BEST SKIMMER BRAND: Who get's your vote?

[Feet4Fish]

Bashea and RK2. Much like Lifereef....truly a set it and forget it piece of equipment. The run awesome all the time no matter what!

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

Reef Octopus is the best for the money. Yes, Nyos and others are better, but they are wayyy more expensive.

The reef octopus elite series is made to compete with the nyos and be a top end skimmer

 

[MTBake]

Went from Reef Octopus to Nyos and now use a Deltec. Like the Deltec the best. Good build quality, easy to take apart to clean and easy to dial in.

 

[jeffrey750750]

I couldn't beat the cost of $220.00 for my simplicity dc120. Adjustable motor speed and feed mode. It pulls a half an inch of nasties a day, so I'd say it works just fine

 

[AZMSGT]

I had a Red Sea RSK 600. It did ok but It lacked adjustability I wanted.

I switched to a Reef Octopus Elite 200sss having the adjustability of the DC motor combined with the ease of hooking up a Carbon scrubber made the RO the preferred skimmer.

 

[andrewey]

I've had a lot of skimmers and some were great some were so-so, and some were awful (looking at you seaclone!). However, if the question is the best brand, the companies that stand out are RO and Deltec. The majority of their product lines are fantastic! I still have love for specific skimmers (e.g. ASM G series) and some good companies can make a specific superstar skimmer, but those two companies are ones I can trust 90% of the time without looking up reviews for an individual skimmer.

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

I've used a ton of different skimmers, and I believe the Red Sea Prizm is the best... JK Honestly, I currently run an RO Elite 220, and an RE Super Marin 300. The RO is the best value, but the RE skimmers are true pieces of art. They are built incredibly well, and perform like no other skimmer. I've had several other RE skimmers in the past on various setups, and they've always been top notch. If buying new, I'd go RO for the money, but I always try to find used gear in good shape so I got my current RE skimmer for a fantastic price.

 

[Protodad]

Euro reef as it’s all I’ve used.
Trying a skimz in my 24g but I haven’t received a working one yet.

 

[MrsBugmaster]

I own a Lifereef and a Reef Octopus Elite 200 INT. Love them both.

 

[Romeo Kilo]

I've only used Reef Octopus. Am now just getting ready to start using Bubble Magus. We'll see if that impacts anything. I did really like Vertex, but they're out.

I just bought a Vertex Omega 200i from my LFS, he said he has a few in storage

 

[Peace River]

I have been using Reef Octopus skimmers for about 10 years and am currently running 3 Reef Octopus skimmers on different systems - I am very pleased with their performance.

 

[sarcophytonIndy]

I have used many of the mid level brands and Reef Octopus is by far the easiest to tune and most reliable. Just works.

 

[cvrle1]

Had to choose other, surprised Lifereef didn't make the list @revhtree

Love my Lifereef, simple, easy to tune, and will last many many years. It currently sits dry but can't wait to get it running again on my new build.

If I had to purchase over again the only thing I would do is purchase the model with the flange on top to upgrade the skimmer down the road and make cleaning it easier.

They didnt make it because they are not sponsors, or at least sponsors dont sell them

And agreed on everything you said. Wish mine had flange so that I could clean inside properly.

 

[shred5]

Ultra reef skimmer with Royal Exclusiv , ATB, RLSS and Deltec being pretty close.

What is best?

Best build quality Royal Exclusiv, Best all around Ultra reef, Best work horse Deltec, best value RLSS and Reef Octopus, Best performance ATB.

Aquamaxx are cheaply made but work well..


These polls never indicate what the best skimmer is but what is used the most.

Most people probably have not used more than two or three skimmers let alone most on the list.

 

[Perry]

After being in the hobby for 15 years, and owning more skimmers than I can remember, hands down ATB cone skimmer is the best I have seen. Old school Euroreef gets 2nd. I-Tech 3rd.
None of which are choices, lol. I base this on seeing them operating for 10 years+, and still skimming like beasts! It's not very often you come across a used one, they go quickly. Hang on or nano/smaller size, Aquamaxx gets my vote. I have probably owned 15-20 different skimmers over the years. Never tried Vertex, Deltec, or RE, but understand those to be great skimmers as well.
Cheers

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Let's talk protein skimmers today and put it to a vote!

1. What brand skimmer are you running on your saltwater reef aquarium?

2. Are you happy with your current skimmer?

3. If you could choose any skimmer what brand would you choose?


VOTE on your favorite brand and if I forgot a good one let me know!

Don't see Banshee brand

 

[sfin52]

Bigger is better right?

 

[Anchor]

Having used several different skimmers since the 80's, that includes a DIY one using 6 inch PVC with a limewood air-stone (air-wood?) and an air pump and a cup drain, I will say this:

The big differences in skimmers are maintenance and flow adjustability, provided you get one that is not broken in shipping. The ability to tune a skimmer is what really counts. You can do that on the cheap or with something with an exorbitant price tag. Ease of maintaining it is also top of the list. All skimmers work on the same principal so the thickness of the plastic really shouldn't count. You can get the job done with almost any pump that is not over-sized. AC or DC included.

With that said, I really like the Reef Octopus line followed by my DIY though it was a pain to clean.

Which one is best is entirely subjective. Most popular would be a better question.

@revhtree add DIY maybe?

 

[Conrad Noto]

Reef Octopus is what I'm currently running. Many good brands, just my favorite. Easy to use, clean and built well at a decent price point.

 

[Xero]

I always say: the pump makes the skimmer

The rest is just a glorified plastic tube with the same 3-4 gate designs and tube designs....

i prefer a DC skimmer pump, as I've literally seen skimmer performance vary with AC pumps, like running an inch low because an air conditioner kicked on, etc, etc. I even had the DOO of one name-brand pump maker acknowledge this to me. I'm done with AC Skimmer pumps.

As for DC pumps, short of the ones with the titanium impeller, they all look like the same chinese motor blocks, so pick your poison, may as well just go with a coralbox D500/700 cloud9/11/13 and save your money versus paying for a name-brand version of the same pump design.

I voted for lifereef though, cause i have a 4ft lifereef i'm setting up for my new build. Admittedly, it'll have a huge AC iwaki on it, but, I may change it up to DC later, we'll see....