Let's Talk Protein Skimmers!

[WDCMarine]

Hi Everyone. I need a little help with protein skimmers. I have been out of the hobby for 10 years and I just bought a 75 gallon. I'm looking for a good to great skimmer. What are the advantages from one to another? Why is one model better than another? Who are the quality manufacturers and the ones we need to stay away from? I definitely want to do SPS in the future.

I also have an interest in plumbing my overflow straight to my skimmer. Anyone have experience with this, and how would I go about doing it? Any ideas?

 

[WDCMarine]

I guess no one likes protein skimmers? lol

 

[DrHank]

For that size tank, my suggestion would be either an Octopus NW-150 or a comparable ASM G series skimmer.These are both in sump needle wheel skimmers.

Don't have any experience with plumbing overflow to the skimmer.

 

[DrHank]

You might want to look at Aquacave.com and see what they have available.

 

[WDCMarine]

Thanks for the post. So what does Needle Wheel mean?

 

[mps9506]

Plumbing the overflow into the skimmers can be done fairly easily with either the recirc style needlewheel skimmers or the traditional counter current style skimmers. The drawback to doing this is sometimes your skimmer level maybe subject to minor level fluctuations or surges depending on how well your system is plumbed. The benefits are you are getting water with the highest level of dissolved organics directly into the skimmer.
To keep things simple I would just recomend going with a needlewheel skimmer like those mentioned above and not worry about plumbing them into your drain lines from the overflow. For most cases this is more than sufficient.

 

[mps9506]

Thanks for the post. So what does Needle Wheel mean?

A needlewheel actually refers to the impellar on the pumps of the skimmer. Instead of having the venturi on the outlet of the skimmer pump, it is on the intake. As the pump sucks the air and water into the pump it gets chopped up by the impellar. To make this more efficient and chop the bubbles up even more and fine tune the amount of air that is sucked in via the venturi the blades on the impellar were replaced by something that is best described as a bunch of needles sticking out of a flat surface perpendicular to the axis of the impellar.
Kind of like some on cut a bioball in half and glued it onto and impellar.
Makes for a supershake in your skimmer body compared to what counter current skimmers made.

 

[WDCMarine]

Thanks mps9506. Anyone have experience with this guy, Octopus NW-150? One of DrHank's recommendations. It's price on aquacave.com is $169 + shipping. That's about the price range I'm looking at right.

 

[WDCMarine]

bump

 

[DrHank]

I've run the NW-110 on a tank that was too big for it. When I upgraded tanks I sold it to Mealnie for her tank and went with an MRC MR2. As far as she's posted, she seems very happy with it. You could send her a PM. I dount' think you're likely to find a better NW skimmer for the dollar than an Octopus.

 

[Franksreef]

MSX160 Marine Solutions Online Store

This is a new an extreme octo skimmer

 

[sebastian]

i have Euro reef 100 on my 125g tank...works outstanding.....not that exp....about $200 ...if you will look around

 

[DrHank]

Euro Reefs are very good. Sometimes you can get a real good deal on a blem.

 

[WDCMarine]

So would it be worth the extra money to get the Euroreef over the Octopus NW-150?

 

[zy112]

I am a big fan of my reef creations and euroreef. great experiences with both.

 

[Frankie]

Get a bubble king. You won't be sorry

 

[Jason25]

I have the NW-150 on my 54gal. and love it. Very easy to setup, it is plug and play. It has been running for a little over a week and it has now stop producing microbubbles and is skimming like a champ. If you buy this skimmer you will not be unhappy. You can buy it from our sponsor on the main page of this site.

 

[cheeks69]

There are many good skimmers but the question is how much $$$ are you willing to spend and do you plan on upgrading the tank size in the near future ? This is one item that can be quite expensive and you may not want to pay twice.

Euroreef
H&S
Bubble master
Bubble king
Deltec

These are some of the best skimmers but can be quite pricey.

Octopus
ASM
AquaC
Aqua medic

These are also some very good skimmers and reasonably priced.

Here's a good link to help you understanding skimmers and how they work.

Skimming Basics 101: Understanding Your Skimmer by Frank Marini, Ph.D. - Reefkeeping.com

 

[WDCMarine]

Thanks for the link cheeks69. I love that site.

 

[WDCMarine]

Well if I went with a NW-150 to begin with, couldn't I just buy another NW-150 or similar skimmer when I upgraded in a few years? I will probably stick with this 75 for at least two - three years. I understand space consideration in my sump, but I do need to be realistic about my budget. Does anyone run two skimmers? Any drawbacks beside maintenance and monitoring on two units?