Beginner protein skimmer

[Saratj1]

Have a 47g column tank with around 40lbs of live rock and 40lbs of sand. I have a Rena xp4 canister filter, a 250w mh, 4 x 24w t5 bulbs, and I was wanting to maybe get a protein skimmer, I'd like to spend less than $100, I don't have a sump, and don't have much room for one, I'm also limited in space above the aquarium due to the light fixture. Any ideas suggestions or info is appreciated, thanks

 

[Cleveland Clowns]

I paid 90$ for the seaclone 100. Alot of people dont like them but mine works good.

 

[CloudStrife]

After having issues with all my protein skimmers, I took everyone back and went out and got a CPR dual bak pak. They are amazing and so easy to clean. You won't regret it I promise

 

[Saratj1]

I do like the cpr bak pak, I was looking at a similar reef octopus model on ebay, dual skimmers and such, but not especially try to spend $200 right now, I may have a trade lined up from craigslist,

A - eshopps skimmer PSK-75H

For my 2 12'' stunner strips that im not using.

It hangs on the back, doesnt seem to stick too far out of the tank, no cash expense, mixed reviews online, amazon has bad reviews, drfosters and smith has good reviews. Looks fairly simple to possibly mod if not to my liking, It comes with a pump (some online do not, got to watch that when figuring price) Guy's pic of it shows some skimmate in the cup so it must do something.( I read some peoples cheap skimmers just flood bubbles and never produce skimmate)
I figure I dont need a really powerful kimmer b/c I have an oversized canister filter, and my tank isnt that bad as is, but could be better, and reading leads me to believe besides increased maintinence both skim and can are good to have.

Sorry kinda all over the place on this but I'm thinking hard on this and trying to learn fast and cheap lol

 

[CloudStrife]

I heard that you wanna go double for protein skimmer. Example: if you have a 45 g tank for for something up to 90-100 ect

 

[jwalsh]

Reef octopus by 1000 is really nice I have one and it works great. Pump mounts outside of the tank so its nice not having that power head taking up extra room in the tank. Only issue for you is that it sells for $164 at buld reef supply but if you get in on the group buys through the forum you can get it for $140 I think it was. Either way well worth the money

 

[EriksFish315]

You want one that does double filtration so you would want one that's rated for 90gallons.

 

[jwalsh]

I agree that you need to double the tank size. The bh-1000 is rated for up to 125 I believe

 

[EriksFish315]

Rated to 100 should be good

 

[Saratj1]

Got another offer for another skimmer a sea clone 100

I found that it goes for cheaper online vs the other skimmer

The eshopps psk-75h is around $129
The sea clone 100 I found for around $79

But as the model numbers imply the psk is rated for up to 75g, and the sea clone is rated for 100g,

They seem to be a similar design. Any thoughts?

 

[jwalsh]

I've heard they are loud

 

[Cleveland Clowns]

My seaclone isnt too loud. For the first 12hrs of running I had lots of micro bubbles but when I woke up they were gone. It took about 3 days for it to pull out some nasty green skimmate. For the price it work good for my 37g

 

[Saratj1]

I ended up getting the seaclone 100, I traded one stunner strip and $ 30 , for it a fair deal I figure b/c the cheaper online prices were around $79, I ran it one night so far and it pulled around 1/2 cup of tea colored skimmate, with bubbles adjusted to wide open.