what to look for when buying a skimmer?

[parkinsn]

Are you going to be running a sump? What volume? In sump skimmer or HOB? What do you figure your "true" water volume will be? Here is a pretty good calc for figuring that out.

http://reef.diesyst.com/volcalc/volcalc.html

I would keep an eye out for a Euro reef 80 or 135, or a vertex. BK if you have the $$$