Protein Skimmer

Venzzla · Mar 5, 2019

What's the best HOB skimmer on market? I'm leaning towards Reef Octopus brand. Seems consistent and always has great reviews. Of the Reef Octopus brands which one? This would be a HOB for a 40 gallon breeder tank.

Thanks in advance!

WVNed · Mar 5, 2019

I do not know which one is best. I used a Classic 100 for many years and it will work.

WVNed · Mar 5, 2019

It is very large

Surfer311 · Mar 5, 2019

Venzzla said:
What's the best HOB skimmer on market? I'm leaning towards Reef Octopus brand. Seems consistent and always has great reviews. Of the Reef Octopus brands which one? This would be a HOB for a 40 gallon breeder tank.

Thanks in advance!

Reef Octopus all the way, am using the hob 2000 on a moderately stocked 125 mixed reef and is a beast of a workhorse. Only downside I can think of is that due to the design it isn’t possible for a collection cup drain so requires me to dump 1-2x daily as it fills up completely.

Also, if you go this route make sure to remove the 90 elbow on the return side. Makes the skimmer run alot more efficiently and keeps it from overflowing during restart after a power outage.

MTBake · Mar 5, 2019

I'm using the hob 2000 as well. It's on my 40 breeder and works very well. I've been using this same skimmer for around 10 years now.

tvu · Mar 5, 2019

I was happy with Aquamaxx hob when I had smaller tanks.

rainmaker · Mar 5, 2019

I used a octo HOB classic 100 on a 40 breeder I had running
Was very happy with it , still have it an not using if your interested I can sell it

Venzzla · Mar 6, 2019

Surfer311 said:
Reef Octopus all the way, am using the hob 2000 on a moderately stocked 125 mixed reef and is a beast of a workhorse. Only downside I can think of is that due to the design it isn’t possible for a collection cup drain so requires me to dump 1-2x daily as it fills up completely.

Also, if you go this route make sure to remove the 90 elbow on the return side. Makes the skimmer run alot more efficiently and keeps it from overflowing during restart after a power outage.

Thanks for the tip...I am going to measure and see if I have enough room between the wall and aquarium for this one.

Deiblerj · Mar 6, 2019

I have a skimz HOB https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/skimz-monzter-sh2-hangon-external-skimmer.html

Its alright. Gets the job done. Kind of a pain to clean but I feel like this is the case with most skimmers. Takes a little bit to tune in and can get a little noisy after cleaning but quiets down after a day of running.

Clean sleek look compared to some others on the market. If I were to buy another one I would look into RO based on their reputation

Venzzla · Mar 6, 2019

Deiblerj said:
I have a skimz HOB https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/skimz-monzter-sh2-hangon-external-skimmer.html

Its alright. Gets the job done. Kind of a pain to clean but I feel like this is the case with most skimmers. Takes a little bit to tune in and can get a little noisy after cleaning but quiets down after a day of running.

Clean sleek look compared to some others on the market. If I were to buy another one I would look into RO based on their reputation

What pump do you have driving this in the aquarium?

Deiblerj · Mar 6, 2019

Got this one. Haven’t had any issues with it. I will the one thing I hate about this skimmer is when you first plug it in you have to be very very fast. You don’t want to run the skimmer dry and if you turn on the pump first you need to make sure the flow control is wide open or you plug the skimmer in right after. I’ve overflowed the skimmer onto the floor because I didn’t have the valve wide open and the water rose too quick before leveling out. Really only an issue when cleaning and setting back up.

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/cobalt-mj1200-powerhead.html

Venzzla · Mar 6, 2019

Thanks. I’ll check it out

Deiblerj · Mar 6, 2019

Let me know if you have anymore questions. The instructions SUCK and I figured most of mine out through trial and error and taking it apart....always end up with extra pieces afterwards o_O

I had to buy a new propeller for the skimmer and it took me forever to find the right one on BRS, but I did!

Venzzla · Mar 6, 2019

Will do thanks !

Surfer311 · Mar 6, 2019

Venzzla said:
Thanks for the tip...I am going to measure and see if I have enough room between the wall and aquarium for this one.

Here is mine, only need about 4.5” of space in behind tank to wall to fit. This is one day worth of skim for me, almost to top of neck with thick black skimmate:

Reef Octupus 2000 on 125 gallon mixed reef with alot of sps, moderately stocked fish/coral. I run this along with a fluval fx6 filled with nothing but pond matrix,biosphere media, carbon & gfo, and I maintenance dose 4ml nopox daily to keep nitrate at 1 and phosphate trace/undetectable. Great skimmer, no dialing in and very short break-in period.

Venzzla · Mar 7, 2019

Surfer311 said:
Here is mine, only need about 4.5” of space in behind tank to wall to fit. This is one day worth of skim for me, almost to top of neck with thick black skimmate:

Reef Octupus 2000 on 125 gallon mixed reef with alot of sps, moderately stocked fish/coral. I run this along with a fluval fx6 filled with nothing but pond matrix,biosphere media, carbon & gfo, and I maintenance dose 4ml nopox daily to keep nitrate at 1 and phosphate trace/undetectable. Great skimmer, no dialing in and very short break-in period.

wow that thing is doing some work!

Venzzla · Mar 7, 2019

Yeah I think I have just barely over 5" of room so I would be cutting it close but it would probably work. I'm trying to decide if I want to go this route or go ahead and do an overflow/sump and place skimmer in sump.