info on skimmers

[ddelozier]

A good skimmer with stated volume handling 1 1/2x - 2x your total system volume will be more than adequate. I've never heard of the 3x. Im a huge fan of ReefOctopus skimmers. They're reasonably priced and perform well. whether you choose RO or another brand, stick with NAME BRAND. You can live with no name pumps, knock off Powerheads, cheap thermometers, etc...but you don't skimp on the skimmer or lights.

 

[new2reefing]

1 1/2 - 2x is a lot better than 3x. My wife has already given me the ok on this. The 3x skimmer was going to end my saltwater dreams before they started. Now to decided on what skimmer to get. Space is not going to be a problem in the new stand. Anydifference between the tall slender vs. the short fat skimmers.

 

[ohiojeff]

here is what I think for what it is worth. A recirculating skimmer, which is an external skimmer, is the most effective design. naturally there are advantages of each, but the external uses one pump to supply water and another to inject air. it leads to a longer exposure and allows the skimmer to work better. that said, I use an in sump skimmer because it is contained in the sump if anything goes wrong.

the height is another way to increase the amount of time the water is exposed to the skimmer making it more effective, so if they are equal in other ways the taller skimmer will pull more waste out.

the advice I see is to run a skimmer rated for twice the volume of your system. my system is 150gal so I run an 8" octopus skimmer rated for 300gal. I also know that you can over-skim. if you over do it, you can strip your system of trace elements, and also clean the water to the point where it is actually harmful to soft types of corals. I once over skimmed my tank while trying to start with softies if you look back at my old posts. it didn't work so well. stick to the guidelines out there and I think you'll find reefers quoting them because they work.

 

[scubaguy]

Guidelines are for the average hobbyist. A well educated aquarists can bend these rules & achieve success with enough research & expertise like in any other hobby. You should look at your options sump, refugium, skimmer, & work out the math of cost & the effect of these filtration systems including water change costs, chemicals, & equipment costs Vs. the results they'll achieve tanking into account the amount of fish you'll have.

 

[new2reefing]

anyone have a personal review of bubble magnus bm-nac9 skimmers??
http://www.saltysupply.com/Bubble-Magus-BM-NAC9-395-530-Gallons-p/bm1161.htm

 

[scubaguy]

anyone have a personal review of bubble magnus bm-nac9 skimmers??
http://www.saltysupply.com/Bubble-Magus-BM-NAC9-395-530-Gallons-p/bm1161.htm

Here's a review about cone shaped protein skimmers like the expensive octopus or even that one & protein skimmers in general http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlZWWBafiq0
I would use a protein skimmer rated for either the gallons of your sump if you plan on having that or rated for the gallons of your aquarium if no sump is present. Mind you, many LFS would love you to go over board on a skimmer over-rated for your tank with the promise of stable & better water just to be able to make a better buck out of you. The video explains it all. Just as a note, he does recommend a bigger skimmer for fish only tanks that have big predatory fish just cause all the waste they produce from eating & excreting. People might say the same in general for one reason or the other. In my opinion though what's more important then anything to consider is the following. The amount of fish you'll have & their bio-load. Obviously in a bio-load sensitive reef tank that is of major concern & hence all the pressuring to buy a skimmer. I think one of the biggest factors though in considering wether to go with a larger skimmer or not is water changes. consistent & frequent water changes can keep ANY noncommercial home aquarium stable... but then again math out how much 2x week, weekly, or biweekly that'll cost you again taking into account the amount of fish you'll have & their bio-load.

 

[new2reefing]

the system will mainly be corals and other inverts, with a few fish tossed in. a few clown, a few blue tang, a goby or 2, pajama cardinals, and maybe a cpl 6 line wrasse. the wife made it very clear their will be at least one star fish. my tank is 125g, the sump is 30g or so capacity, the fuge is 40g or so capacity. their still under design. after posting about the mb-nac9 i stumbled on a octopus diablo dcs-250 10". and am looking very heavily in to that.

 

[scubaguy]

the system will mainly be corals and other inverts, with a few fish tossed in. a few clown, a few blue tang, a goby or 2, pajama cardinals, and maybe a cpl 6 line wrasse. the wife made it very clear their will be at least one star fish. my tank is 125g, the sump is 30g or so capacity, the fuge is 40g or so capacity. their still under design. after posting about the mb-nac9 i stumbled on a octopus diablo dcs-250 10". and am looking very heavily in to that.

Ok, so 10 fish in a 125g reef tank with inverts sounds adequate & definitely in need of frequent water changes or the other option, a protein skimmer. I know the six line, clowns, & cardinals are small so water changes might be sufficient. The water changes weekly might me able to handle the nitrates. The easiest way of knowing this is by just starting out without the protein skimmer & corals & once you have all your fish as you go check the parameters of the water weekly to know were you're at with the toxins they are producing & how many water changes it's tanking to keep ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, & phosphate near 0 consistently. You'll need a test kit for them.

 

[new2reefing]

i will be using around 100# of LR in the display with LS. in the fuge i will have a 3 inch layer of LS and about 25# of LR rubble. along with as much macro algae and live seaweed as i can get in with out choking out the light. along with the octopus diablo dcs 250 skimmer in sump. this should keep all numbers in check once established

 

[scubaguy]

Sounds like you might just not need a skimmer considering all the biological filtration & small total amount of inches of fish that you have. Cone shaped protein skimmers actually aren't the best & are pretty expensive. This one in particular has way to much turn over rate for a 125g. If you look at the video it'll explain why a cone shape isn't ideal & why getting one that is over-rated for your tank isn't good either. If you do want that turn over rate which is by no means a requirement, you'll have to upgrade your sump to a huge size. Skimmers work best when both contact time & contact transition. A cone shape is very good for the contact transition towards the top but don't facilitate sufficient enough contact time. Getting a skimmer too big will not skim anything because the volume of water is passing through way too fast & sacrificing your contact time.

 

[new2reefing]

that one was picked based on the 1.5-2x rating. at 2x my system is just under 400g. i would rater go big if i chose to add more fish later on. as you said i have small inches of fish. if you know of one that will be more suited to the system i have in mind please direct me.

 

[scubaguy]

Well, again if the skimmer is too big the flow rate will be too high & the skimmer won't skim anything. What ever skimmer you get. Keeping in mind quality of manufacturing, make sure it not rated for 20 gallons more then your total water amount that you will be using it for & make sure it's not a cone shaped design like the octopus. You'll also have to decide if you want an external skimmer, an in sump skimmer, or hybrid. If you want it for inside the refugium it'll definitely cost less. You should have a return pump with no more then a three times turn over rate & again a skimmer rated for your 175 gallon total water amount system like this one http://www.reefdynamics.com/INS180-Protein-Skimmer-p/ins180.htm This is a really good company based in LA, California.

 

[new2reefing]

did you watch all 7 parts to that episode. in part 4 at 1:59 he says to get the biggest skimmer you can afford. 8:38 he states that you can not over skim a tank. the way my system will be set up is the main tank has to large drains, one to the sump, the other to the fuge. the water from the fuge will drain in to the sump for return back to the DT. the drain to the sump from the DT will have valve and bypass to the fuge to comtrol the water flow to the sump. with the 3x turn over rate he stated in the series for the sump, and the fuge at up to 5x turn over rate that is 2375gph of system filtration.

 

[scubaguy]

did you watch all 7 parts to that episode. in part 4 at 1:59 he says to get the biggest skimmer you can afford. 8:38 he states that you can not over skim a tank. the way my system will be set up is the main tank has to large drains, one to the sump, the other to the fuge. the water from the fuge will drain in to the sump for return back to the DT. the drain to the sump from the DT will have valve and bypass to the fuge to comtrol the water flow to the sump. with the 3x turn over rate he stated in the series for the sump, and the fuge at up to 5x turn over rate that is 2375gph of system filtration.

Yeah that's true, I didn't mean to confuse my words. My point is that gph turnover rate is what can't be over 3x. I misunderstood that you wanted to use that 300g rated skimmer because you wanted to have more then 3x turn over rate in your system. I just read that you said 400gph, sorry. I also mentioned to get a protein skimmer rated for your size so you don't spend unnecessarily which brings up another debate. I mean, a protein skimmer is a commercial equipment used in commercial applications like water treatment & aquarium facilities. The reason why they use it is to make maintenance more efficient & easier since they're handling thousands of gallons of water which to just leave to biological filtration is gamble. You must remember that LFSs & filtration manufactures will want you to spend way way more than you have to because that's their business. In a home aquarium, biological filtration & water changes will do just fine in keeping up with water quality. With that being said... a protein skimmer rated for your gallons of water will be enough. I mean yeah with a huge one you probably won't be doing that much water changes & just dosing chemicals but is that really worth it to you? The water will cost you just as much as the chemicals anyways even though it's less a hassle to dose chemicals then to change water. The other debate is that using a bigger skimmer will also skim out a lot of minerals that you'll have to put back in with dosing. Really it's a matter of what best suites your lifestyle, wallet, & convenience.

 

[new2reefing]

after watching the LA fishguys skimmer episode a few times, i have thought very hard and did more research and weighed the pros and cons against several skimmers in the size i need. the one skimmer that was left standing with the fewest cons was the reef dynamics ins180.this skimmer gives me the flexibility to be able to add more fish stock in the system and still be able to keep up with the load. when it comes to the fear of striping the minerals out of the water, this can be controlled by tuning your skimmer to dry foam. the less water that is removed with the skimmer the less trace elements will have to be dosed back in. all the skimmers i have looked at run 350-450 gph min thru the skimmer. that will put me right at the 3x water turn over rate. if i run a slower flow in the fuge to be able to use up more of the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and phosphates i can run at 3x water turn over rate as well. i would only need a 750 gph pump at 4' for the return. the remaining water movement will come from 2-3 1000gph-1500gph closed loops. each closed loop will have 3-4 outputs. i know hiding all the piping will be a act of magic, but i do not want to see any power heads in the dt. i will install 2 @ 250 watt titanium heaters in the sump on a temperature controller. the last thing i feel i need to consider is the lighting, but i feel that is saved for a different post.