What would a good skimmer be for a 300 gallon semi reef?
 

I am just starting the switch over from fresh to salt and the first buy on my list is a skimmer, then salt and live rock/sand.
I have a 300 gallon tank and 90 gallon sump with a 30" stand give or take.
Im looking for something affordable that will keep up with a few fish and critters, 300lbs of live rock and a few corals but not an all out reef.
Any advice is much appreciated

i will chime in here since I have the title of SKimmer King......
How much do you wanna spend?
where is your sump?
Where is your tank at?
Height under that you need if the sump is under the tank?
External or In Sump?
what is your stocking to figure out hoe much to skim?
if you have it in Sump skimmer compartment for the sump?

I am going to use my Reef Octopuss RPS 3000 recirculating skimmer on my up coming 300 gal 8'er. It has been amazing on the 167 gal, good for 400 gal & was priced right on EBay.

the biggest thing about a big tank is skimming when you want. When you have to debate on when and if you are skimming enough then you dont have enough power.

here is my look at what is out there. I have had pretty much all skimmers that have been made. Ask around Im the dude to talk to.

Beckett skimmers- amazing skimmers they can be used in or out of the Sump. they need a powerful pump to run them. and trust me the big pumps can eat POWER $$$$$$ but they skimmer the crap out of the water. reefer's use these on FOWLR. these skimmers are once dialed in they are unstoppable . all you do is set lots of air and clean 1x per month and some reefer's dont do that

Venturi Skimmers Quiet low cost to run and fit in the Sump or External. low profile and can compete with the Beckett's. but you need to keep them clean all the time. to run efficient.

Recirculating skimmers the best of both worlds its like having a Beckett and a venturi in one. I have the Deltec AP 702 dual EHIEM 1262's you can run straight RAW tank water to clean the tank. you can dial in super easy and quiet and place anywhere by the tank since its External.

I could go on, however when you have a huge tank like a300 ga why skimp go with what you can get and then some more. I would want a skimmer that can skim at least 3-4 times more then the tank when deaing with Recirculating skimmers you can drop that by 2-3 times due to you are basically re skimming HTH you out

let me know if you wanna get into a talk i can can you

If affordability is your main concern keep an eye on the buy/sell section and pick up something rated for at least 400gal.

My current system holds about 240gal and has a relatively high bioload as I feed a lot and often because of the types of fish that I keep. For it I was able to buy an old model Precision Marine Bullet 3 used for a small fraction of what they retail for. I'm certain it could handle more than what I'm using it for so I intend on continuing to use it when I eventually upgrade to a larger system (370gal hopefully).

BK
 

Normally I would say look around and do some research, I went through a number of skimmers in the past as well. All I can say is I waited awhile to get one used, but would never go to anything else now.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/t...9/IMG_0603.jpg

I would go with a bbk supermarin 250 or 300, 300 would be better. If that is out of the price range than an alpha cone 300 will have the almost equivalent performance as the bbk with a lower price tag. Still expensive for a skimmer but I believe it is a single most important piece of equipment for your tank.

looks liek my old one hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm i would get a vertex 300 then you would be GTG IMHE and IMHO

I have 30 inches of room or headspace between the floor of the sump and the bottom of the tank, in sump would be fine, I plan not to have too many fish and 300+lbs live rock and I wont overfeed lol.
I wasnt looking to spend a grand, would it make more sense to run 2 cheaper high quality ones?
Seems the skimmers go from just under $500 to $1000 with nothing inbetween lol
Also Ive seen a few videos where guys have added a fitting to the skimmer cup to dump excess into a jug.... is this possible with all of them?

I have the Reef Octopus xp 5000 cone coming and from what I understand its an excellent Skimmer for the price. I will have a little more water volume than you on my new build but this Skimmer should do the trick.