What equipment first?

[laciex]

Heyy I ahve a 40g reef and a 10g sump. I hate my sump an want one custom built by an aquarium maker. I also have a bubble magus nac3.5 cone skimmer but i am thinking of getting a vertex omega 150 or a reef octopus skimmer what do you think and recommend. on top of that I want a new return pump I want the reef octopus water blaster 5000. Which is the order I should place these in for purchasing and what skimmer do you recommend? Thanks guys

 

[Aquarium-Keeper]

Honestly, I use a 150 gallon canister filter on a 50 gallon reef tank. I started out with a huge sump, skimmer...everything, but I found out it is not necessary for my system. I use a small hang on sump with a skimmer (diy) now. I have heard that the octopus skimmers are one of the best on the market, but I have no experience with them. If it was myself, I would worry about the return pump first then your skimmer. As far as a sump, marinedepot.com has many that will fit your space and needs, or you can just build one.

 

[Reefing Madness]

150 Gal. Skimmer - SC Aquariums
You don't want the Water Blaster as a return pump, thats a skimmer pump. You want a Magnum, or Quiet One, or Sicce or Ocean Runner, something along those lines.

 

[evan.lundberg4]

Heyy I ahve a 40g reef and a 10g sump. I hate my sump an want one custom built by an aquarium maker. I also have a bubble magus nac3.5 cone skimmer but i am thinking of getting a vertex omega 150 or a reef octopus skimmer what do you think and recommend. on top of that I want a new return pump I want the reef octopus water blaster 5000. Which is the order I should place these in for purchasing and what skimmer do you recommend? Thanks guys

The vertex skimmers are really nice. I have the omega 150 on my tank which is ~105 gallons in total. For your size tank, unless you plan on upgrading soon you could easily use the 130 version. Same skimmer just smaller.

For returns there are as many options as you could possibly think of. Eheim makes really nice pumps, there's the tried and true mag drives and the list goes on. I've been running an ocean runner 6500 for almost a year and a half now and I'm happy with it.

 

[laciex]

I definitely will get a vertex omega in my tanks lifetime as its my dream skimmer for build quality, function and looks. Also if your inlet to sump puts out heaps of micro bubbles id it that there is too much flow through the pipe. Thanks guys for your help