250 ALPHA VERTEX SKIMMeR

[lps1212]

Hello fellow members I have been aquireing equipment for an upgrade I have been plannin. On my ventures of doing so I came across this skimmer one can say new because it was only used for 1month before I bought it. Reason for him sellin was because he went back to his old skimmer and mrc I believe. Anyway my question is this the tank I'm settin up is a All Glass Cages 120g. Do you think I have too much skimmer for this tank. Some say yes while others say no. I was one that always believed you can never have too much skim. But I also know skimmers now a days are made much better than before. So should I stick with this monster skimmer or go back on the hunt for ither a. Super Reef Octopus or Mini Bubble King 180

 

[Troylee]

how much water total with the sump??? on the 120 alone i would say yeah your over rated it prolly won't work to well it will only skim periodically and not a constant foam head there for being less productive and less efficient......hth

 

[lps1212]

Withe the sump I plan on going with a custom sump local builder out by me because of the footprint of the skimmer being around 18" I will probably do a 50 gal

 

[wrasseluver]

I ran an alpha 200 on a 120 with a 30 gallon sump. It work great because I had a heavy bio load. I now have it on my 40 breeder but I only use it every other day.

 

[lps1212]

That's another thing I forgot to mention I do plan on haveing my tank heavy stocked also but maybe the 200 instead of 250 that's what I'm not sure of

 

[wrasseluver]

I really think it should be fine as long as you have the room to house it in the sump.

 

[lps1212]

that's how I feel but than I have guys that have been doing the hobby longer than I have tellin me the skimmer is too much for my system tellin me the same thing Troylee says I will have skim on and off as opposeed to al the time. That's where I'm stumped because I don't wanna build a custom sump for the vertex and I have a half workin skimmer

 

[wrasseluver]

This is how I feel about the over skimming. I've been in the hobby for 12 years and every time I got a skimmer that was rated for a 300 gallon tank or more and I put it on my 120 it couldn't keep up because I ran a heavy bio load lots of fish and sps. I finally got the alpha 200 and I was told the same thing it's to much for a 120 it won't work that well. It work great for the 1 and 1/2 it was on the 120.

 

[lps1212]

thanks wrasseluva i think with the way i plan on haveing this 120 stocked i believe my skimmer will do the trick im both a fish and coral lover so with that said this tank will definetly be filled to the brim with all type of goodies