Skimmer Size Question

[coral@life]

I'm looking at a Bubble King skimmer for my current tank setup which is a 160 with a Trigger systems emerald 39 sump. My delimma is I want to upgrade to a 300 gallon system in the near future so I would like to get a skimmer that would serve both systems. I was looking at the BK Deluxe 300 would it work in the small system? If so is there anyone out there running one of these in a small system 150 to 200 gallon?

 

[slief]

The Deluxe 300 is WAY to large for the 160 and still too large for the 300. Any skimmer you get that would be sufficient for the 300 would need to be run wet to keep it consist on a 160 unless you had an extremely heavy fish load. That said, these skimmers are conservatively rated. The best bet that would be OK for the 160 and about perfect for the 300 would be the Deluxe 200. It will allow for very flexible tuning options given that is has both the wedge pipe and the telescope tube for adjusting the internal level and it will handle the 300 just fine while allowing you finer control over wet and dry skimming for the 160.

The website lists it as having the RD1 but the latest version that we have in stock includes the RD3.
http://royalexclusiv.com/Skimmer/Sk...-int/Bubble-King-DeLuxe-200-internal::35.html


You could also go with the Double Cone 200 if you're not planning a very heavy fish load in the 300. The Double Cones are made of lighter material but still great skimmers. While it won't be ideal for a 160, some fine tuning should render it consistent with a wet skim.

The Deluxe is the top of the line Bubble King. It is designed to allow the most flexibility in terms of tank sizing, range of tuning and it's built with a very heavy material. Like the Supermarin, the Deluxe body is hand welded where as the Double Cones are extruded bodies and made of lighter material. The Deluxe is my all time favorite skimmer and I drool everytime I see one. It's the one skimmer I would consider replacing my Supermarin 250 with on my 700 gallon system. That said, for your tank sizing and in particular the 160, I wouldn't suggest the Supermarin as it will be more difficult to tune for the lighter load of a 160. The range of tank sizing on the skimmers is based on theoretical loads which is why I am always of suggesting oversized skimmers. The SM is designed for wet skimming but is a very load hungry skimmer. While the SM200 would be perfect for the 300, it would starve in the 160.

 

[coral@life]

Thanks for the education. Do they make the Deluxe 200 without the white mounting plate on the bottom and the RD3 pump?

 

[coral@life]

What are your thoughts on the BK 200 Deluxe External skimmer? Would it be size appropriate for what I have and what I'm going to or would i need to go up a size?

 

[slief]

What are your thoughts on the BK 200 Deluxe External skimmer? Would it be size appropriate for what I have and what I'm going to or would i need to go up a size?

Personally I prefer internal skimmers. If they overflow, you don't have a mess. You also don't have an external pump that needs to be fine tuned to get the flow right for the skimmer. The internals are more set it and forget it and more efficient because the recirculation pump also acts as the feed pumps. The Deluxe 200 would run great with the RD3 pump set to 28-32 watts. Lastly, the externals currently don't have the RD3. They are being redesigned to include the RD3 pump but we don't yet have an ETA on those and we also don't typically stock the externals so they need to be bought directly from Germany.

As for the white base at the bottom of the skimmer, that is an old picture. When the most recent Deluxe 200's hit our inventory, the wrong items was activated and it shows the old model in the images. The link below shows the model we have in stock if you were to order the one in the previous link. It is the current Deluxe 200 model.
https://royalexclusiv.net/en/skimme...le-king-r-deluxe-200-internal-rd3-speedy.html

 

[coral@life]

I had my concerns about overflow and If I went the route an external was already thinking about putting a large drain on the skimmer cup.

Since you have the 200 internal without the white mounting plate and the RD3 those concerns are gone. Just placed my order and am now anxiously awaiting this beautiful piece of art.

Thanks again for all you help. I have been pouring over information on skimmers for the last 3 months and it's nice knowing this one has all of the adjustability I was looking for.

 

[slief]

Glad to help! You will LOVE that skimmer!