Whats the better skimmer?

RuGlu6 · #1 12-10-2011, 12:17 AM

The best skimmer will be the one that utilizes a pump that pulls more air, something like 1200l/h or more.
Will be silent, reliable and easy to clean.
Look for Hero cone series with Eheim pumps, or skimmer with bubble blaster pump.

Starry · #2 12-10-2011, 12:44 AM

Anyone have a gen 3 vertex 250? narrowed it down to the vertex or the skimz. the vertex are solid skimmers, just a little too loud though. bb pumps cost about 1/2 the price of the skimmer itself.

RuGlu6 · #3 12-10-2011, 01:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Starry

bb pumps cost about 1/2 the price of the skimmer itself.

Yes, and there is a good reason for that.
Don't make same mistake that many of us did by wasting money on worthless equipment that has nothing but promises.
Anything that will draw less then 600 l/h of air is not worth the time and money.
Like some one mentioned on here that "its the pump that makes the skimmer"
Look at Red Dragon pumps or ANY pump that pulls anything more then 1000 L/H air, it is significant portion of the skimmer price. If manufacturer does not say how much air skimmer pulls stay away from it.
jmtcw

Lampshade · #4 12-10-2011, 02:21 AM

I have the Sicce 2500 pump with the red devil pinwheel on my ATI BM200, the same pump as the SWC. I will definitely confirm the terrible restarts. But... the pump pulls in tonnes of air(1000 L/H), it's old as hell and works great with little to no maintenance, it's energy efficient, and dead silent. So in the end... how often do you turn off your skimmer? The only bad thing about it is that if I'm out for a few days and the power goes out then back on during that time, I won't be there to restart my skimmer, probably toasting the pump.... but it's $100 instead of the $400+ red dragon and also impossible to happen if I never get to go away for the weekend :P.

coreyskylar · #5 12-10-2011, 02:28 AM

I replaced my Nac-7 with a vertex 180
And the Nac-7 was the better skimmer.
The onlything with the Nac-7 was the needle wheel impeller would break very often,other than that it was the best skimmer I ever owned.

RuGlu6 · #6 12-10-2011, 02:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by coreyskylar

I replaced my Nac-7 with a vertex 180
And the Nac-7 was the better skimmer.
The onlything with the Nac-7 was the needle wheel impeller would break very often,other than that it was the best skimmer I ever owned.

PL 900 concrete adhesive from Home Depot will make it sometimes instead of very often

fishytime · #7 12-10-2011, 04:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RuGlu6

Yes, and there is a good reason for that.
Don't make same mistake that many of us did by wasting money on worthless equipment that has nothing but promises.

yes but see, thats what you are doing by buying a skimmer in this price range......it is really a lesser of the evils......... if you want a skimmer that doesnt break, doesnt need modifying out of the box, is made from truly quality materials, is quiet, then you have to pay for it......you are simply not gonna get all of that from a $500 skimmer rated for 200g

no_bs · #8 12-10-2011, 02:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishytime

yes but see, thats what you are doing by buying a skimmer in this price range......it is really a lesser of the evils......... if you want a skimmer that doesnt break, doesnt need modifying out of the box, is made from truly quality materials, is quiet, then you have to pay for it......you are simply not gonna get all of that from a $500 skimmer rated for 200g

Roger that one. Bit the bullet on a H&S 200. 4 years, same pumps, same impellers. Never any restart issues, quiet, powerfull. Once a week, i loose my cookies cleaning the cup. Well worth the money.

Reefer Rob · #9 12-10-2011, 02:55 PM

Interesting thread. I had a $1200 skimmer on my last tank and didn't really see the value in it. I'm still not sure that skimming is all that important.

I'm looking for a skimmer in this price range for my new setup. From the reviews people give, you wouldn't know there were so many problems with them.

I was thinking of the Super Reef Octopus 1000, what mods will it need right out of the box? All the reviews seem to be positive, but I want to be careful. Lately I feel $300 is a lot of money to put into an aquarium item.

Lampshade · #10 12-10-2011, 03:04 PM

Rob, check out this on the rusting screws :S (stolen from a RC thread, sorry the pic is HUGE)

Seems like a good skimmer though, not sure if they fixed that issue, searching for the skimmer brought up great reviews, searching for the pump brought up some problems.

I'm a big supporter of buying used stuff, lots of people upgrade leaving good stuff behind, I got my skimmer for dirt cheap, and it works great.