Coralife SuperSKimmer... why not?

[Dolphins18]

Hello,
I wanted to take some time to talk about what has been my favorite skimmer on the market for over 15 years. I have tried skimmers double the price tag, and noticed worse reliability and overall ease of use and compatibility with every single one. I have heard people give Coralife skimmers a bad name and I would like to know WHY?
I have a 125 super skimmer that has been running for well over 15 years flawlessly, I also have the 220 and it is excellent. I am planning on using 2 of these skimmers on my new tank, and personally think its a much smarter option than paying 4x the price for an octopus, which does the exact same thing with less versatility.
Please tell me why this skimmer isn't a more popular choice? Its way cheaper than the "popular" ones, and does literally the exact same thing while allowing you to run it in or outside the sump.

 

[ichthyogeek]

^^Agreed. I've run the 65 gallon one for the past 6 years and it's pretty dang reliable.

The only reason I can think of that would make it not as optimal is that you can't get your hands in the bubble chamber to clean it from time to time...

 

[Sdot]

Hello,
I wanted to take some time to talk about what has been my favorite skimmer on the market for over 15 years. I have tried skimmers double the price tag, and noticed worse reliability and overall ease of use and compatibility with every single one. I have heard people give Coralife skimmers a bad name and I would like to know WHY?
I have a 125 super skimmer that has been running for well over 15 years flawlessly, I also have the 220 and it is excellent. I am planning on using 2 of these skimmers on my new tank, and personally think its a much smarter option than paying 4x the price for an octopus, which does the exact same thing with less versatility.
Please tell me why this skimmer isn't a more popular choice? Its way cheaper than the "popular" ones, and does literally the exact same thing while allowing you to run it in or outside the sump.

I think to everyone has a preference, in my experience you pay for what you get. I've tried going the cheaper route with critical equipment in the past...I've always lived to regret it. So i buy the best in my budget....and if its still too much, then i save till it isn't.

 

[Dolphins18]

^^Agreed. I've run the 65 gallon one for the past 6 years and it's pretty dang reliable.

The only reason I can think of that would make it not as optimal is that you can't get your hands in the bubble chamber to clean it from time to time...

Yea, Ive got feather dusters growing in my old one, just a few, but they don't change its skimming ability. I just clean the "neck" every couple years, pretty easy.

 

[Dolphins18]

I think to everyone has a preference, in my experience you pay for what you get. I've tried going the cheaper route with critical equipment in the past...I've always lived to regret it. So i buy the best in my budget....and if its still too much, then i save till it isn't.

I like that, I think you are 100 percent correct about personal preference, and I also may be slightly biased toward this one because I have used it for so long. I wouldn't add this to the cheaper route however, corallife makes a pretty good product. I prefer it to my name brand skimmer on another tank.

 

[Rit6942]

Personally I think all needlewheel skimmers these days work about the same..........average at best. I wont say they are junk......i wont say they are good either. Deltec is probably the only "good" needlewheel skimmer on the market now that Euroreef no longer exists. Problem with todays designs is small body size and air intake ability. Not to mention build quality compared to what was available years ago........but many mfgs have gone cheap......thats capitolism for ya. Needlewheels just dont draw in much air and the small bodies hamper contact time and volume. They can be made to work just fine......but i classify them as light bioload capable.

 

[Sdot]

Personally I think all needlewheel skimmers these days work about the same..........average at best. I wont say they are junk......i wont say they are good either. Deltec is probably the only "good" needlewheel skimmer on the market now that Euroreef no longer exists. Problem with todays designs is small body size and air intake ability. Not to mention build quality compared to what was available years ago........but many mfgs have gone cheap......thats capitolism for ya. Needlewheels just dont draw in much air and the small bodies hamper contact time and volume. They can be made to work just fine......but i classify them as light bioload capable.

Im sorry.... i disagree completely. I have had all type of skimmers over the past 15 or so years, from venturi's, ETS downdrafts, and the PM beckett skimmers...they were great; however they were loud, required huge power hungry pumps, and were pretty large. I think the Aqua Medic turboflotor line created needle wheel skimmers if I'm not mistaken. I find needle wheel skimmers to be the opposite of all mentioned above and personally I'm a huge fan of Nyos line of skimmers. They work almost too good.

 

[Rit6942]

I agree on becketts needing over the top high pressire high current pumps....but put a beckett of similiar size in the same sump with ANY needlewheel and that needlewheel gets shut down instantly while the beckett pulls out loads of organics(i know ive done this test countless times).....same with Mazzei venturi skimmers......
my personal favorites.......while high pressure pumps make them work better......there are plenty of efficient low amperage high pressure pumps(mag drives and sicce to name a couple)out there where this is a non factor. I have an older pvc built 30" tall dual mazzei injector that shuts down any needlewheel skimmer put into the same water supply. What takes a needlewheel a day to remove organics......it removes in an hour. And thats because of the amount of air it draws in. You need air to make bubbles.......more air more bubbles and that means more surface area to extract waste and done exponentially quicker.

 

[thedougen]

how do you set this crappy skimmer up ??????????? using it has a hob does not produce skim mate after 2 weeks just looks like it boils water all the time.........pump is 2-3 inches below water and return is .5 -1 inche below water..............what is going on with this? bought it on sale to upgrade the sea clone......the sea clone works better than this thing.............what am i doing wrong ???? please help-------its the 125 model

 

[lordraptor1]

how do you set this crappy skimmer up ??????????? using it has a hob does not produce skim mate after 2 weeks just looks like it boils water all the time.........pump is 2-3 inches below water and return is .5 -1 inche below water..............what is going on with this? bought it on sale to upgrade the sea clone......the sea clone works better than this thing.............what am i doing wrong ???? please help-------its the 125 model

ok glad you asked because this iw where most of the people using these skimmers mess up and why people call them junk. look at your instructions, you will see that the tube length used for hang on vs in sump are different make sure you are using the correct length tube. next for break in period set the water level inside the skimmer to below the skimmer collection cup retaining ring ( the big threaded hut thing ). then set the water level a little higher for the next 24 until you finally reach the manual recommended settings. now i dont know what your bio load is like or how many gallons your tank is but the skimmer should still be pulling something if set up correctly. i had a super skimmer 220 running on a 90 gallon tank which had a lion a LARGE fire clown, and a tank and i was having to clean my coralife skimmer cup every 3 to 5 days. love how people say you get what you pay for because in my experience with modern skimmers that is BS. im currently running a reef octopus regal 200 INT on a 150 gallon tank and after just looking at the micro bubbles inside the skimmer body i can say that the coralife is far superior for producing bubbles in skimmer chamber but at the end of the day when set up properly all modern skimmers work. but peoples preferences are different so some have the more expensive is better mindset while others do not. fact is simple as someone who has used "inexpensive" ( inexpensive in parenthesis because $200 to $300 really isnt inexpensive these days) and what i call expensive

 

[thedougen]

thanks for your input but at about 2.5 weeks in it started working like a champ now----like you said about 3-4 days the cups has to be cleaned----its a great skimmer ----just needs to be set up right and it will work great-----and i really cant complain i got it on sale for $115 (box was ripped on the side but not open)-------yep small tube on pump and i used pvc pipe to replace the flex pipe------everything is working great now