top 5 skimmers right now?'=

atraperegrinus

atraperegrinus

New member
After alot of searching most of the threads are older and outdated.

what are the ~ top 5 skimmers available right now? Affordably as in <$500.

I've seen the rlss r6 mentioned alot, aswell as JNS and the US rebranded jns, vertex, reef octopus etc.. I'm not going to ask whats everyone's " best " because as we all know opinions vary, so I'd love to see a top 5 list, that way we have options.

I have a 110g DT I just drilled, and I'll likely have a 75g sump and a 50g fuge? maybe tops 200g total before rock and whatnot.
 
Pinwheel skimmers, venturi skimmers, downdraft skimmers, etc. will all "work" when balanced with proper size/air flow/water flow/contact time/ect.

I only recently went on a "I wonder if I should upgrade my skimmer" kick where I was going to sell my skimmer and buy something "better". After a few days of researching and contemplating my options I came back to the pivotal truth about skimmers - they will only ever remove at best 30% of doc. In reality, I believe their are good skimmers and better skimmers, but as a whole you generally won't find an awful skimmer and then an amazing skimmer. They all generally fall into a lumped group of simply getting the job done adequately.

Personally, I use a SRO3000int on about 250gal volume and it gets the job done. There are probably marginally better and worst skimmers out there; each with their own compromises in both pro/con directions.

:dance:
 
atraperegrinus said:
i believe aquamaxx and jns are the same, just rebranded from what ive read.
Click to expand...

I believe aquamaxx is basically the distributor for JNS, and puts their own label, but yes, it's the same exact skimmer.
I think it's hard to do a top 5, you'll get very mixed opinions and that would partially be due to price, the best skimmers are a bit expensive.
I'm probably about the average as budget goes, so just my personal favs that I have actually had and used would be;

ATI bubblemaster200, my very favorite, and too bad they seemed to be met w/ so many skimmers that were priced too competitively and temporarily blew them out, however I see they are putting new skimmers out once again.

Reefoctopus, just about every skimmer they have put out has been good if not great, though some pumps they have used have been better than others, I particularly liked the bubble blaster pumps.

SWC, great skimmers, no idea why these guys have been shut down(anyone?)

I have never had a RLSS or a Skimz, but if I gotta list 5 then I have to say most seem to like em.

Bubble king of course if you can afford them.

Noteworthy; Deltec apparently is back in the game, years ago they were pretty much the skimmer to have, so it will be interesting and nice to see what they put out there.
 
I would say any of the well known brands work well as said above..

Its often a personal choice as to what is best..

I Run a skimz sm201 and it works great well built and stable and NO Air bubbles from its gate...........
Not Sure i could ask for anything but . Unless someone can make a non stinky skimmer but still work...
 
ericarenee said:
I would say any of the well known brands work well as said above..

Its often a personal choice as to what is best..

I Run a skimz sm201 and it works great well built and stable and NO Air bubbles from its gate...........
Not Sure i could ask for anything but . Unless someone can make a non stinky skimmer but still work...
Click to expand...

I use one of the Reef Octopus skimmate collectors with GAC use the top vent, and it's odorless.
 
skimmer

skimmer

MTC have been around for 30 years and in my opinion build the best skimmers in the US ! Some folks here on this forum are using these products after replacing their bubble kings and deltec's ...nuff said !
 
Funny you should mention the ATI bubble master davocean. I'm still useing that skimmer today, probably had it for ten years? Got it when it first came out. I did upgrade the pump to the psk 1000. Other than that it just works, best piece of reef equipment I have ever purchased.
 
running scott said:
Funny you should mention the ATI bubble master davocean. I'm still useing that skimmer today, probably had it for ten years? Got it when it first came out. I did upgrade the pump to the psk 1000. Other than that it just works, best piece of reef equipment I have ever purchased.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I started out w/ a prizm, then a bakpak, then a coralife(great list for beginning a bottom 5)
Then I got that ATI, talk about a WOW moment and realizing what a good skimmer should be.
One of the few pieces of equipment I regret letting go.
My eyes are open for what they start putting back out there.
 
I would say the NYOS Quantum series skimmers are at the top five skimmers right now. I have the 160 model and it skims like there's no tomorrow. My skim mate is almost black in color and smells like poo poo. Every time I clean the collection cup, my wife brings out the bathroom spray....Yes it's that potent of a smell.
 
I have an old C12 skimmer body I run with a simple venturi off my return pump . works fine on 500 gallons of water . I bought it for $100 lol. I also employ an aggressive nutrient export regiment using macros in a fuge , an algae scrubber and vinegar dosing . I don't think any skimmer will adequately remove all that we need to in any system . someday someone might just prove me wrong but thats how I feel right now
 
I like reef octopus. Such a great skimmer for the $$. Very low issues if any, good quality and reliable pump
 
I-tech. If only folks could get their hands on one. Put up against others on this list and I keep coming back.
 
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