Do good HOB skimmers exist?

[Lineatus]

the HOB sponge filter on my nano finally kicked the bucket today after a good 7 years of service. Ive been wanting to upgrade my reef and replacing the old filter with a HOB skimmer would be great if possible. Unfortunately I am a student so my budget is rather low, is there a quality nano HOB skimmer available for <£60? Or maybe a similar alternative? thanks :)

 

[jft]

IMO NO! I have tried tunze 9012 No skimmate after 6 weeks, tried reef octopus BH 100 and had similar results. Tried my friends BH 1000 no good results and I was warned about potential overflow issues. I have 30 years in reef Hobby so I know good skimmers when I see them in action. Sadly If I could currently change my setup which has NO access for sump I would add sump. These skimmers were used on a well established FO with rock. 125 gallon system Multiple damsels trigger clowns and two centropyge angels which get fed 3x daily variious foods, Waste of money just do regular water changes, I have GONE Skimmerless.

 

[X-37B]

IMO NO! I have tried tunze 9012 No skimmate after 6 weeks, tried reef octopus BH 100 and had similar results. Tried my friends BH 1000 no good results and I was warned about potential overflow issues. I have 30 years in reef Hobby so I know good skimmers when I see them in action. Sadly If I could currently change my setup which has NO access for sump I would add sump. These skimmers were used on a well established FO with rock. 125 gallon system Multiple damsels trigger clowns and two centropyge angels which get fed 3x daily variious foods, Waste of money just do regular water changes, I have GONE Skimmerless.

Yea you dont need a skimmer on a nano, imo. I run skimmers on all my systems but not this 20g nano cube. 2g water change a month and thats it.

 

[EricR]

IMO NO! I have tried tunze 9012 No skimmate after 6 weeks, tried reef octopus BH 100 and had similar results. Tried my friends BH 1000 no good results and I was warned about potential overflow issues. I have 30 years in reef Hobby so I know good skimmers when I see them in action. Sadly If I could currently change my setup which has NO access for sump I would add sump. These skimmers were used on a well established FO with rock. 125 gallon system Multiple damsels trigger clowns and two centropyge angels which get fed 3x daily variious foods, Waste of money just do regular water changes, I have GONE Skimmerless.

Same here -- 40 gallon in wall nook with NO empty space to even cut into below for sump. 2 HOB power filters have been working fine for me so far with no skimmer.

....but, if I could, I'd go sump with refugium below.

 

[jimk60]

My reef octopus 1000 hob is a very good skimmer. Might be a little big for you but good hob skimmers do exist!

 

[Homebrewer]

My reef octopus 1000 hob is a very good skimmer. Might be a little big for you but good hob skimmers do exist!

I have the largest version of the Reef Octopus HOB skimmer and it’s awesome.

Outside of the debate of whether you need one, if you DO use one, I highly recommend the Reef Octopus brand. I’m on my second one, and the first one I had for 9 years. Probably would have lasted longer but I did virtually zero maintenance on it.

 

[dedragon]

idk what is meant by hob sponge filter (i guess hob power filter or hob filter with media mesh?) if so a skimmer isnt really going to replace it at all and i would say replacing filter media is going to help keep down nutrient levels better than a skimmer in a nano tank

 

[LeftyReefer]

Aquamaxx HOB 1.5 has always worked great for me.

 

[Big Smelly fish]

I also use a aqua max 1.5 that works well on on a seahorse tank. Do I wish it was better yes but it works and fills cup up about once a week a dark skimmate. I have it on a 75 seahorse tank. For this tank a bigger would be better.

 

[Muffin87]

This should be good and in your price range

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