So many HOB skimmers, which one!!! Help :(

[Sir Kon Salty Sox]

If you're going to have 2 fish and corals in a 75, your filtration from your rocks & sand will most likely keep you set for the duration of the tank.

A siphon overflow works very well. E-shoppes has a wonderful overflow box, if you want to set up a refugium. My 75 gallon was up with 100 lb of live rock and sand bottom. Had 2 clowns and a full grown kole tang in it, and my nitrates were 0 and phosphates were barely detectable until I started dumping in nitrates. I still after about 8 months have no detectable nitrates unless I put them there myself.

Don't get overwhelmed, don't over filter your tank, and definitely don't spend any money on equipment you don't need. Save that $$$ for some sweet torches.

 

[afrokobe]

I recently converted my 25g hob to a sump setup with a life reef hob filter. I am pretty happy with it overall. I guess time will tell.

 

[djf91]

I think the safest would be putting a small skimmer inside of a HOB filter/refugium

 

[djf91]

And running multiple hob filters. You could have one of them holding the skimmer and another next to it with a refugium or mechanical filtration/carbon.

 

[jimk60]

I'd go with the skimmer. I have been using the reef octopus classic 1000 hob for several years and I'm very happy with it. Never overflowed. Not sure how you can put any meaningful skimmer in a hob filter.

 

[exnisstech]

I run 2 hob overflows on this tank and have had them on other tanks for several years. They have been 100 % problem free. I have never ever had a flood or a loss of syphon. I think a lot of people that say they don't work don't run them. I have run drilled tank and agree they are probably best but my bulk heads always had salt creep. Probably user error but it isn't going to happen with a hob overflow JMO

 

[doubleshot00]

A skimmer is not really a necessity if you only plan on a few fish. If you plan on getting lets just say more than 5 then get a skimmer. I hate the HOB refugium options.

Another option for a skimmer is an in tank variant like a tunze docline. I have one and it works great at skimming. You cant even see it in the tank against a black background. I also have a HOB refugium and IDK if it does anything but its nice to have i guess. I never pull any cheato out but its growing and its green.

 

[afrokobe]

A skimmer is not really a necessity if you only plan on a few fish. If you plan on getting lets just say more than 5 then get a skimmer. I hate the HOB refugium options.

Another option for a skimmer is an in tank variant like a tunze docline. I have one and it works great at skimming. You cant even see it in the tank against a black background. I also have a HOB refugium and IDK if it does anything but its nice to have i guess. I never pull any cheato out but its growing and its green.

careful with your HOB refugium. I had one going and chaeto was growing like crazy. I didnt really keep up with maintenance and the chaeto got too thick and started to die off. It released quite a bit of nutrients in the system. After that I just grew green hair algae lol... My refugium, since it was hob, was pretty close to the wall making it hard to upkeep.

 

[doubleshot00]

careful with your HOB refugium. I had one going and chaeto was growing like crazy. I didnt really keep up with maintenance and the chaeto got too thick and started to die off. It released quite a bit of nutrients in the system. After that I just grew green hair algae lol... My refugium, since it was hob, was pretty close to the wall making it hard to upkeep.

Yeah i check it about once a week and like i said its growing just very slow.

 

[TheDragonsReef]

Is it worth the $$$ it’s like the most expensive one

It is noticeably better than other hob skimmers. Ive also never had one overflow and i have 2 of them on seperate tanks

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

I run 2 hob overflows on this tank and have had them on other tanks for several years. They have been 100 % problem free. I have never ever had a flood or a loss of syphon. I think a lot of people that say they don't work don't run them. I have run drilled tank and agree they are probably best but my bulk heads always had salt creep. Probably user error but it isn't going to happen with a hob overflow JMO

i agree i ran tanks like this in the 1980s while in high school,, i think the key is to have a decent amout of flow going thru it, the only time i ever had one clog up with bubbles was when the return pump was not sized right and flow was way to slow. i dont like the cpr style ones that required the toms aqualifter pumps, those have failure issues.

 

[MtnDewMan]

Aquamaxx HOB 1.5 has worked well for me. Good performer.