty familiar with them. I don't have anything bad to say about Lifereef- its a great product.

I had to fit all my filter under my 300 and I didn't have room of the proper size Lifereef skimmer. I have a few posts out there about it. I looked at the Alpha 300, Reef Octo Elite, and a few others. Slief knows his simmers and I would put stock in his advice.

I did end up with the BK 200 and I am glad I did- very happy with it and I noticed that my tank seems to run better with the BK than any of my others using Lifereef. I have nothing bad to say about lifereef but I am glad I was forced to switch.

 

[NewMariner]

Ive been told by Jason at PA, and Carlos at Coralvue that "When sizing up a skimmer, you size it according to the gallons of water adding to the bioload. In your case, it would be only the main tanks as the sump will dilute and help filter it, not add to it."

This is what Ive been told, as my main display is 478g, I have a 140g and a 110g that will actually be for the bioload. My system is going to be about 1400 gallons total. So with that said, how much is your actual display tank? 360?

 

[teo241]

The display tank will be 360 gallons - 78 x 30 x 36

I am running a lifereef skimmer right now on a 45 gallon frag tank, and a vertex omega 150 on a 75 gallon. Sorry the signature is out of date. I agree the lifereef gets the job done, but its not what I want to go with for the new tank.

I like the idea of an internal skimmer so the bubble king seems to be a good option.

For some reason I always thought I would get a tall beckett monster when I finally jumped into the big tank realm, but it seems like that isn't necessary, or the most efficient option.

 

[biecacka]

BRS has the Alpha skimmers too look at. I too have considered them. A 200 for my tank, I like the BK but a little out of my price range....last year of college!!!! should have went when I was young and lived at home!!!! :lol: I have spoke with Chad at ATB and they make a great product too. I too have had a lot of people swear by the new reef octopus skimmers, but I've heard some don't care for them too. It's a tough decision.
I currently run a custom GEO beckett ran by am iwaki 55RLT. It's a great skimmer but is finicky at times....
Corey

 

[Dmorty217]

I have a SRO 5000 SSS on my 220g, it's rated for 500g and 400g with a heavy bio load

 

[slief]

Thanks for the thoughts. The differences between the supermarin bubble king and the double cone seem to be the ability to change the pump position and about $300. And the pump I think.

What would you recommend? Avoid a beckett driven skimmer?

I ran a Barr Aquatics 5020 dual beckett skimmer for a few years. While I loved the skimmer and the job it did, I didn't like the maintenance that went along with it or the noise and power consumption. Beckett skimmers need their valves cleaned every week and sometimes more depending on the water.

I switched to an Alpha 300 after the Beckett and never looked back. While I loved my Alpha, it was oversized even for my system like I said. Thus my switch the Supermarin which has proven to be a much better choice as it's much more consistent and much less fussy.

If you don't mind the maintenance of the becketts and don't mind running a power hungry dedicated pressure pump, there is nothing wrong with the beckett skimmers. They work remarkably well. I just hated taking the valves out every week to clean them and also hated the noise of the pump and skimmer. I much prefer the lack of maintenance required with my current skimmer. I run a self cleaning head and the only maintenance I do is semi annual pump cleaning as well as draining my cup every few days.

 

[biecacka]

Dmorty, how do you like that skimmer. How long you been running it

Corey

 

[teo241]

Weekly Beckett cleaning just isn't likely to happen for me. I think a bubble king makes more sense.

 

[Raoul5Duke]

I have the exact same size tank and total water volume on a tank I put in this year. I would recommend the JNS Shark Series 7. They are tough to find but a great value and rated for 1000 gallons. The are the exact same as the Aquamaxx Cone 7 but cheaper. I was told that JNS builds them for Aquamaxx and they are rebranded, not sure if this is completely true but the the size, shape, color, etc. are all the same. You can check my build thread for pics ~360 Gallon In Wall Build

 

[teo241]

I have the exact same size tank and total water volume on a tank I put in this year. I would recommend the JNS Shark Series 7. They are tough to find but a great value and rated for 1000 gallons. The are the exact same as the Aquamaxx Cone 7 but cheaper. I was told that JNS builds them for Aquamaxx and they are rebranded, not sure if this is completely true but the the size, shape, color, etc. are all the same. You can check my build thread for pics ~360 Gallon In Wall Build

I'll check that one out. Saw your build thread, tank looks great.

 

[biecacka]

Is that 1000 gallon rating for a light bioload? Sounds like the skimmer would be WAY to much for a 360 gallon tank.

Corey

 

[anbosu]

I have this on my 360 display.

Reef Octopus 9" Regal 220INT Internal Protein Skimmer

So far it works great, and is completely quiet.

 

[Raoul5Duke]

Is that 1000 gallon rating for a light bioload? Sounds like the skimmer would be WAY to much for a 360 gallon tank.

Corey

I personally don't think you can overskim, since a skimmer only captures about 30% of organics. I get good skimmate from it so no I don't think its too much, however if you have a better suggestion I am sure the OP would appreciate hearing it.

 

[slief]

I personally don't think you can overskim, since a skimmer only captures about 30% of organics. I get good skimmate from it so no I don't think its too much, however if you have a better suggestion I am sure the OP would appreciate hearing it.

Too large of a skimmer doesn't necessarily result in over skimming and I agree that you can't "overskim". The issue of too large of a skimmer comes down to performance and consistency. The larger the skimmer, the larger the neck diameter. If the neck diameter is too large in relationship to the amount of DOC's, the skimmer will not perform properly and it will have difficulties maintain a solid foam head. To compensate for that, one is forced to run the skimmer really wet to get any production. Then what happens is the skimmer will produce skimmate until the DOC's are reduced and then idle along without much if any production until they build back up. When it's idleing along and not producing we tend to want to make adjustments. Lastly, when getting a skimmer with too large of a neck to produce, it ends up being adjusted right on the ragged edge and will have a tendency to overflow as a result of slight changes in the water quality or waste buildup.

I had an Alpha 300 that I replaced with a Supermarin 250 because of inconsistency as a result of the neck diameter and this was on a heavily stocked 480 gallon display with an overall water volume in excess of 600 gallons. The SM250 is much more consistent. This really only comes into play on high end skimmers that are properly rated and or underrated like the Alpha 300.

At the end of the day, you are better off with a properly sized skimmer that works consistently hard vs an oversized skimmer that is inconsistent because there aren't enough dissolved organic compounds to feed it properly.

I checked out that JNS skimmer and it certainly is a big skimmer with high ratings. What I didn't see listed in the specs was the neck diameter. If the neck diameter is 5" or less, it might be suitable but if it has a 6" or larger diameter it may prove to be inconsistent as mentioned above without a really heavy load.

 

[Stylaster]

I run a reef ocotopus SRO 5000 on my 312g reef and it works out great

 

[Raoul5Duke]

If I thought it was a bad choice it wouldn't have been recommended and yes I know all you stated above ^. For reference, here are the specs.
Footprint: 23.7” x 19.7”
Air Intake: 3000 LPH
Chamber Diameter: 16 Inches
Height: 23.3 inches
My previous point to biecacka was basically saying instead of knocking my suggestion how about making one of your own. I've had Vertex skimmers, etc. and I think the JNS is great value for the money and its performing awesome on a system of the exact same size as the OP's. Everyone wants to suggest Bubble King's and Vertex Alphas, etc. but I personally think they are overpriced, and yes I have had one previously. I'll let it be at that as I feel that I am already disrupting the original intent of the OP. Good day.