I received this skimmer today from Bulk Reef Supply - I am setting up a Red Sea Reefer 170, and was looking for a good skimmer. My criteria were: high quality needle wheel or mesh wheel skimmer, Sicce pump, able to handle a 43 gallon tank, and cost under $200 (this was $180 with a sale at BRS; normally it's $199.99 which strikes me as a very good deal). I missed a sale on a JNS (AquaMaxx) Cone Co-1 and was debating between the AquaMaxx WS-1 (which I was worried might be underpowered) or a Bubble Magus/Simplicity which would have had a Jebao (?) pump. It (the Somatic) also works with a 7-9" sump depth, which works for a Red Sea Reefer (8" depth). I hope (tank arrived today at the LFS).
First impressions - it's BIG. It has a 9" x 9" footprint, and I thought that this was being conservative and including a margin around the skimmer since the body is listed at 6". As you can see in the picture with my ruler . . . you're going to need the full 9" x 9". It's also very well packaged, and looks/feels like it's of very high quality (certainly the highest quality skimmer that I've ever owned, although my only other good skimmer was an old ETSS Reef Devil somethingorother downdraft years ago). It has a bubble plate, rubber feet on the bottom for vibration/sound dampening, and supposedly titanium screws. The collection cup simply slides onto the body with a rubber O-ring to provide somewhat of a seal (it takes a bit of force to seat it fully). Cup has a drain.
The Somatic is rated for 50-80 gallons with an air intake at 400-600 LPH, 6" body diameter, 23 watts. No GPH of water flow, alas - it uses a custom impeller. By contrast, AquaMaxx Co-1 is rated for 80-175 gallons with an air intake at 360 LPH, 5" body diameter, 16 watts. I wonder if the Somatic is capable of running a considerably bigger tank than it is, and I'm hoping that I didn't get too big of a skimmer. We'll see how it goes (the tank probably won't be set up with rock until mid to late January, or possibly February) . . . but I'm pretty confident that I didn't get an underpowered skimmer.
First impressions - it's BIG. It has a 9" x 9" footprint, and I thought that this was being conservative and including a margin around the skimmer since the body is listed at 6". As you can see in the picture with my ruler . . . you're going to need the full 9" x 9". It's also very well packaged, and looks/feels like it's of very high quality (certainly the highest quality skimmer that I've ever owned, although my only other good skimmer was an old ETSS Reef Devil somethingorother downdraft years ago). It has a bubble plate, rubber feet on the bottom for vibration/sound dampening, and supposedly titanium screws. The collection cup simply slides onto the body with a rubber O-ring to provide somewhat of a seal (it takes a bit of force to seat it fully). Cup has a drain.
The Somatic is rated for 50-80 gallons with an air intake at 400-600 LPH, 6" body diameter, 23 watts. No GPH of water flow, alas - it uses a custom impeller. By contrast, AquaMaxx Co-1 is rated for 80-175 gallons with an air intake at 360 LPH, 5" body diameter, 16 watts. I wonder if the Somatic is capable of running a considerably bigger tank than it is, and I'm hoping that I didn't get too big of a skimmer. We'll see how it goes (the tank probably won't be set up with rock until mid to late January, or possibly February) . . . but I'm pretty confident that I didn't get an underpowered skimmer.
