How to evaluate a protein skimmer
- Thread starter goodisor
- Start date
Size verses claimed performance. If it is six inches tall, and is claimed to work up to 150 gallons....I think you get the picture. This goes for most skimmers with some exceptions.
Performance verses power usage. Down draft skimmers work great, but use alot of electricity, yet to buy one out right is very affordable. A Deltec for a 130 gallon (loaded with fish and corals) uses 21 watts of electricty. A Downdraft for that appilcation could use a Mag 18, which needless to say, uses a ton of elecricity and puts heat into your tank. However, Deletec is expensive.
There are thousands of trades offs. There are a huge variety to choose from.
Personally, I am going to buy a ASM and mod it to be a recirculating skimmer. I like there performance vs price ratio. I really like the Euro-Reef, Deltec, ASM style skimmers.
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Honda L700
Performance verses power usage. Down draft skimmers work great, but use alot of electricity, yet to buy one out right is very affordable. A Deltec for a 130 gallon (loaded with fish and corals) uses 21 watts of electricty. A Downdraft for that appilcation could use a Mag 18, which needless to say, uses a ton of elecricity and puts heat into your tank. However, Deletec is expensive.
There are thousands of trades offs. There are a huge variety to choose from.
Personally, I am going to buy a ASM and mod it to be a recirculating skimmer. I like there performance vs price ratio. I really like the Euro-Reef, Deltec, ASM style skimmers.
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Honda L700
One other thing to look for, from what i understand is the color it produces. You want a really dark brown to black color collected. As far as brand i am the last person for advise. I have something everyone complains about and it works great for me. I am probably one in a million though. Seaclone 100 on a 55. No problems for me.
Doni
Doni
From what I gather, you already have a skimmer and want to make sure it's doing its job, right?goodisor":24v8hr0x said:
As far as dark, thick skimmate, it depends. If you're dry skimming, then that's what you should expect. But if you're skimming wetter than it'll be lighter (still dark green/brown though) and obviously not as thick.
What kind of skimmer do you have though? You should look at the amount of bubbles it's producing. If your husbrandry is excellent than your skimmer won't have as much to pull out so you won't have to empty the cup as much. But the dirtier the tank is the more it should pull out. That's just so you can kind of gauge where you're at.
But if you're looking to buy a new skimmer, I would also recommend ASMs. Great bang for the buck. One thing to consider also, like PWJ mentioned, is that you should always go beyond the manufacture's size recommendation. I for example could have gone with a ASM G2 or even a G1 but since it was only a little bit extra for the G3, I went ahead with it. So obviously, my skimmer is doing a crazy good job on my 75G!!!
Check out www.ASMskimmer.com if you want to check them out.
HTH
The reason skimmate doesnt matter as much is most skimers will allow you to skim dry so you get dark but less or you can skim wet and get more out. I believe skimming wet gets more detritus out before it breaks down. So with most skimmers now a days you can set it to produce a decent amount of skimmate.
I judge by the bubble size, how uniform and thick the chamber fills, and contact time. These are the most important features of any skimmer...
A long contact time of the right air/water ratio and correctly sized bubbles any skimmer will work well. Find one that does all this and has the size you need and you will be set.
I use a ASM G3 on my 75 and am not all that impressed. My Bullet 3 would blow it away, IMO the best skimmer you can buy now would be a recirculating becket skimmer like the ones on MRC. You could mod a ASM to be recirculating and have it fed from the surface water on the tank itself and get a pretty good skimmer for cheap.
A good skimmer should have a chamber that looks pure white like a white wall when it is running...the water shouldnt be rushing so fast through it that there is very little contact time and the bubble size should be very small and uniform so the air/water mixtures remains stable and doesnt burp in the chamber at all.
I judge by the bubble size, how uniform and thick the chamber fills, and contact time. These are the most important features of any skimmer...
A long contact time of the right air/water ratio and correctly sized bubbles any skimmer will work well. Find one that does all this and has the size you need and you will be set.
I use a ASM G3 on my 75 and am not all that impressed. My Bullet 3 would blow it away, IMO the best skimmer you can buy now would be a recirculating becket skimmer like the ones on MRC. You could mod a ASM to be recirculating and have it fed from the surface water on the tank itself and get a pretty good skimmer for cheap.
A good skimmer should have a chamber that looks pure white like a white wall when it is running...the water shouldnt be rushing so fast through it that there is very little contact time and the bubble size should be very small and uniform so the air/water mixtures remains stable and doesnt burp in the chamber at all.
Ok.!!!Firstly I think I will obviously have to replace my "small no name brand chinese" skimmer.My tank is 180 gallon.I have a bio filter(sump) about the same size as the tank(140gallon),two 150watt metal hallides,two blue flourescents and one white.I change 10% water every two weeks with new salt water from the sea.I don't have live rock as such but I have collected a few rocks with algae and stuff on from the rocky pools at low tide near our home.
What do you think so far?
I will have to check my skimmer tonight and see what size it is.
What do you think so far?
I will have to check my skimmer tonight and see what size it is.
I live in Richard's Bay,South Africa.You say the lighting is low,but it seems so bright to me.I even thought I was over doing it,then again what I know is dangerous!!!!I have attached a(bad quality)photo of my tank the day after I set it up for the secod time in two years.Let me know what you think,please criticize where you can.TKS
Attachments
Hiya Goodisor
Nice to see another South African here! 'Regal' is from Cape Town, so you are the second one I have met....
First off, get a decent skimmer. I made that mistake with my first tank some years ago and ended up resenting the system...There is not much choice out here in the 3rd world, but contact me if you need anything from down here, Deltec (my choice) and Aquamedic are freely available but expensive... Also if you need anything from a LFS- dont know how many you have in RBay? I'm only 100kms away :lol: (Us colonials need to stick together! 8) )
Next, Live Rock and rock are not the same thing at all! You need to try and get some LR. Get a permit (Post office- on a standard fishing permit) and head up to Mapelane or Mission Rocks and get some yourself- its prohibitively expensive to buy and easy to collect. PM me if you need more info and I'll send you my contact details. The rock you have put in your tank is probably solid and is doing nothing ito biofiltration and is just taking up space. Without (lots of) LR you are going to have dead livestock soon....
From the photos your lighting looks uneven (?) One of the bulbs may need replacing... that said, I'm a newbie myself so I'd wait for some of the more experienced folk to chime in.. I run 2 250w MHs, 2 96w white and 2 96w blue T5s over my 385Ga (1300l) tank and it looks pretty bright to me. I was originally only running the T5s and couldnt believe the difference the MHs made ito light intensity!
Nice to see another South African here! 'Regal' is from Cape Town, so you are the second one I have met....
First off, get a decent skimmer. I made that mistake with my first tank some years ago and ended up resenting the system...There is not much choice out here in the 3rd world, but contact me if you need anything from down here, Deltec (my choice) and Aquamedic are freely available but expensive... Also if you need anything from a LFS- dont know how many you have in RBay? I'm only 100kms away :lol: (Us colonials need to stick together! 8) )
Next, Live Rock and rock are not the same thing at all! You need to try and get some LR. Get a permit (Post office- on a standard fishing permit) and head up to Mapelane or Mission Rocks and get some yourself- its prohibitively expensive to buy and easy to collect. PM me if you need more info and I'll send you my contact details. The rock you have put in your tank is probably solid and is doing nothing ito biofiltration and is just taking up space. Without (lots of) LR you are going to have dead livestock soon....
From the photos your lighting looks uneven (?) One of the bulbs may need replacing... that said, I'm a newbie myself so I'd wait for some of the more experienced folk to chime in.. I run 2 250w MHs, 2 96w white and 2 96w blue T5s over my 385Ga (1300l) tank and it looks pretty bright to me. I was originally only running the T5s and couldnt believe the difference the MHs made ito light intensity!
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