Which skimmer?

natebedwell06

New member
Looking for a new skimmer, I'm wanting to keep it in the 400 range, I've got a 225 with a 60 gallon sump. Will be fairly heavily stocked and really heavily fed
 
Aquamaxx cone 3 would work on sale at marine depot for $350 I think. Don't count your sump volume when buying a skimmer. Display volume only, the sump volume actually helps a skimmer out.
 
Hmm... I was seriously looking at the AquaMaxx CO-1 for my 120g, but this is the one that looks to be seriously backordered. If this is still the case when I'm ready to buy, I'm willing to spend the extra to get the CO-2. Are there any drawbacks to having a grossly oversized skimmer? The CO-2 is listed for up to 350g, so this is almost triple the capacity I need. That said, we are thinking to eventually upgrade to a 220g or 280g tank so the CO-2 would be a good investment for that end.
 
I don't know the performance differences between the Aquamaxx Cone series and the EM series... but after starting a similar thread on this forum, I was lead in the direction to get the EM 300 (340 gallon rating and $379 on marine depot). I wish I could tell you more about my own personal experiences but I have yet fire up my 210 mixed reef that will also have a heavy fish load.
 
I own a EM 300 works great but be aware of the air in put numbers. On the 300EM they claim 1020 l/h of air but I am only getting 700-800. Not impressed .
 
Looking at the size of their skimmers my take is the co 2 would be just about right for a 120g, no way it would work on a 350g tank. Seems like from how they rate their stuff 1/3 to 1/2 their "volume" rating is its max tank size, at least that's my take.

A skimmer that's only 6in dia and 22.1in tall would not work on a 350g tank

If you want to upgrade to a 220-280g I would go with a larger skimmer, that is you plan on using whatever you buy now on that tank. My old er 12-2 was on a 265g heavy stocked of tank and it would fill up its cup within 5 days of coffe color nasty stuff.... Skimmer was 12in dia and 30 in tall and was rated for a 400-450g tank.

Going with a oversized skimmer I think is better. After the skimmer catches up to the bio load it will just sit idle and not produce the nasty stuff all day long. It just gives the skimmer headroom to remove nutrients quicker when they enter the water column. Be it from food or a die off of some type. When skimmers are small they produce skimmate 24/7 and never idle thus have no headroom for when the fish are fed or if their is a die off be it from a dead fish, crab, snail or whatever.....
 
I have the new coneS co-2 and love it on my 120g 4x2x2 sps dominated reef tank. I also noticed that the skimmer is rated for 350g and is only a 6in diameter and 22in tall. The only reason I can think of for the increased rating is the fact that the pump is not located inside the cone body (which is frequently the case and reduces space for bubble interaction) and the newly designed bubble plate. Maybe they really feel the bubble plate is worth that much more. What I can say for sure after about 1 month of use on what is a lightly loaded frag/small colony tank is that the skimmer spends a good amount of time not producing skim. This tells me that at the moment it is surely to large for the system, but this is ok because I purchased the skimmer with the mature system in mind. If nothing else it will keep your water that much more oxygenated. I have seen a nice 0.1-0.15 unit increase in ph. I love this skimmer!!!!!! Highly recommend it!!!!!
 
Looking at the size of their skimmers my take is the co 2 would be just about right for a 120g

^^^This... It would actually be good up to a 150. No way350 gallons. I used an em200 on a 150 sps with great results. The cone 2 and coneS co-2 series are better skimmers.
 
I have the new coneS co-2 and love it on my 120g 4x2x2 sps dominated reef tank. I also noticed that the skimmer is rated for 350g and is only a 6in diameter and 22in tall. The only reason I can think of for the increased rating is the fact that the pump is not located inside the cone body (which is frequently the case and reduces space for bubble interaction) and the newly designed bubble plate. Maybe they really feel the bubble plate is worth that much more.

I think its 100% just marketing mumbojumbo..... People see 350g at a cheap price and think it will work on that big of a tank. Pretty much all of the Chinese manufacturers grossly overrate their skimmers. Seems like when people see for $299 I can get a skimmer from x brand rated at 350 gallons vs y brand that costs $995 for a skimmer rated at 350g. People usually seem to go the cheaper route thinking its more bang for the it buck...... Often times those people upgrade to a different skimmer in a year or two..... Vs buying a properly sized skimmer the first time.


Many companies use the sump saver design which is where the pump is inside the body and yes one would think that would greatly reduce the skimmers rating due to how much smaller the skimmer body is due to the pump in there. Some companies do not even offer a sump saver design due to how much that affects the protein skimmer in a bad way.

What your skimmer is doing to your tank is how you want a skimmer to work on a tank and hopefully it will continue working that way when the tank is fully loaded.
 
sn4265;22007926 Are there any drawbacks to having a grossly oversized skimmer? .[/QUOTE said:
to answer this question.....YES!!!!! There are huge drawbacks to a grossly oversized skimmer. Skimmers do not work well or consistently when they are oversized. You cannot maintain a stable foam head. It is very frustrating. definitely get an appropriately sized skimmer.
 
The issue is how to define grossly oversized. A bubbleking, deltec, atb or reef dynamics rated at 500 gallons is quite a bit different vs a corralife, aquamaxx or reef octopus skimmer rated at that same size aquarium.

Going to small and the skimmer can never properly skim the tank due to always producing stuff and has no headroom for when more protein enters the water. Yes there is always a juice foam head but the water can't be cleaned like it could be.

With working consistently..... If a skimmer can catch up with the bio/protein waste load it might come across as not working consistently which is due to no protein in the water to remove. Not that the skimmer isn't working properly or anything like that..... It's just sitting by and has nothing to remove..... there is nothing wrong with doing this. I prefer going with a larger skimmer vs smaller one however grossly oversized skimmer I will not do.

For my tank.... My 15yr old euro reef 12-2 was rated around a 400g tank looking at their present day specs. It worked great on my old 265g but is to small for my present tank. Jeff at reef dynamics suggested their xrc750.3 or xrc750.4 on my tank. I am leaning towards his xrc1000.4 due to my very heavy bio load.... 4 lg angels and a bunch of tangs. I also plan on adding a bio pellet reactor which further increases the load the skimmer deals with. For me grossly oversized would be their xrc2000 or xrc4000
 
Wow, didn't mean to start all this. I agree about the super over sized skimmer comments. Not that I feel you guys are making a stab at me, but I think that regardless of the suggested rating of the coneS co-2 it is a very appropriately sized skimmer for our sized tanks. Its 6in diameter, pump is powerful, but not to powerful. Its a very well balanced skimmer. I plan on liking it for years to come. I also suggest it to anyone with a tank/bioload similar to my own. There are tons of others out there that would be great as well. I suggest this after seeing a solicitation for advice and provide my own experience. Again, seriously I don't take the previous comments the wrong way. Just my 2 cents.
 
Wasn't life so much easier when there were the sanders air stone driven skimmers and maybe one or two other Skimmers available 20 some years ago..... Now with what seems like over 100 manufacturers... And a handful of different models per manufacturer.... It gets so confusing :)

Hope I didn't come across as stating otherwise.... But yes a 6in dia skimmer should be perfect for that size tank :)
 
Personally for me I like octopus skkmmers and has a 6" body xrteme 200 on a 75 with 30g sump. And now for my new system 120g with 160-190g of other system I will be getting around the 250 diablo or rating of 500g
 
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