Questions for anyone running a Deltec hang-on skimmer MCE 300 or 600
 

For anyone running these skimmers a few questions:

1. How loud are they?

2. How well do they work, would you buy one again?

3. How easy is taking apart, cleaning, and maintenance including emptying and cleaning the collection cup?

I've been running the 300 on my 50 cube for about a year know. It pulls out a lot of stuff which means you have to clean it quite often. A little bit finicky but easy to do.
Because the pump housing is in the skimmer it's quite quiet. I have it in the TV room with no problems. I did stick a thin rubber sheet in between the skimmer and the tank as I was getting a little vibration at the start.
I would say it's a good buy.

I've been running a 600 for about 2 years, before that I used a Remora Pro.

1. compared to the remora pro ... it is much quieter. However, it still has a noticeable hum ... and when I watch TV, I tend to turn up the volume.

2. if I needed an HOB skimmer, I would buy it again ... but I would favour using an overflow box and an in-sump skimmer instead of an HOB. The 600 works much better than the remora pro ... but I don't think it works nearly as good as an in-sump skimmer (I can only compare it to an ER RS135).

3. the collection cup is easy to remove ... cleaning is fairly easy, unless you are trying to clean the inside top where it has the "baffle" thing-a-majig". To take out the pump for cleaning is easy ... once you know how to do it.

Thanks, appreciate the replies.

With the noise factor maybe a hang-on overflow and in-sump skimmer might be better.

Probably one of the best HOB skimmers out there in terms of efficiency and low noise, but if you can accommodate a sump and an in-sump skimmer under your tank or hidden away, that would be the best route.

Works fine for a HOB, but yeah, I prefer my in-sump skimmers.

But now your going to get the sound of your overflow. And some of them aren't that quiet. I used the rubber mat that you line the bottom of your kitchen drawers with and it took away any vibration that I could hear from the skimmer. Now I just get the faint sound of the water flowing back into the tank from the skimmer.