The LAST big upgrade

danny zubot · #1 06-29-2009, 10:21 PM

Man I've been out of the loop for a while, I didn't even know that you got a new place in Calgary.

Where did you end up, and when did you decide to upgrade?

mseepman · #2 06-29-2009, 10:29 PM

As far as a skimmer, given the price of BK skimmers, I am seriously looking at the Hurricone line of skimmer (off-shoot of Octopus) They are premium skimmers using the Askoll pumps. I think a CAT2 - External would work well for you. They are said to well out-do the reeflo orca's, even after modding.

Take a look at the "other reef site" under Reef Specialties vendor site and you will find a big thread there on them.

Progressive Reef (a Canreef sponsor) sells them and I confirmed with Coralvue that they are a designated reseller so the warranty is good. There were some issues about who was "certified" to sell these bad boys.

fishytime · #3 06-30-2009, 03:26 AM

People are saying good things about the vertex cones....not positive if they make one big enough for your needs.

michika · #4 06-30-2009, 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danny zubot

Man I've been out of the loop for a while, I didn't even know that you got a new place in Calgary.

Where did you end up, and when did you decide to upgrade?

Yeah, we moved back in November of 2007, I finally got fed up waiting for my master program (Human Anatomy) to open at the UofA. Its STILL not open by the way. So we came home, rented this tiny condo with windows that wouldn't open. I got fed up with that and I decided we were going to buy a house, and we did in October of 2008. We're in the SW side of the city in a cute little 50's home. Amusingly enough our house was the first house we saw in our hunt, and we saw A LOT of houses.

We've always wanted a big tank, and when we went house shopping one of the big features we were looking for was somewhere to place a larger tank.

Does anyone know of a page that showcases all the Octopus and Hurricone skimmers? From what I've found, none of them are even close to being big enough for our needs.

Vertex doesn't seem to make anything big enough, and I'm not really sure if we're willing (space wise) to daisy chain a couple of any skimmer together. The closet Octopus looks like the Reef Octopus FDNW-400 Protein Skimmer, but even then it doesn't look like it will make it.

We need about 1500g worth of skimming capacity. I know the tank's final volume will probably be around 1000g, however I do plan to liberally stock this monster, so I might as well be prepared now, rather then having to upgrade again later.

mseepman · #5 06-30-2009, 06:06 PM

You mention above that you are looking at the BK Supermarine 250 but in looking at it's specs, it's only rated to 750G.

For some reason J&L shows up to 2500G at the top of their listing and then in the specs below they list what BK actually says it can do.

I just thought you should know, in case that's where you got the idea it could handle your tank.

xtreme · #6 06-30-2009, 06:11 PM

BK Deluxe 500
Rated up to 1300G
About 5 grand

That thing must be a monster.

michika · #7 06-30-2009, 06:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xtreme

BK Deluxe 500
Rated up to 1300G
About 5 grand

That thing must be a monster.

I saw a picture shortly after I posted my original comments about skimmer choices...its huge, and beautiful...and really expensive. I'm just not so sure its worth all that money.

Phanman · #8 06-30-2009, 06:14 PM

another option is the I-tech skimmer, I have the 100 and think it works fantastic. Obviously you would need a 400 or a superbeast but they can make one for you.

http://www.i-techskimmers.com/forums/

Also there is a i-tech skimmer thread on RC if you need more info

michika · #9 06-30-2009, 06:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mseepman

You mention above that you are looking at the BK Supermarine 250 but in looking at it's specs, it's only rated to 750G.

For some reason J&L shows up to 2500G at the top of their listing and then in the specs below they list what BK actually says it can do.

I just thought you should know, in case that's where you got the idea it could handle your tank.

Yup that was exactly where I originally got the BK idea. I did go on further to look at all the other options, the ones that will not only break the bank, but they'll steal your soul too!

*edit*
Because I just have to know, I did put in a call to inquire about a BK skimmer, the appropriate size, price, etc. I think I owe it to myself to at least fully research it before I saw no.

mseepman · #10 06-30-2009, 06:51 PM

Because you already have the Octo skimmer, I think you might be best served with dual skimmers combining to your recommended size so that if one goes down, you are not totally without skimming.

In that case, you have a lot more choices, like a smaller BK (still a little pricey) or maybe the CAT3 Hurricone.

Alternatively, people have been happy with their Aquamedic T5000's for a long time. Here's a link to the twin version for 1250G tanks. http://www.aquacave.com/turboflotor-...edic-1060.html

Aquacave ships to Canada happily and their customer service has been quite good for me.

*edit*
Here's a link for another company making big skimmers that I've heard okay things about. http://www.marinetechnical.com/page2.html