Is a Mini Bubble King 200 too much skimmer?

[TylerHaworth]

So I'm in the process of ordering equipment for my Waterbox Infinia 190.5 and I see the Mini 180 has been discontinued.

Simple question is, will the Mini 200 be too much skimmer?

Second question, would a Supermarin 160 be a better option?

 

[thepubenator]

So I'm in the process of ordering equipment for my Waterbox Infinia 190.5 and I see the Mini 180 has been discontinued.

Simple question is, will the Mini 200 be too much skimmer?

no it will be fine, you can reduce the flow of the pump. Ive used a double cone 200 for over 10 years, used on a 5ft and now on my 6ft

 

[TylerHaworth]

Beautiful tank, thanks for the input!

 

[hatfielj]

Just make sure it fits well in your sump/under your tank. That's the biggest issue IMO...you want it to be easy to work on. I periodically have to remove my pump to get snails out of the impeller and it's a real pain to reach into my sump for it. If it were any bigger it'd be impossible.
Bubble king skimmers are awesome though. I've been using them for 15+ years on multiple systems and never have I had a single failure.

I'm using one on my new set up as well....hasn't even seen water yet:) It's the BK Supermarin 300. It's a beast in person!

 

[RobertK]

I have had an mini BK 180 for a long time, it is a great skimmer. I'm not familiar with the SuperMarin but I recently bought a Double Cone 150 and did not like it as much as my mini BK and sold it.

I like that the collection cup lifts right off the mini BK when you want to empty it. The cup on the Double Cone was threaded onto the base and had to be unscrewed to dump it out (plus there was a drain tube attached to the cup that made it hard to unscrew). The collection cup on the DC 160 was smaller than the one on the mini BK 180 and would need to be emptied more often. The main hassle with the mini BK is that the pump is located inside the skimmer so you have to take the whole thing apart to service the pump, which also means taking the whole skimmer out of the sump. Its really not too bad once you get the hang of it (as long as you have enough room to get it in and out of your sump) but it is a process.

My mini BK 180 seems to be well sized for my 112 gallon system. I think you would be fine with the mini BK 200 if you are willing to take the whole thing out of the sump for servicing the pump. It appears to have a bigger collection cup than the SuperMarin 160 too which I think you'd appreciate (though perhaps not an issue if you plan to connect it to an external collection container).

 

[TylerHaworth]

Thanks for the insight, I just don’t know what to go with. I wish RE had a presence on here to guide me.

 

[RobertK]

If you can get a hold of Scott Leif at Royal Exclusiv USA he was helpful answering questions for me. However, you have to ask all the right questions. Based on his recommendations I purchased the DC 150, which I ended up selling because I didn't like it as much as my old mini BK 180. Feel free to PM me if you want more info.