Looking for a good skimmer for 55g

[scottayy]

I'm looking for a good skimmer for a 55 gallon (eventual) reef and fish tank. The fish are currently there, the reef is waiting until I get all of my hardware and setup done.

After extensive googling, I have no further knowledge of a "good" skimmer than I did when I started searching. Everyone has their own opinions and someone will praise one skimmer while another despises it.

In your experience, what would be a good skimmer? Preferably with a link to purchase it online.

Also I need the footprint to be less than 11" long by ~7" wide - and looking for an in-sump skimmer.

Under $200 would be amazing

Thank you.

Edit| I've been looking at this:
http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.co...3&pcatid=20033

[ccCapt]

The Eshopps skimmers you linked to are decent skimmers. I have an Octopus and am very happy with it.

This will fit your budget and the space you have.
Reef Octopus NWB 110 Needle Wheel Protein Skimmer - AquaCave

This 1 is even better, but looks like it won't fit the space you have for it.
Reef Octopus NWB 150 Needle Wheel Protein Skimmer - AquaCave

[carey]

Hey scott, I have the eshopps 150 and after break in it is pulling alot of gunk. I choose it cause I needed a small foorprint and the price was only $109 at a lfs.

If you have the money I'd suggest an octopus if not the eshopps will do you fine imo.

[scottayy]

Yeah I was looking at the Octopus 110
Looks like that is what I will get.

The first chamber of my sump has my heater and filter sock. It is 4.25 gallons and approx 12" x 9"

Will there still be water in there or will the skimmer use it all up. I didn't know skimmers were that big. Will I overflow?

[scottayy]

Originally Posted by ccCapt

This will fit your budget and the space you have.
Reef Octopus NWB 110 Needle Wheel Protein Skimmer - AquaCave

Is this the same skimmer?
Reef Octopus 4" Pinwheel In Sump Skimmer

It showed up on google shopping results when I googled that one above to see who had it the cheapest.

I can get it $17 cheaper with cheaper shipping from aquariumguys, if it's the same thing.

[scottayy]

going to need a different skimmer
sump dimensions are 8x9

[Buffy]

Originally Posted by scottayy

going to need a different skimmer
sump dimensions are 8x9

Can you post a couple of pictures of your sump for me please??

[scottayy]

Originally Posted by Buffy

Can you post a couple of pictures of your sump for me please??

Meh, it sprung a leak so I just bought one.. waiting on it now. But if you view 'My FINAL sump thread' in hardware/equipment there's lots of pictures of it.

[carey]

What sump did you end up buying? Got a link?

[scottayy]

I was just thinking though, if I would've used bulkheads on my DIY sump (why didn't i?) it wouldn't have leaked.

I am getting this off of ebay:
18 Gal Refugium-Sump Wet/Dry Aquarium Filter 30x9x15 - eBay (item 110714994736 end time Jul-16-11 21:07:09 PDT)

I liked it cuz it was longer and skinnier than most on the market I could find and it will give me a lot of volume for the dimensions I am going to put it in (inside the stand on a 55g tank).

[scottayy]

OK, so back on topic. I stupidly grabbed a seaclone 100 when at the LFS for $109. I had thought it was a different brand I remembered. I should've looked it up on my phone.

But it was just there, for me to physically touch, read the box, and take home. I gave in to the temptation!

Well, whatever. I've read it is a crappy skimmer. I'm going to use it until september when I will get a reef octopus (also been reading and heard good things about bakpak2 and remora).

I think I'm in the breaking in stage still. I've got about an eighth of a cup of dark brown water in my collection cup. It's been 3 days though, I hope it starts filling up faster than that. I don't know how to adjust it for wet/dry skimming but I'm going to let it break in first.

[scottayy]

Okay so it's been a while with the seaclone 100 skimmer.. and i've concluded that is is crap.

It is extremely noisy. It only works good when the air intake is opened all the way up and even then it only produces about an eighth of a cup per week. Granted, it is very dark brown.. almost black.. but it seems like I should have more and way less noise.

I can't do the reef octopus 110 because my skimmer chamber is 8x9 (and i have overflow drain line going into there with a bracket).

I'm looking for a good one with about a 6x6 footprint (seen some with built in pumps in the bottom - saves lots of space!). Unfortunately, I still don't know what is good.

[Hondatek]

I almost gave up on my seaclone too. I went from barely anything now I get a quarter of the collection cup over night. Did you try turning it until it puts out microbubbles then back off until they stop? That seems to do the trick for mine. Also it's very sensitive so only move the screw very very little.

[scottayy]

Hey Hondatek, I tried that, but it went back to no output. So I turned the air intake all the way up and left it overnight. Tonight it had a whole cup full of foam... it didn't condense into liquid like it usually does. What does that mean?

Also, what depth of water do you have yours sitting in? Mine is sitting in 10 inches right now.

[Hondatek]

It might be because your letting to much air in. Mine just hangs outside my display tank . How long after you adjusted it did you turn the screw out?

[scottayy]

I have mine in sump.
I waited until I saw bubbles frothing at the neck in the collection cup and then I tried turning the air down.

At least it is producing bubbles right now though and they're filling the collection cup. If they condense and compact I'll be very happy.

[Hondatek]

Ok well I know for sure after adjusting it that it takes an hour or two to see results

[scottayy]

Well this is what it's doing:



Is this what is referred to as "dry skimming"? Or is something wrong?

[Hondatek]

That looks like mine does. Look for some black specs in the bottom of the cup. If you have that I think thats good from what I have read that's what you want . As far as that being dry skimming I'm not sure I'm still fairly new to sw. But I know how to get that darn seaclone going lol.

[Hondatek]

O one more thing is look at the foam below the black ring to to get just foam ann not big bubbles . Turn it very very little to achieve that almost barely turn it