Skimmer Q&A Thread

[ksauerb322]

Mojo, help I'm going nuts! I have around 180-200g total water volume, sps/lps tank with a high bioload (20+fish) showing some nitrates and I've been dosing vodka (2 weeks now with good results). I currently have an Octo xtreme 200 w/purple wheel and was looking to upgrade.

Few questions:
What are your thoughts on a alpha cone 200 or a msx1a (or any others) for my setup? Do you think there will be a day/night improvement by switching from my current octo200x skimmer? Both are around the same price, (I'd like to stay 800<)

My sump space of 20x16(Large octopus sump)and 28 1/2 tall area.

I appreciate any suggestions!

thanks, Kurt

 

[mojo]

well even though the octo x 200 is a good skimmer, the single sicce just doesnt move enough water to keep up with your load. Here are a few options that would be worth your while.
MSX 250A
msx 1a
The hurricone Cat 1 would be good.
warner marine as 200

Personaly it seems hit and miss with the alpha cones. for the money they are abit finiky. Much higher water level than the others and still getting the bigs worked out.

All of those but the WM use the askol 1500 motor block and will pull more water and air . the WM uses a sedra 9000ho moves a ton of water and about 1000 lph of air. So all of the above wouldbe good andfall in your price range.

 

[mojo]

Just thought I would share a little inside info..lol. another new cone skimmer will be hitting the market soon. it has a 8.5 in base, 4 in neck, sicce pump on a stand and is made here in the US. its called the C200 and I should have one by the end of the week to play around with. We will see. I believe it will be priced around the $399 range +- dont know for sure. I know it uses a gate valve and thats about all the info I have on it. Ill post some pics as soon as I get my hands on it. To be fair my tank is small now. I went rom a 90g to a 57g rimless for all tha might care to know. Currently running a Warner Marine AS 150 on it. So far so good. stay tuned.

Mojo~

 

[cherokee_dude]

Can't wait to the results Mojo!

Hey QQ, I ended up with the Tunze 9010 and it's awesome (Thanks for the advise) and it does pull really dark stuff out. But not really a lot (~100mm a week). When I cleaned out the riser, I had a lot of THICK green scum in the riser. Isn't that a sign of over-skimmability? Oh, and are there any mods you can think of to improve this already badboy? It has the standard Tunze pump for the unit.

~CherokeeDude

 

[mojo]

well if you are getting a lot of build up in the neck simply raise the water level just slightly so that it is collecting in the cup. sound like the water level in the skimmer might be a little low.

I would not mod it out. its a pretty well balanced skimmer already. fooling around with it will only make it worse in my opinion.

 

[da6d2003]

d00d, I need a new skimmer for my setup. ~370 gallons total heavily stocked with corals and I'm currently running a BM250. Any suggestions?

 

[epicenter]

Cool thread you have here, thanks in advance. I have roughly 180 gal. total system volume in a sps dom. mixed reef. I was leaning towards the MSX250. Please give your input on why or why not you would go with this choice. Also include what skimmer would be your choice. Thanks again,,, Chris

 

[mojo]

d00d, I need a new skimmer for my setup. ~370 gallons total heavily stocked with corals and I'm currently running a BM250. Any suggestions?

Well I would think you are a bit undersized with a heavy loaded 270 gallons.
If I had your setup I would be looking at the following
BK sm super marine 300
WM as 300
MSX 300A
Hurricone cat 2 or 3
ATB large.
And last but not least the
MSX1A 2009

All great skimmers in their own right. All have different features that make them different from the other


Not sure what your budget is . each one has it own way of doing things.I hope this helps. Check them out and maybe narrow down your search.

Mojo

 

[cherokee_dude]

Hey Mojo, I don't have a question. I just wanted to say thanks for all of your help!
I check this thread to get ideas Glad to see it stickied

 

[mojo]

Cool thread you have here, thanks in advance. I have roughly 180 gal. total system volume in a sps dom. mixed reef. I was leaning towards the MSX250. Please give your input on why or why not you would go with this choice. Also include what skimmer would be your choice. Thanks again,,, Chris

I would suggest the
msx250A
hurricone cat 1
Vertex in 280
ATB 1050A

Not sure what kinda budget you are looking at but all of those would work really well.

Mojo

 

[mojo]

Hey Mojo, I don't have a question. I just wanted to say thanks for all of your help!
I check this thread to get ideas Glad to see it stickied

Oh NP at all.

 

[TwistedTiger]

I would suggest the
msx250A
hurricone cat 1
Vertex in 280
ATB 1050A

Not sure what kinda budget you are looking at but all of those would work really well.

Mojo

The ATB 840 1.5 is rated for 249 gallons, do you think it would be undersized for his 180g?

 

[da6d2003]

Well I would think you are a bit undersized with a heavy loaded 270 gallons.
If I had your setup I would be looking at the following
BK sm super marine 300
WM as 300
MSX 300A
Hurricone cat 2 or 3
ATB large.
And last but not least the
MSX1A 2009

All great skimmers in their own right. All have different features that make them different from the other



Not sure what your budget is . each one has it own way of doing things.I hope this helps. Check them out and maybe narrow down your search.

Mojo

Thanks Mojo. I'm not going to be using anything that uses Sicce pumps to that helps weed out some of these things.

As of right now, I'm leaning toward the ATBs.

 

[epicenter]

Thanks Mojo. I'm not going to be using anything that uses Sicce pumps to that helps weed out some of these things.

As of right now, I'm leaning toward the ATBs.

Are the Sicce pumps bad?? Perhaps that is why the MSX250A was sugested over theMSX250. The A model is 1.5" to long for my refug.

 

[mojo]

The ATB's have probably the best customer service I have had from anywhere. Now I have had grea service from some retailers as well like premium, aquarium specialty, saltycritter, reefspecialty, ect...
lol

Good luck. Mojo~

 

[corsi1330]

Hello Mojo,
I could use some advise on a new skimmer upgrade. I currently have a 65g which is also feed into a 30g breeder and my 30g sump. About 120g heavily stocked. My current skimmer is probably overmatched which is a coralife 220. Looking for a quality skimmer and one to easily handle my tank. My water volume in my sump is 8". I was thinking about a MSX but am still not sure. My budget is around 5-6 hundred. Thanks in advance,

 

[mojo]

I would suggest the msx 200 or 250A but the 250A is pretty big to ft in there. I would suggest maybe the new Octo with the bubble blaster pump on the isnide. 10 in body skimmer with a smaller footprint. That might be the way to go. Hurricon CAt 1 would be another choice.

 

[corsi1330]

I would suggest the msx 200 or 250A but the 250A is pretty big to ft in there. I would suggest maybe the new Octo with the bubble blaster pump on the isnide. 10 in body skimmer with a smaller footprint. That might be the way to go. Hurricon CAt 1 would be another choice.[/quote

My sump is in my basement so there are not any restrictions on the size. What do you think about the msx1 cone? Thanks for your help

 

[mojo]

Nice skimmers. Make sure you get the newer model. Has all the updates with the askoll pump.

 

[JimW]

Hey moho! Great work on skimmers and thanks for all the help.
Based on many hours of following your threads, I got a super deal on a octopus extreme 250. I received it yesterday and got a little surprise. It is a 2009 model and has the cone shaped transition like a hurricone skimmer, but it does have the dual sicce pumps. Have it running on my 180 (lightly stocked at the moment) and would like to know where to set the water level on this thing. I am running the stock pinwheels at the moment. The outlet pipe is adjusted so the end is out of the water and the pumps run fine in about 8.5 inches of water (horizontally mounted cause I like them that way).
The water/bubble line is not real obvious to me, but I think I have it set to the area where the neck attaches to the body. Is this a good starting point?

Thanks, Jim