tunze 9016 ok for a 225g?

[level65druid]

Hi i am in the market for a skimmer, and came across the tunze doc skimmers. I don't have a sump and will need a hob or in tank skimmers and the only ones i can find powerful enough for my application seems to be the 9016 or the 9020 with 9020 being out of my budget. My questions are

1: will the 9016 be enough for a 225g tank with heavy bioload?

2: how important is the constant water level inside the tank with this skimmer as i am not planning to have a auto top off system at the moment.?

3: does the skimmer come with all necessary hardware to mount inside a display tank? and what is the foam extractor? does it replace the skimmer cup? like the 9020?

Thank you.

 

[rvitko]

1) By our rating criteria it wouldn't be ideal, the 9016 is rated for a fish only or FOWLR of 396 gph, for a high bioload SPS tank we cut that rating by 70%. The revised rating for this set up is about 120 gallons.

2) Critical, this skimmer as most in tank or hang on skimmers will require a fairly consistent water level for best performance, the maximum variation is 1".

3) Yes, 9016 and 9021 include magnet holders, older 9015 and 9020 include rail holders.

This is a big tank to run sumpless, especially with a high bioload. I think to pull it off you will need either a 9016 with some sort of media filter to run carbon and phosphate remover and 10% weekly water changes or a 9021 and then the water changes could probably be cut in half or more, likely 10% every 2-3 weeks would be sufficient. For this type of skimmer I think they are as good as you will find, certainly better than any hang on the back I am aware of but typically a tank of this size needs heavier duty filtration that will generally require a sump. If I was going to go sumpless, I would go with a full Comline set up with Osmolator, including a 9021 and 3167 running carbon, and phosphate remover, I think this will be the most successful option. I know it is out of your budget but it would be better to wait than to buy everything twice when a lesser set up doesn't work out.