Stuck in the middle - 50g tank, which Deltec skimmer?
 

ok, hopefully a simple question :)

It's a toss up between the Deltec MCE300 or the MCE600. The size of my tank kind of falls between the 2 (seeing how manufacturers over-rate their skimmers).
The tank is empty now, but I'm planning on softies, a few small fish (maybe 5) and the typical custodians - so the bio-load will be relatively small.

It has to be a HOB skimmer that has the pump outside, as I don't want it to eat space inside the aquarium. It also has to be quiet. Now, I'm guessing that in-aquarium pumps will be quieter because the water and glass will baffle the sound, but I can't stand a whole bunch of hardware in the tank - especially as this HOB will be on the side of the tank, not the back.

So which one would you recommend?

If all your planning on is soft corals then the smaller one should be fine. If it were me though I would spend the extra $50 and go for the bigger one you could always feed more to compensate :lol:

I think there will be more than a $50 difference between the MCE300 and MCE600, based on what stores in the UK are selling them for. But I'm not too concerned about the price. I'm just wondering if the MCE600 would be overkill for the size of my tank. Also, the bigger the skimmer, the bigger the pump, which means that it will be louder, and I'm trying to keep the noises to a minimum.:lol:

If you can make the bigger one work I would go with that. Down the road when you decide to do an upgrade you'll be glad you got the better in the first place.

I use the MCE600 on my 50gal. Its not overkill in my opinion.

Something else to consider. The MCE300 is a brand new skimmer in the Deltec line and the bugs haven't been worked out of it yet. I have been following this thread about another reefers experiences:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hreadid=963923

Seems to be a mixed bag? On the plus side, it should be considerably cheaper than the MCE600 when they are available.

Or, you could also just splurge for the MCE600 if you have the $$$! :)

I'd definetly go for the larger unit, because of all the reasons mentioned above. Upgrades in the future, etc... Or, say you have a mishap in the tank, something dies overnight. The larger skimmer will pull more out than the smaller, ofcourse. And you cant really overskim, just set it to skimmate that is more dry.

Which reminds me... I STILL havent set-up my deltec yet, cause I havent set-up the new system :rolleyes:

Chris

Thanks for all of the replies and suggestions.

I decided to go with the MCE600 unit. Purchased and installed it today. Pretty much plug and play. I'm very happy with the noise level (or lack of). The pump is quite quiet. I can hear the air intake over the pump:lol: Much better (in terms or noise level) compared to the Prizm Pro.

Two things that I could nit-pick about.
1. The power cord is way too short! Forget about a drip loop. It needs to be double in length.
2. The collection cup should be transparent on both sides. I have the skimmer mounted to the side of my tank and it's difficult to see what's collecting in the cup and how high to adjust to create the proper skimmate consistency.

yeah, I have the same complaints. Plus add to the clear intake which gums up nicely with coraline etc.

The collection cup and be turned around as well if you need to see the clear side.

But I am happy with its performance over all.. Beware it will FLOOD when you do water changes!!!!!!!!! Raise the collection cup after water changes for a good hour or so.

Yes, I could turn around the collection cup, but then the overflow pipe would not have a nice hole to fit in :wink:

Also, how would this unit flood? The overflow pipe would prevent the level of the water from escaping the top lid.