Red Sea Protein Skimmer RSK 300

ArmyReefer

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I have been trying to hold off buying the new RSK 300 because I was hoping to see more reviews on it before I pulled the trigger on it. However, the time has come where I could not wait any longer and I decided to go ahead and do it.


Currently I am running a Reef Octopus 150SSS on my Red Sea 450 with heavyish bio load and has been working very efficiently and honestly I have no complaints at all with the skimmer with one major exception. It does not have a way to drain the skimmate from the cup. It sits on a stand in the back of the sump behind two hanging reactors that are hard plumbed and is not easily accessible. I travel a lot and depend on my girlfriend to pull the collection cup and drain it. Obviously is a pain in the A__ so was looking at alternatives.


Honestly with money being a concern at the moment a 300 dollar price point with a skimmer that is rated to handle my system is very intriguing especially given all of the features, and to be totally honest while I do maintenance on all my equipment I could probably be better about it…….. for this reason I actually wanted an AC pump and not a DC pump as I feel like they will run for much longer and more efficiently without a ton of maintenance on it.

So here we go, opening the box the packaging was perfect and what you would expect. It took me about 10 minutes from start to finish to put together the skimmer as its pretty straight forward. (I did watch the BRS spot light episode on it).

Once assembled I put it on my tank and let it sit wide open for about 10 minutes thinking it was going to go a little crazy. After 10 minutes or so I adjusted the bubbles up to the bottom of the neck (again thinking it was going to be over flowing) and left it alone. After 24 hours I was truly impressed by what it had taken out. (1st Picture). I turned the neck cleaner once and lowered the air a little bringing the bubbles up a ¼ of an inch above the base of the neck. Another 24 hours and still skimming like crazy.

Honestly I cannot hear the skimmer at all and is way way more silent then my old skimmer. I did not hear any air whistling like others have said they experienced. The neck cleaner is fairly easy to spin. (I spin it once a day) and it has kept the neck insanely clean. The hose is a breeze to operate and poors the skimmate right out. I think I noticed a little bump in PH with the new skimmer but will need a couple weeks of charts to see. If I did though it’s pretty negligible.


Pro’s

Easy to assemble
Silent


No break in Period


Drain line


Neck Cleaner


Cons


If using egg crate as a stand, rubber legs are not as sturdy as they would be on solid surface

24 and 48 hours
24hrs.jpg

48 hrs.jpg
 

TronChief

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ArmyReefer, I am so thankful you posted this. I also have a 150sss and my LFS has this skimmer and ive been contemplating buying it. I to want a way to drain skimmate without removing the collection cup. Please keep me posted. Thank you for your service Brother.
 
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ArmyReefer

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ArmyReefer, I am so thankful you posted this. I also have a 150sss and my LFS has this skimmer and ive been contemplating buying it. I to want a way to drain skimmate without removing the collection cup. Please keep me posted. Thank you for your service Brother.
No problem at all, learned so much and got so much information from this site really trying to contribute where I can.
Like I said I like the 150 and honestly it has run great for years. Going to keep it as a back up instead of selling it for either the reef or FOWLR tank, but so far very happy and it actually is insanely nice that you can change the orientation of the RSK 300. Forgot to mention that in my original post. It fits better
 

Westside Guy

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I have the RSK-300 and agree it is really quiet. I really like what they refer to as the FoamView window, the built-in neck cleaner (I also turn it once a day) and extra-long valved waste tube.

That was a great deal of skimmate you have produced in such a short period of time. Out of curiosity, how much water is it sitting in? From the posts I have read on R2R it seems that 7 inches is the sweet spot.
 
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ArmyReefer

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I have the RSK-300 and agree it is really quiet. I really like what they refer to as the FoamView window, the built-in neck cleaner (I also turn it once a day) and extra-long valved waste tube.

That was a great deal of skimmate you have produced in such a short period of time. Out of curiosity, how much water is it sitting in? From the posts I have read on R2R it seems that 7 inches is the sweet spot.
Westside

So I think it has something to do with the fact that my Bio Pellet reactor is dumping out right at the intake of the skimmer, but also like I said I have a pretty high biomass.

I just had to scratch my head actually, when I removed my old skimmer and put this one on the stand the water level was directly in the middle of the red water line tab on the skimmer so I called it good. Will measure when I get home though.
 

RichtheReefer21

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Thanks for the review!
RedSea did a commercial and attended the KoR expo a couple months back. They gave away a 600 or something.

Thing was Massive.
 

Westside Guy

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Westside

So I think it has something to do with the fact that my Bio Pellet reactor is dumping out right at the intake of the skimmer, but also like I said I have a pretty high biomass.

I just had to scratch my head actually, when I removed my old skimmer and put this one on the stand the water level was directly in the middle of the red water line tab on the skimmer so I called it good. Will measure when I get home though.

Thanks, I would love to know the measurement!
 

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I'm pretty sure mine is 6.5 as well, I'll check and get back to you.
 

trmiv

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I’ve been thinking about one of these myself mainly for the neck cleaner. I had a skimmer with an automatic cleaner but I found I got too lazy about maintaining it because it was a pain to get off with the cord and all that. So it would end up with a massive amount of crud on the cleaner itself. Is the lid part with the cleaner easy to pop off and rinse off?
 
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ArmyReefer

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I’ve been thinking about one of these myself mainly for the neck cleaner. I had a skimmer with an automatic cleaner but I found I got too lazy about maintaining it because it was a pain to get off with the cord and all that. So it would end up with a massive amount of crud on the cleaner itself. Is the lid part with the cleaner easy to pop off and rinse off?
So short answer is no, not very easy to life off. Mine sits in the back on a stand and no way I could pull it off there. If it was in the front with room I don’t think it would be a show stopper. The collection cup itself is on there insanely tight, but I am hoping can get away with cleaning that when I do my quarterly maintenance on the skimmer
 

Westside Guy

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So short answer is no, not very easy to life off. Mine sits in the back on a stand and no way I could pull it off there. If it was in the front with room I don’t think it would be a show stopper. The collection cup itself is on there insanely tight, but I am hoping can get away with cleaning that when I do my quarterly maintenance on the skimmer

Actually I found removing the lid was not too bad, however removing the cup itself from the base is a pain in the butt. :(
I purchased Molykote 111 which is a lubricant which I found recommended on another thread about the Red Sea skimmers and put a little around the O ring on the base of the cup and that helped make the removal from the base of the skimmer a little easier.

IMG_0727.jpeg
 

becon776

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how is everyone still liling this skimmer? thinking of making the jump for a rsr 450 eith this one or the nyos 160
 

LC8Sumi

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I agree, but I have three things that worries me:
- Mine is full with sps
- I have a calrx and run the skimmer air line outside, so with a larger skimmer the tank would perhaps profit from the larger gas exchange
- I hate raising skimmers, and I’m afraid the 300 has to be raised.
+1 I also have a 30l refugium, and the 300 is rated for 300 liters, so with a total water volume of around 280l it’s on the edge.
 

becon776

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well once i bought to big of a skimmer and the situation sucked. i could NEVER GET I DIALED IN RIGHT (sro2000 on a 75 gall). right now inhave a RO classic 110 and it is by amd far too small.skims like a beast but need bigger. full cup everyday. i have to make a decision soon bc black fri is upon us amd i will kick myself if i dont buy during. my sump is a crystal sea triton made for my tank and has adjistable water level for skimmer compqrtment.
cincerns are nyos is $$$ and red sea has necj cleaner. but overall just wondering if rsk300 will do the job for rsr450
 

Westside Guy

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well once i bought to big of a skimmer and the situation sucked. i could NEVER GET I DIALED IN RIGHT (sro2000 on a 75 gall). right now inhave a RO classic 110 and it is by amd far too small.skims like a beast but need bigger. full cup everyday. i have to make a decision soon bc black fri is upon us amd i will kick myself if i dont buy during. my sump is a crystal sea triton made for my tank and has adjistable water level for skimmer compqrtment.
cincerns are nyos is $$$ and red sea has necj cleaner. but overall just wondering if rsk300 will do the job for rsr450

I would consider the RSK-600 which is the next size up for a RSR 450.

Screen Shot 2019-11-22 at 10.52.32 PM.png
 

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