Skimmer looks like an ASM, can you tell us what the height and diameter of the reaction chamber are and what the pump is that is feeding the skimmer for example "a Sedra 5000"

So Oilfieldsafety I just had a brain fart and I looked online where I bought the darn thing and if by ASM you mean All Seas Marine G Series than you are correct. I am almost positive that is what it is. Now in your professional opinion is that a good grade skimmer or not so much. If not so much than what is a high end brand that would be a good investment for a tank of my size..... 280G....

I just put in an ASM G3 and took out my vertex 250. I like my vertex better but I modded the G3 and now it is better

That ASM is too small for a 280

I would upgrade to a Bubble Magus since I don't think that ASM is big enough for your size tank.

Well It says that the G4 skimmer is good for 380G. Fencer what modifications did you do that increased it's effectivness?

my theory is you can cut the rated number of the skimmer in half and thats the max it should be used on and only if it is lightly stocked. so a 280 gal skimmer would be real good for a lightly stocked 140 gal tank.

look at a bubble king add.. they say in there general print that the mini 200 is good for tanks up to 2500gal, but in the specks they state that it is good for tanks 135 to 265. I would assume that the 135 with a deicent load and 265 with almost no fish.. I would say even this one is to small for your tank, but I am not familier with the buble kings as they are to pricey for my liking, but for a deicent skimmer regular bking 200 or a vertex cone 300 you are looking about 1500 bucks. so if you can mod what you have to make it skim better try that first.. unless you can get a smoking deal on a big skimmer. Maby ask Asmodas as he usaly has 10 skimmer laying around :wink:

Steve

Wheel mesh mod you can find it on you tube. and gate valve mod.

I am hoping to have exact numbers on my tank here this weekend. I am going to take a water sample into my LFS to see what they can tell me. I am planning on testing both my topoff water and my tank water. I will buy new lights and few tid bits while I am there to see if that will help get rid of this stuff. Does any one know if a 400 Maxi Jet has enough power to water through my phospahte media in my reactor?

Hey there Juicy well you are well on your way with the nutrient export. if you sont have alot of corals in there may be see if saltynuts AKA EDDIE can take them
loose the lighting period for a week.
Still run the refugium lioght tho.
bump up the phos ban the maxi is excellent for the reactor too.
as for a skimmer, if you are running a huge FOWLR then get a excellent skimmer to work against the BIO LOAD. the skimmer is going to slow down the water changes for you and help in the aid of removing hte organic's in the tank extra nutrients ETC ETC. if you can buy a good external or if you sump will allow you. these are the skimmers that I would look at.
you want RAW POWER and a huge pressure pump for FOWLR a BECKETT or a dual Beckett.
Talk to Lando at Marine Aquaria he has a huge Dual Beckett that he might want to get rid off. the key with Becketts that you need a strong pump to run them and a good spot to put them at.
for a in sump the cone skimmer from vertex the 300 J&L has them,
the Deltec AP902 AP702, AP851 are awesome skimmers :biggrin:
the Bubble king is a great skimmer too SM200,SM 250, SM 300,
but there is a dowen fall they are very expensive skimmer's TRUST ME I KNOW.

can your sump handle a huge skimmer or not if not get a external. then you can keep the refugium going on your sump.

HTH.

P.S test you well for PO4, and high ALK Soug on here had a huge issue with HIgh ALK, so you may have HIGH PO4

Thanks asmodeus,
I will definatley look into some of those skimmers, I appreciate the advise. I never really looked into the actual load a guy could be putting on his tank with the amount of fish a guy has swimming around, thanks StirCrazy. I always thought that if it was for a 280G it should work for it. You guys have alot of good advise, I am kind of glad I joined this whole forum thing. It is neat to hear everyones different takes on things so thanks again.

For those Following this whole thread, I had my water tested on the weekend.
Both my topoff water and my tank water. All the nitrates and nitrites were at 0 and nothing was showing up in the phosphate catigory. The only thing they could find that may somehow help the cause was that my Mag was at 900. Other than that they said your water is perfect, I bought two new lights anyways just to see if that would help.

Did you check your redox level?

Sorry no I never, Could you explain what that is and I will have it tested tomorrow when the guy from the fish store comes over. I am assuming it means reduced oxygen but not to sure and I have also turned down my Calcium Reactor.

Yes it does ....sometimes low oxygen can contribute to growth. If he has a redox meter. If not LMK next time your in the city on a weekend. I can see the Ca reactor having an pH effect on that volume of water

i mentioned the calcium reactor bein an issue not really because of ph or calcium/alk but because of unsued co2 getting into the tank and acting as fertilizer,
its not really a bad thing that u bought new bulbs but as far as im concerned its not gonna do squat to help ur problem, i know people will argue to the death about it but a lowered spectrum from older bulbs dosent make or break a algae issue, shure algae grows faster under a more yellow light but your dealing with something bigger than that and i highly doubt new bulbs have ever helped clear up any noticable ammount of algae issues for anyone. sorry thats enough of a rant, i just hate when people give that advice, its easy to give when its not ur money buyin stuff, buy a new skimmer that might help, oh well not my $1200 if it dosent lol.
bottom line is the algae is eating something, find out what its eating stop giving it food and watch the algae die, sounds simple but takes a bit of messin around and time.
it dosent sound like u have too many fish at all so youd have to really be over feeding to be the cause, u said ur water wasnt showing any phosphates before goin into the tank so u should be ok there,
with that outa the way i would suspect lighting or the calcium reactor, you have a couple 400 watters right, how high are they from the water? u dont have much for corals so id suggest something around 15" probably maybe even more, a par meter would be good to make shure the lights are as high as possible but still giving enough light to the corals you do have untill the algae is under control, id have to look at the thread again to remember what u had but a par in the 200 range is good enough for most softie type corals i find, problem with blaming the lights is you have algae in the sump/fuge if i remember correct, i kinda doubt u have a 400watter in there too, oh ya also with a older bulb of course, humm kinda doubt it so the algae must be feeding from something in the water, wich brings me back to excess co2, dial it way down keep a eye on your calcium and alk, and wait for your algae to slowly die