Totally agree. Found mine to be finicky, noisy and really did'nt pull that much crap at all.

Really? I have to empty mine quite regularly... I wonder why the discrepency in performance? Anyways, they are good HOB skimmers IMO, especially for the price. Unless she is quite wealthy and doesn't mind dropping big money on a high-end skimmer (deltec, etc) she says she is only going to keep running for a few months.

Fishgirl, have you considered going sumped immediately with an overflow box? That way you can go and directly buy the sump skimmer you will be using permanently. You can easily modify the setup to drilled when you are ready for it? I am running an overflow box, and although it isn't as nice as having the tank drilled, i have found it to be reliable. As others have said, with an aqualifter to maintain suction, it has a perfect record at recovering from power outages without any overflows.

Anyways, when you do drill I would suggest taking the tank down and emptying it first. It isn't just a question of the tank being under more stress being full of water, the mechanics of drilling a filled tank are downright scary...and there would need to be room for a person holding a drill with a large bit on it to fit behind the tank. Anyone who would drill a hole in glass without being directly behind it is insane. Holes are best drilled with water to cool the glass to prevent heat stress...and this doesn't work so well on a vertical surface either. Drilling a tank always has risk at the best of times, but in this scenario the likelihood of disaster has been compounded very high!

My Remoras pulled crap out if I fiddled with them once a week (or more!). Finicky as all heck. I eventually figured they did a better job collecting dust in the closet than skimmate on the tank. :lol:

Since she will only be running the HOB for a year or so, that is why I suggested she just stock lightly, and go skimmerless until she is ready to buy a good in-sump skimmer (a good in-sump will cost the same as a shoddy Remora Pro anyway). It is a big tank to run skimmerless, but it really seems like a waste to spend the money on a Remora that will only be used for a year anyway...

I have seen the same Remoras moved from one tank that it was not pulling much stuff out of the water and in to another tank and it pulled a tun of stuff out. I don't know why or what the difference was but it was the same skimmer in both tanks I saw it being transfered from one to the other. The next day it was pulling some darkish green skim out and it would only pull a light tea skim out of the first tank. I do not know why it was working so differently in the two tanks. The two tanks had similar bio loads one had a bit more in the way of coral than the other and the other had a couple more fish.
So what is so different to make the same skimmer work so much better?

Bill

Stock lightly and do frequent water changes for a year? I don't know about you, but I don't have that much discipline:lol:

HOLY WOW thank you so much for all the great advise and input. I guess I left out a few important keys here, so I'll fill in the blanks. I am renting this house right now and my tank is on the main floor its going up in a safe area against the joist my landlord has looked and told me where to put it. It is 112gal I THOUGHT it was 125gal but i measured wrong Its 72''x20''x18''. I thought it was 72x 20x20. ANYWAY the reason I can't drill it right now is cause I don't feel comfortable putting another tank full of water on a main floor. SO once I find a place to buy and that is mine I will just do this for now. SO no the tank will be empty when I drill it. I haven't completely thought it over what I am going to do with all my stuff when I move that will be another thread another day;) lol. FOR now I just want a skimmer so I can add some coral and fish and have a nice looking tank, nothing over crowed or to heavy but something non the less very nice to look at. Someone told me to check out Saltwater connection they said there skimmers were as good as bubble king??? not sure any imput on this.

I am 6 months away from a Red Seal Carpenter (journeyman). Your tank is spreading the (not particularly significant) weight along 6'. If your floor can't support that and a sump then the building should be condemned! Don't worry about that weight, it is not significant as long as you place it properly. A tanks' length should always be perpendicular to the direction the floor joists run so that the tank sits over as many joists as possible instead of just running the length of one. Know what I mean?

Really, save yourself the trouble and get the tank drilled now with a sump. You should find a 30 gallon sump to have enough room for a skimmer and return chamber. The sump will only be half full anyway, so you're only adding about 150 lbs to the total. That is only about 10% of the weight of the display tank. The weight of a small sump is not significant.

You can buy a good quality in-sump skimmer for less money than you can buy an ok quality HOB skimmer.

My 2 cents. :D

I moved my tank's contents from BC to SK (and got a bigger tank in the process of course). That was last May, and my tank is still lightly stocked (fish-wise anyway lol), and it gets weekly water changes like clockwork. I have a big @$$ skimmer on it too. Hehehe...I despise nutrients. :lol:

hob skimmer
 

don't get a Remora, biggest p.o.s. skimmer I've ever owned. I've got one on my fowlr 54 gal bowfront and it never really skims much.
Just drill the tank now and just put a temporary "small " sump such as a 25=30 gallon, then you will have the option of any multitude of in-sump skimmers. Vertex skimmers work really good and aren't too expensive.

+1 on the Vertex for in-sump. :D

Vertex is good but there are a tun of skimmers for in sump action that are better unfortunately the best cost more than they weigh in gold. But you get what you pay for in this hobby. If you go cheep then you get cheep and the head-achs to go with it. I've been in fish my entire life, saltwater for 21 years and I don't know everything just what I use. As dose anyone else some have used alot of different skimmers and others only a few. If you put a sump I would just go to a conical cone skimmer I have hear nothing but good things about them there are a few companies that make them.
Here is a pic of my Aqua medic skim cup after 30 hrs:
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...k/100_1937.jpg

The proof is always in the pic.
Now that is black smelly skim.
Bill