The Skimmer Comparison Chart

[RobbyG]

Re: Orca skimmer, maybe Straegen can jump in :hmm2: Straegen is the skimmer Brain, I only added eye candy.

Some of the listing eg. 20 gal 60gal etc. are just numbers from the manufactorers website or help manual. We don't want to mess with there numbers unless the company updates there info.

Re: RK3 / RKE, it will be out near Feb 08.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11356081#post11356081 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chrissreef
Very nice!!

Comments...Where's orca/reeflo, MTC, DAS, or those cone skimmers? I didn't check if the new octo xtreme's are there.

Personally I'd like general gallon categories because it's inconvenient to filter it down by 12, 29, 30, 40, 90 etc. etc.
i.e. 0-50g 50-100, 100-150, 150-250, 250-400, 400+

edit: I just saw your note on RK3... I'm building my tank now... can you give me a ballpark range or availability date on this? i.e. $250-400? 1st quarter '08 release? etc.

Thanks!

 

[xparky]

Great job guys. I wish there was a tool like this to aid me when I was looking for skimmer. Just bought skimmer a month back I can recognize the value this sheet brings.

 

[RobbyG]

I have only tested 2 skimmers on the whole chart
I doubt you will find anybody on RC that has used more than 6 out of the 120+ skimmers listed, so ratings are not going to be easy.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11355836#post11355836 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fahadahmed
This might be complex but it would be REALLY cool to have some kind of rating system. Something lest complex would be "Editor's Choice" where you can give a personal recommendation about a certain skimmers.

Really cool chart!!! Kudos!

 

[RobbyG]

Use the Excel version, it is much easier to navigate thanks to JDieck's modifications.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11355097#post11355097 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Snowboarda42
Nice!

Constructive Criticism - Maybe take the black bar at the top that tells what each column means and put it at the top of each company category. Its kinda annoying to have to jump back up to the top to see what number means what. Just a thought...

 

[FishAreFriends2]

Where did you gather the info from for the actual size rating of the tank?

 

[RobbyG]

I think most of it came from websites and owners manuals, but Straegen was the one who gathered the data. so he's the best one to answer your question

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11357062#post11357062 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by FishAreFriends2
Where did you gather the info from for the actual size of the tank?

 

[happyface888]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11355679#post11355679 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by FishAreFriends2
I think the octopus hob skimmer bh100/f are higher than 40gallons for actual ratings. Its more like 55gallons, I own a bh100 and I'm getting great skimmate any higher I wouldnt recommend. Theres one reefer who has the bh100 on a 90gallon which is too much but hes getting serious skimmate, so the actual rating should be a 55gallon. And the price of the BH100f is wrong. It cost 141.99 at reefstop average is 150. It also comes with a surface skimming box and pumps in the back chamber.
I don't see the rogue up there.

I agree with the above, I've owned a cpr bakpak2 and had it on a 30gallon and I never got any good skimmate most of the time tea colored. Than I upgraded my tank to a 45gallon and the cpr still continued with the green tea. After I switched to the octopus bh100f it skimmed like crazy brown skimmate. I would change the cpr it doesnt work...

 

[reef / aholic]

Missing from "The Skimmer Comparison Chart"

BK 160, 180, 200 mini and BK Super Marines 250. The pictures for the BK's are for older models. Also I do not see an entry got the KZ Revolution.

You will need to add some more columns for the diameter of the skimmer, amount of air pumped into the skimmer and water flow rate through the skimmer.

 

[lilred1995vette]

The chart is very helpful!

 

[davidryder]

As you all can probably tell there is A LOT of information in this chart. If you would like to suggest corrections or changes please try to be as specific as possible.

The tank size ratings were pulled straight from manufacturer staff or the manufacturers website. These ratings obviously vary greatly depending on factors such as bio-load and additional filtration but they are provided as a basic guideline.

If you have price corrections or corrected photos of skimmers a link or specific data would be awesomely appreciated as there are only 2 people working on this massive chart.

Thanks for all the input, and keep it coming!

 

[gojicraig]

Great chart! and kudos to you for all the work that must have gone into this project. I came to this thread actually looking to compare calcium reactors, and couldn't get off of it. Does anyone know where to get this info? Don't want to hijack the thread though. Thought, would that be a project that you may take on in the future?

 

[RobbyG]

As David said, specific information and links to pictures etc. would really help.
Some skimmers that are missing may simply be missing because we can find no information on them.

 

[luke33]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11355865#post11355865 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by USC-fan
That wouldn't be a good idea. While one pump may pull the same amount of air, one could be pumping out twice the amount of water.

Now why on earth would you think showing a skimmers size, air pull and gph would be a bad idea? Unless Deltec, BK, BM and all high end skimmer companies are marketing wrong by showing this? To me its one of the most important decisions in buying a skimmer. Why do you think your Das is so nice? Not because of its small reaction chamber but because of the 500lph air it'll pull at such a log gph and size of the neck. That would be another one....neck diameter. Its like looking at an aquaeuro and seeing the classic 400 at 10" in diameter.......but you don't know its only got a 3" neck. It only pulls around 18-20scfh. Now that's pretty wasteful imo. The das ex1 will pull nearly that and the das ex2 will pull almost twice at 6" in diameter. There are so many different variables out there when making a skimmer choice. The most important one's to me are.

Type of skimmer
Reaction chamber height and diameter
neck diameter
total height
air pull
pump brand
Price

 

[RandyStacyE]

I do believe that air draw and dimensions would be a GREAT improvement to this list. I'm sure a LOT of time and effort went into creating this list because I've tried doing this myself. All I had to go by was the info I could find on manufacturer's sites, retailer's sites, PDFs, and such. The ONLY info I could never find was how much air these pumps drew on the skimmers and detailed dimensions. Some sites like www.euro-reef.com does show this info, but most do not.

I like knowing the dimensions of the reaction chamber, plumbing size (in and out), neck diameter (wish we knew the neck height), and I'm sure I could go on and on.

My point is that a full detail list like this would require MUCH help from people who actually own/sell these skimmers or have other means to find this info rather than 'just the internet'.

This list would be excellent for DIYers who want to build their own skimmers similar to the prefab skimmers.

This list is excellent, but (and no offence) lacks the technical info that many would wish to see. I have a ton of info that I've collected into Excel sheets and I'm missing a lot so understand that I'm not bashing this list at all. I'm glad someone put forth the effort.

 

[luke33]

I'd agree with that Randy. It would be great to see, but wow, that would be alot of work. The only skimmers i know that show all that info are the BM, ER, Deltec, BK, DAS, Tunze. Everything else would have to be user info.

 

[RobbyG]

Guys your pretty much hit the nail on the head. It took almost 4 weeks working 2 hours per day (LOL extended lunch breaks) just to get decent looking pictures. You would think it would be easy but you have no idea how many people will post the same wrong picture in forums, websites and even Catalogs. If you have never seen the unit before it takes about 20 minutes of detective work with each picture just to confirm that it really is a picture of the correct skimmer. I can't imagine the work that straegen did to get the dimensions! Unlike controllers you cant find any good manuals or PDF files on 90% of these skimmers.

I would not even want to attempt to add data like Air Draw into this, but if someone else want to do the work I will gladly add it.

 

[MarkPo]

Tunze 9010 comes with In Sump and In Tank mounting options, and uses a venturi. AFAIK, that's the same for all 90XX models. Waste Collection is availible, but optional and costs more, so "N" might be the right answer there.

Real world tank size would be hard, Roger recommends multipling rated by .6 for heavily stocked SPS tanks. If you go with that, the 9010 is recommended for no larger then a 150.

 

[USC-fan]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11361742#post11361742 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by luke33
Now why on earth would you think showing a skimmers size, air pull and gph would be a bad idea? Unless Deltec, BK, BM and all high end skimmer companies are marketing wrong by showing this? To me its one of the most important decisions in buying a skimmer. Why do you think your Das is so nice? Not because of its small reaction chamber but because of the 500lph air it'll pull at such a log gph and size of the neck. That would be another one....neck diameter. Its like looking at an aquaeuro and seeing the classic 400 at 10" in diameter.......but you don't know its only got a 3" neck. It only pulls around 18-20scfh. Now that's pretty wasteful imo. The das ex1 will pull nearly that and the das ex2 will pull almost twice at 6" in diameter. There are so many different variables out there when making a skimmer choice. The most important one's to me are.

Type of skimmer
Reaction chamber height and diameter
neck diameter
total height
air pull
pump brand
Price

I think it a bad idea because it focuses just on one part too much. Now if you went into greater detail it would be okay.

Also i think it would be better off putting dwell time over air pull anyways....

Dwell time is really one of the most important factor in skimmer performance, IMO.

 

[luke33]

Sure dwell time is very important, but how in the world would you put that into writing! lol The whole point of skimming is foam fractionation by means of doc's bonding to "air" so yes, i would think air would be one of the main factors in determining what skimmer to choose.

For your comment you are saying its more important to have dwell time. Well what if you have the same dwell time for two skimmers the same size but you don't say what air they pull. One pulls 1000lph and the other 400lph, how would one know which would be a better performer or which to choose. See what i'm saying. Not trying to be rude : )

 

[USC-fan]

I really don't want to get into this debate in this thread.

Anyway dwell time is really easy to measure with recirc NW skimmers.