Skimmer Q&A Thread

Mojo
Hope your surgery went well today and you heal up fast.

I am putting together a new 65 gallon display tank with 30 gallon sump and 20 gallon refugium. I am planning on a medium stocked reef tank with LPS coral. I have more than enough sump area for any of the sumps I am looking at and the water remains constant at 8.5" ( I can raise skimmer if required). I am looking at skimmers for the tank and I wanted to get your thoughts.

The skimmer I am looking at are as follows
1) Avast Marine CS-1 (Sicce PSK-1000) - Like the DIY idea
2) Reef Octopus SRO-1000 (Bubble Blaster HY1000)
3) Sea Side Aquatics CS1 (Sicce PSK-600)
4) Any of your thoughts

I am looking for a good skimmer, easy to maintain and hopefully fairly quite.
Thanks for your time.
 
The avast is nice but I think it would be on the large size. if you were going to upgrade then maybe go that route. I think the seaside will do great as it is pretty quiet. even has a foam pad under the pump to quiet it down even more. and the sro 1000 int will do just fine too.

All are great in there own right but I would go sea side cs1 first then the sro 1000 then the avast. And that is just for your setup. The avast uses the psk 1000 pump and hasa larger neck. I would say a heavy 75g would be the smallest tank for the avast unit.

Hope that is helpful

Mojo~
 
I have a RO XS160 and I can't get it skimming. I have been running it for close to 7 weeks and the only thing I get is a dirty neck. I have it sitting in about 8.5" of water as suggested by the RO site. Any ideas?
 
what size tank is it on and how old is the tank. its a nice skimmer. it can be run alittle deeper if need be as well but sounds like there isnt enough waste in the system for it to build a large foam head. Typical of a newer system or too large of a skimmer for the system. And like I said there may just not be the load there to builda larger foam head.

Mojo~
 
sarget said:
Mojo

Thanks for narrowing it down for me. How would the Reef octopus XS-160 compare to the SSA CS1? Both use the same pump.
Click to expand...

yea the SSA cs1 would be a little more quiet as the pump is inside the body and is mounted on a foam pad. The octo xs 160 would be better for a deeper sump. I think you would like the ssa cs1 a bit better. It just depends on your sump level and overall system size.
 
well the have the psk 100 rated at 100g and the psk 150 rated at 150g.

they are over rated for sure. They are a cheaper entry level skimmer that has a good price margain for retail businesses to make some profit.

They are not bad. But there are better options.
 
Thanks sorry didn't see it. Well I'm tring to quiet down my skimmer. What about changing pumps to a senta 9000. Body is 8in round 2 feet tall currently running the oct 3000.

How about performance and noice?
 
Thanks sorry didn't see it. Well I'm tring to quiet down my skimmer. What about changing pumps to a senta 9000. Body is 8in round 2 feet tall currently running the oct 3000.

How about performance and noice?
 
mojo~ said:
what size tank is it on and how old is the tank. its a nice skimmer. it can be run alittle deeper if need be as well but sounds like there isnt enough waste in the system for it to build a large foam head. Typical of a newer system or too large of a skimmer for the system. And like I said there may just not be the load there to builda larger foam head.

Mojo~
Click to expand...

Hello mojo, I think you were answering my question but I'm not sure.

MY tank is a 75g w/ 20g sump. The tank has been running for 7 weeks and I have been feeding pretty heavily. I have 2 small clowns, chromis and a small 6line.
 
mojo~ said:
well the have the psk 100 rated at 100g and the psk 150 rated at 150g.

they are over rated for sure. They are a cheaper entry level skimmer that has a good price margain for retail businesses to make some profit.



They are not bad. But there are better options.
Click to expand...

I went with the eshopps 150 I got to see both the sro1000 and the eshopps 150 about same price but I liked the eshopps was full cone and pump was built in. I hope I endup liking it.

Roger
 
schoi said:
Hello mojo, I think you were answering my question but I'm not sure.

MY tank is a 75g w/ 20g sump. The tank has been running for 7 weeks and I have been feeding pretty heavily. I have 2 small clowns, chromis and a small 6line.
Click to expand...

Yea, give the tank some time. You have a pretty light load in there. How deep is the skimmer ?
 
Great thread Mojo!

I've read back about 50 pages and figured I have enough of a different setup to ask for help.

System: ~300g tv mixed reef. More sps now. Biopellets and GFO. 5 anthias, 2 tangs, 3 wrasses, and a few others. I plan to add more fish soon.

Due to space, I've run an older Tunze skimmer for years, but am about to completely rebuild the sump.

Skimmers I'm looking at:
AM300
AM Cone 2
ASM G4
Bubble Magus Nac9
Something else?

Thx for your advice.
 
I have a Vertex IN80 protein skimmer. A while ago it started overflowing for no apparent reason. Tried all sorts of things from water level to cleaning everything to every air/water combo that I could come up with and nothing worked. The only thing that would keep it from overflowing is blowing into the air tube hard.

Blocked air right? broke it down checked and cleaned all the air paths.

Then I noticed that when I pulled the pump apart the pinwheel didn't really spin freely on the shaft when holding it in my hands. It would spin, but only one or two revolutions not just free spinning like when I got it.

I tried everything to scrub it and clean it, to no avail. Ordered 2 more pinwheel assemblies. Put on in and the skimmer works perfectly. I mean perfectly.

Flash forward 2 months. Skimmer starts overflowing, same thing all over again. The pinwheel isn't spinning freely. I pull out the old one and it is still binding even after thorough cleaning and a 2 month dry time. There are no visible swells on the magnet, there are not chips or rough spots on the shaft, there is nothing that should visibly be binding, it just looks like the clearance between the shaft and the hole through the magnet is gone, like it shrank down to the size of the shaft.



Any thoughts?
 
The old compound of shaft would swell over time. If you are having trouble with that get one for the sedra 3500. the sedra 3500 rebuild for the asm skimmers have been better replacements. The pumps is nothing more than a eco 633 as well. what version is your skimmer? gen 1,2,or 3?
 
titmouse said:
Great thread Mojo!

I've read back about 50 pages and figured I have enough of a different setup to ask for help.

System: ~300g tv mixed reef. More sps now. Biopellets and GFO. 5 anthias, 2 tangs, 3 wrasses, and a few others. I plan to add more fish soon.

Due to space, I've run an older Tunze skimmer for years, but am about to completely rebuild the sump.

Skimmers I'm looking at:
AM300
AM Cone 2
ASM G4
Bubble Magus Nac9
Something else?

Thx for your advice.
Click to expand...

the am 300 uses the psk 2500 pump. Not bad but there are better options.
the am cone 2 is good but not large enough for your volume. The asm g4 would handle the volume as well as the nac9.

THe am cone 3 would do great, the Sro 3000xp, the am 350, the octo xs 250, and even the hurricone cat 2.
 
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