Which skimmer for a five foot reef tank?
- Thread starter LouisDad
- Start date
slief
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For the 5x2.5x2, the Double Cone 180 would be perfect. For the 5x3x2 the Double Cone 180 would still be fine or if you are going to have a reasonably heavy fish load, the Double Cone 200 or Mini 200.
slief
RC Sponsor
For the larger display, I would say 30 fish would be a reasonable decent load. A heavy load is about 1/2" of fish per display gallon. The Double Cone 200 would be best suited for a minimum of a 175 gallon display with a heavy load. These skimmers are conservately rated and oversizing them will result in inconsistent performance and the need to run them really wet to maintain reasonable consistency. In doing so, you loose some fine tuning ability. You need a good supply of dissolve organics to maintain a good foam head. The bigger the skimmer, the more dissolved organics will be needed to fill the neck with foam in order to generate enough foam to fill the neck and spill over into the cup. In absence of enough dissolved organics, you won't be able to maintain enough of a foam head to keep the neck consistently full of foam which is where inconsistency comes into play. I always say.. You are better off with a properly sized skimmer that is always hard working than an oversized skimmer that hardly has to work and will be inconsistent as a result.
The RD3 50 would lbe undersized for that IMO. I have a 90 gallon display with an RD3 80 on it running at around 60 watts. For a display that size, you'd be running the RD3 80 anear 100% after head and friction loss. Thus I'd say an RD3 80 would be a much better choice.
The RD3 50 would lbe undersized for that IMO. I have a 90 gallon display with an RD3 80 on it running at around 60 watts. For a display that size, you'd be running the RD3 80 anear 100% after head and friction loss. Thus I'd say an RD3 80 would be a much better choice.
slief
RC Sponsor
Double Cone 150 or Mini 160.. Mini 160 will be easier to setup as it's more set it and forget it. The Double Cone 150 would required fine tuning the nozzle which can take some time to get it dialed in. I have a Mini 160 on a 100 gallon system and it's a really nice skimmer. I've played with Double Cone 150's too and they are nice too but unlike the Mini which you put it in and turn it on, the Double Cone will take a couple weeks of futzing to find the sweet spot and will be more sensitive to changes in the load and system.
slief
RC Sponsor
For a 130 gallon display, I'd go with the Double Cone 180. The Double Cone 180 will be as close to silent as you can get with a skimmer. If you get the double cone 180, set it at 18-22 watts depending on the load. I'd start at 18 and find the setting that results in the thickest most dense foam. FWIW, you mentioned Double Cone 130. Maybe that was a typo because that would be too small for anything we have discussed thus far.
Hi Scott, I ended up getting an Elos 120. Allowing for the glass thickness, substrate, rock and unfilled space at the top of the tank, I guess I have 80G of water. This is at the upper limit of the Double Cone 130. I intend on a pretty high bioload. Do you think this skimmer would suffice or should I go for the next size up? Thanks again for all your advice thus far.
slief
RC Sponsor
Depending on your fish stocking plans, I would either go with the double cone 150 or Mini 160.
