I woildnt buy anything for less then 500$ (new). From the all skimmers that out there if you want good performance you will have to pay.
The only alternative is to buy a cheeper product, loose money and spend more on better unit.
So in a way if you buy good staff right away you save yourself time money and endup having good product that will sell easy and hold value.
JM2CW

k now I understand your reason for upgrade (prism...say no more). If I was upgrading I would consider looking at a downdraft skimmer. You can check out the E.T.S.S. Reef Devil at www.aquacave.com . Seems to me that this style of skimmer is far superior to venturi... Reasonably priced, and they've taken size/design into consideration

Downdraft performance is largely based upon pump selection. Keep that in mind when deciding on one of these units.

If your tank is around 50-60 G and you don't have a big fish load Aqua Medic Turbofloter ML will do a great job for that size of tank. Brand new price may be a little expensive but probably you can find a used one around 150 bux.

Ken saw your post and thought I would remind you of the conversation we had a couple weeks ago. Go with a good skimmer!! be a man do the right fing.
Confucious say bigger skimmer giv you lots of skimmate, I showed you the diff basically the bigger pump produces more micro bubbles thus betta skimming look at the gunk the E.R. pulls out in one day compared to the C.S.S. in 2 weeks. I might think of pickin up another skimmer soon if you don't have one by then my css220 will be yours.
Cheers Chris

HAHAHA yup i remember seeing the E.R dominate over the CSS which made me start this post.
I was just curious if there was another good option for my tank. Thanks for the replys so far. As to the Prism skimmer its not doing a BAD job i have zero nitrates zero ammonia in my tank and i feed a LOT. But i am going to increase the number of fish i have so its time to upgrade.