Looking for a good skimmer for 55g

[scottayy]

Yeah I managed to get it foaming with foam that turns into a liquid. I'm just waiting to see how much it pulls this time!

Thanks for all of your help!

 

[scottayy]

OK, I must've hit that sweet spot. I got a quarter of a cup of black slightly chunky stuff in the past two days.

 

[carey]

Good for you, now just don't mess with it! LOL I had it set on mine perfectly but thought I could tweak it more. Wrong. took me days of playing with it to get it back to where it was. hehe

 

[Hondatek]

Cool deal . Glad you got yours going good.

 

[scottayy]

Can you guys recommend good hang on back skimmers?
Due to space constraints I'm going to go with a hang on back and put it on the back of my sump.
Also of concern is since my water level in the sump is about 5" lower than the rim, it'll need a good pump to suck it up that far.

I've been looking through just about every hob skimmer I can find

The AquaMaxx HOB-1 skimmers look nice but I don't know about a "Sicce Syncra 1.5" pump.

The eshoppes hob looks nice
The reef octopus's do too, but I read they're not as good with a hang on back model

 

[Ibrahim]

My octopus hob pulls out about this much in 2-3 days.

 

[scottayy]

That's very nice!
What model is that?

I am looking at the octopus BH 1000 or 2000 but the intake line doesn't look 5" long to reach into my sump water.

However, the BH 100 tubes look longer.

Could the tube be extended? say on this model:
http://www.aquacave.com/reef-octopu...back-protein-skimmer-br-by-coralvue-2347.html

 

[Ibrahim]

Mines is a bh-100 on a 75. You can extend the tube cuz it's just PVC

 

[Ibrahim]

I believe is 3/4"

 

[scottayy]

I may just get the bh-100 (i have a 55) and yours looks like it's working pretty good. I would be pushing it with the size on the 1000 anyways, it would be a tight fit.

Is yours noisy? Any problems or quirks I should know about?

 

[Ibrahim]

It's not noisy but it makes alot of micro bubbles if it's not deeply submersed

 

[scottayy]

Is that just during break in?
Looks like there's a tube for water output, so something could be rigged up to trap the micro bubbles

Im going to read a bunch of reviews online lol

My biggest concern is I have 1/16th of an inch short of 4" on the side of my sump where this would go. The product listing states it as "approx" 3 1/8 inches. :-S I'm a little bit scared there on how much their approximation is off.

 

[Ibrahim]

It's about 3 1/4" thick

 

[Ibrahim]

Also it reduces over time but I still don't like micro bubbles at all

 

[scottayy]

Shopping around for the best price, I noticed that the same model comes with two different pumps, depending where you buy it from.

Some have a Resun King 225F
Others have an OTP 1000

Which is the better pump?

 

[ksl1972]

I like Tunze or Aqua C Remora. The Aqua C is very easy to set up and nothing really to adjust.

 

[carey]

i think I would want the OTP pump out of the 2.

I also run a remora hang on and love it.

 

[ksl1972]

I need to get another remora for my 65 build.

 

[scottayy]

Okay so I just got it and I assume it's breaking in.

How do I prime this thing, or do I just wait? The bubbles aren't constant flowing yet, they will pulse on and off (when it does this, the return compartment water level fluctuates).

Did you experience this Ibrahim? I'm worried my water level may be too low for it.

 

[Ibrahim]

Okay so I just got it and I assume it's breaking in.

How do I prime this thing, or do I just wait? The bubbles aren't constant flowing yet, they will pulse on and off (when it does this, the return compartment water level fluctuates).

Did you experience this Ibrahim? I'm worried my water level may be too low for it.

I just dropped the cup to the lowest level added prime because I was cycling then within a few hours I saw white bubbles flowing to the top of my cup so I adjusted it then within a day the water darkened and in a week it was skimming great amounts of skimmate. Any liquid additive should make a skimmer produce alot of white large bubbles in the cup. That should kick start the skimmer the fastest.