WTB: Used high quality skimmer found
 

I am setting up a smallish reef tank and need a skimmer. The tank will be 60 gallons. The skimmer I have been considering are bubble king mini 160. So if you have something for a smallish tank that is well built, let me know.

Thanks in advance, Rick

I have a Vertex 170 Alpha Cone like new bought new in March 2011, so still lots of warranty left. Awesome skimmers they are. Only reason I am selling is because I'm upgrading to a bigger tank and now looking for a used Alpha 200.
$600

Drive to Langley, see Paul at Oceanic Corals, buy a SWC 160 cone, problem solved.

Good buy on the vertex. I am a firm beliver on bbk products. It might be an over kill unless you are gonna do sps, but that will alway give you room to up-grade later

Either skimmer is going to give you very positive results. but for SWC 160 Cone at 274 dollars you cant beat the price.

The pump on mine has been quite troublesome but the price on the swc lineup is nice.

is it quiet? reliable? easily repaired and cleaned? Does one get what one pays for in the world of skimmers?

what kinds of troubles?

sometimes it just doesn't seem to push as much air/water as i've seen it do. this will be a straight from the vinegar bath pump too. so a restart generally fixes that for a bit. then there are the restart issues. I have to jam a wooden skewer stick down into the needlewheel and give it a poke nearly every time i turn it off then back on.

I know its a bit more for the vertex, but honestly those red dragon pumps are extremely quiet and realiable. That to me is worth the money.

agreed

Myself I totally agree with you. My next skimmer will also have a Red Dragon pump on it as well- Alpha 200 or Bubble King SM200. Red Dragon pumps vs Atman pumps are like comparing BMW's to a Toyota's

its a common problem with the atman 2500 pumps. I just had mine replaced under warrranty. you can just blow into the silencer hole and that will restart it as well. (I use a piece air line that just jam into the silencer port and blow on that so my lips dont touch the poop collector :mrgreen:)

The issue has something to do with the needlewheels being to big from the factory so the pumps get damaged from the extra resistance.

Good thing is the pumps are stupid cheap to replace so even i had to pay for one i wouldnt be out hundreds of dollars.


Vertex unit is freaking awesome but man its a lot of dough. Pump service maybe an issue though. I remember there being a thread earlier this year where someone couldnt get any help with their red dragon pump.

I have a Deltec MCE-300 rated up to 90 gallons

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...ht=bubble+king :mrgreen:

I swear by my deltec apf-701

best thing that ever happened to me.
Though I admit, I miss how easy it was to clean my Schuran.