What is the best protein skimmer for a 120?

[sjm817]

You can buy from Deltec directly. They have a sponsor forum here too if you have questions.

 

[NoSchwag]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6362212#post6362212 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by HappyReefer2
I'm actually looking at upgrading my fish only tank to a better performing skimmer... why don't you like the ASM G3? I've read a lot of threads on it and everyone seems to praise the heck out of this unit. Before I spend any $$$, I like to find out any negative on this unit.

Yep, I got it because everyone loves it so much. But after going back and reading thru the posts of the people who liked it, I found that most of those people were not going for the same type of tank that I was.. The G3 may be fine for what you are trying to do, it wasn't for what I am trying to do. I think if you are just looking for something that will help remove protiens from the water and have a sanbed/filtersock to remove particles/waste, a G3 is fine (I hear they have a g3+ or something now, you might look into that).

There are a few reason's why I didn't like it.

- I couldn't process the water and remove particles out of my tank quick enough. There is no way the sedra could keep up with my return, I would end up only skimming some of the water, and most would go back into the tank. I know people feed directly from the return, but you still couldn't pump enough water thru it to get all of the particles out fast enough for me.

the sedra isn't a very powerful pump. I like the pump I'm using now because not only is it fast enough to skim all/most of the water from the first compartment of my sump, but it's powerful enough to take particles from my tank and splatter them all over the wall on my collection cup. The sedra seems like a powerhead to my current pump.

- The thing was very sketchy. Everything would seem fine, then all of a sudden the skimmer would go crazy, overflow the cup, and spill everything back into my sump. I had a gatevalve (installed correctly according to asmskimmer.com) but that didn't help much. The skimmer I have now is very predictable in that I know if I leave for work, I wont come back to a mess. (the auto-shutoff is a very nice feature also)

-The ASM couldn't skim wet without raising the water in the simmer body WAY up. By doing this I would overflow the cup a lot even though I had the gate valve, and I would miss a lot of the particles. The ASM is a great protien skimmer, but it's not the best particle skimmer.

-I talked to a lot of senior members who are doing what I am trying to do, and all of them who went from beckett > needlewheel, needlewheel > beckett, or have both, all agree that the beckett is better at skimming how I want to skim.

There are some "disadvantages" with my new choice: noise, space and electricity. These are not big deals to me because I live on a main rd. so the pump is quiet compaired to the street, have all the space in the world to put an external pump, and I only pay .11 a kw for power.

 

[mattls]

I have a 120 and run a ASMG3 and love it .

 

[jimbo045]

I feel SeaClone 150 is the one, for a little over 100.00 JD

 

[dannieboiz]

how about an EV-180? Here's 3 hours of skimming

 

[roons]

i have a euroreef cs6-3, is it the best for a 120 , i dont have a clue but it works for me..............