How do you like the skimmer so far?
I love the skimmer, I really do.
I have to be honest, I never thought any skimmer would be able to do what my beckett skimmers do. Especially at the price I paid, I was banking a paycheck that the skimmer would be sub par out of the box.
Now mind you also, that I bought the skimmer with the big purple ATB pinwheel. However, the small stock off white pinwheel is working right now. The stock pinwheel is doing a great job at chopping the air up. I almost think I don’t need the purple ATB PW right now.
I’m going to continue the using the stock PW for a couple of months before I swap out the PW’s and see what difference if any it really makes. I think, if I’m not mistaken the ATB pw will draw more air allowing more bubbles to skim with.
I did however notice, and maybe its just me but the skimate is not as stinky as the skimate from the beckett skimmers. To be fair though, the new tank is a 60/40 water mix. 60% is water from the 125 and 40% new mature water that’s 7 days old mixing, aerating and temperature settled. The water was added three days prior to stock swapping.
Tested water before the swap and the reading are as follows
Nitrates 0.5 pinpoint monitor and 0ppm salifert. Ph is 8.4 pinpoint monitor and 8.6 Milwaukee Ph controller with a drop of .4 > 7 when the lights are out over the tank. The refugium light helps to hold the Ph. Calcium is 480 salifert and salinity is 1.27 reefractometer Temperature 73.6*
Test scores are still the same, and on target. As my tanks normally are. Just a little horn toot for me:biggrin:.
If I had to make a choice of giving up one skimmer over the other, I would probably fall over from a panic attack, as both beckett and PW skimmers have impressed me to the point that I would be comfortable using either.
Now, if it were a bigger tank, like my old 265, I really can’t say for certain since again, I only have the experiences with becketts on bigger tanks.
If I could see in person, a bigger octopus skimmer working on bigger tanks and it was pulling the cowboy coffee my MRC 2R pulls as in the pic below I would really consider using them as a mainstay for skimming.
One thing I did learn about skimmers is, some like to hype the skimmers by dosing phyto then going and taking picture and video of the skimmer in action as its pulling the thick green skimate up the riser tube and squirting green water out the drain tube. Those people will stand up and say look how good this skimmer works, yet a coralife will do the same thing.
Me, I like to judge a skimmer on its actions in its entirety. How does it skim when I’m not dosing a tank. Just every day use, is it pulling nice brown crap out. That’s how I judge a skimmer. The MSX octo 160 does just what I like, thick brown crap filled plum of foam and tinted green water, and thick nasty crap an hour after I dose.
So all in all, I think I made a good choice by reading the octo club forums and listening to mojo from RC. Mojo’s reviews on skimmers are spot on, along with the users posting on the club forums.
the pics are of my MRC 2R after being cleaned and skimming for 48 hours. It was on the 125 lightly stocked with fish, but packed with coral. Also it was prior to dosing any liquid foods.
