It's been 15 years! These new skimmers have my head spinning1

[jda]

I have used plenty of skimmers that don't do as good of a job as others. They are all not the same.

 

[ReefGeezer]

I have used plenty of skimmers that don't do as good of a job as others. They are all not the same.

I agree. I remember the old discussions back in the day. I chose my old Reef Octo because I thought it was very effective and possibly a little more efficient than skimmers that needed pressure rated pumps. As I have said before, "It will skim the chrome off of a trailer hitch". It still does after 15 years. BUT... It is big, and ugly, and noisy, and still requires a lot of power to run. I chose to replace it with a skimmer I expect to be less effective to make more refugium room in my sump, reduce noise, and reduce power consumption a little.

I do believe that there are considerations other than which skimmer "skims" the best that might influence the final choice. Given the methods employed today that trend away from straight-up Berlin Method systems, I think that we can choose slightly less effective skimmers that have other characteristics that meet our needs.

 

[Yodeling]

I have used plenty of skimmers that don't do as good of a job as others. They are all not the same.

I didn’t say they are all the same. I said they all perform admirably. I’m pretty sure my BK performs better than some of my old skimmers. But those skimmers did a pretty good job too. I’ve even had some cheap ones (ASM G3, Aquac ev180, etc) and they all worked just fine at removing organics and I was super happy with them. And if I had to trade my BK for, say, similarly sized RO, Deltec, Aquamaxx, RedSea, etc, I’m pretty sure I would be just as happy. There may be small differences in performance, but that’s not going to make or break my tank.

 

[jda]

I agree that there are other reasons than just performance to buy a certain skimmer. I do not think that all, or even a good portion of them, are anywhere near to the best-of-breed to just say that they are close enough. A good too many are not even half as effective as some of the better ones. I just needs to be mentioned so that if people want the better performing ones, then they can get one.

 

[CayeCaulker]

I want to run a external but there is only 26" max clearance under my stand with only about 24.5" useable so my skimmer options are limited. I would have to have clearance to lift the cup off. 150g with a healthy bio load.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Or tap it and put a spout their to empty the cup into a collector.

Loved my.lifereef.
Loved my swc 150bmk too though. Swapped the crap pump for a.sicce of the same dimensions and gph flow and man that skimmer kicked anus. Lol.

I agree that not all skimmers are the same. Dwell times. Air flows. Volume. Ect. All.comes into effect.
-d

 

[Derrick0580]

Reef octopus 150sss is onlo 20.5” tall and if its like my 200sss it has a drain hole in the collection cup

 

[Freenow54]

I used to run HSA beckett skimmers. I have been out of the hobby for 15 years..

I always oversized my skimmers!


I am setting up a 150 show and want to over size again. In the past my over sized skimmer solution saved me from a few possible disasters and I want to do it again. Problem is HSA is out of business and I don't know what to buy.


Ideas/

I like OCTO seems to be popular, and good reviews. Picture of mine. Learned one lesson when you get it set dont mess with it after you clean it. Let it recover itself