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Protein Skimmer Recommendations for a Newbie
- Thread starter mpovell
- Start date
I am not sure that’s true anymore.
reefsandrotts
NJRC Member
I love my red sea rsk-600 zero issues
Not a fan of Nyos, had 120, got rid of it as soon as I could.
I was hesitant but tried Simplicity recently. Solid skimmer, without what everyone else upcharges for "space savers".
I'd argue this skimmer is too small for 160g water volume.
Ex
I don’t really have a budget. I’d like a good quality skimmer balanced with a reasonable price. I don’t want to skimp, but if there is a good midrange skimmer that is recommended, I’d consider it.
There's no such thing, with an open-ended question like that, you will get experiential recommendation based on people's preferences.
If you don't have a budget, look into Reef Octopus Elite INT, either 150, or 200 if you can fit it in the sump.
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Well I guess it depend on what/how much you plan to keep in the aquarium. You don't want to over size your skimmer.
I am currently running a SCA 150g with a 60g sump using Classic INT 150. 7 wrasses, Royal Angel, firefish, midas blenny and clown. I have on order with Dr Reef 4 anthias and that will be the last fish.
ole farny
NJRC Member
since you are new, i don't want to overwhelm you with information, but there are a lot of variables that can influence any recommendations, so i'll try to be thorough but not too long winded.
i've just gone through a similar exercise, choosing a skimmer for a waterbox 100.3, which is a 72 gallon display with a 30 gallon sump, so roughly 100 gallon system. at least thats what it is spec'd out at and marketed. with a deep sand bed, a modest amount of live rock. picture provided for reference, but i wonder what everyone's guess would be on total system volume? unless i somehow screwed up my measurements, its only around 69 gallons total and yes that's display and sump combined total.
as others point out, what's your stocking plan? and how do you plan to feed? are you keeping soft corals, lps, sps, mixed, or will this be a fish only tank? for sps with a heavy fish load i would plan to oversize the skimmer a bit. for soft corals, even with heavy fish, i wouldn't be too worried about it so long as the skimmer was rated close to the actual total volume.
i tend to lean into flexibility when i'm buying reefing gear, and i'm always thinking about the next bigger tank too, so i let that influence me and i tend to oversize. its not too hard to set up an oversized skimmer and only run it part of the day, so that may be something i need to do down the road with this tank.
in my case, i ended up with a reef octopus classic 150 int. definitely overized, but pulling lots of skimmate all the same, but i'm looking forward to giving heavy feeding and heavy export a real go with this tank. in hindsight, the classic 110 int might have also been oversized, but probably better sized for my actual water volume. i bought it thinking i'd have closer to 100 gallons in my system total, but based on how its performing, i'm pretty sure its going to work out fine and in the long run it will be a better fit for me than the 110.
hope this helps and good luck with the new tank and hobby!
i've just gone through a similar exercise, choosing a skimmer for a waterbox 100.3, which is a 72 gallon display with a 30 gallon sump, so roughly 100 gallon system. at least thats what it is spec'd out at and marketed. with a deep sand bed, a modest amount of live rock. picture provided for reference, but i wonder what everyone's guess would be on total system volume? unless i somehow screwed up my measurements, its only around 69 gallons total and yes that's display and sump combined total.
as others point out, what's your stocking plan? and how do you plan to feed? are you keeping soft corals, lps, sps, mixed, or will this be a fish only tank? for sps with a heavy fish load i would plan to oversize the skimmer a bit. for soft corals, even with heavy fish, i wouldn't be too worried about it so long as the skimmer was rated close to the actual total volume.
i tend to lean into flexibility when i'm buying reefing gear, and i'm always thinking about the next bigger tank too, so i let that influence me and i tend to oversize. its not too hard to set up an oversized skimmer and only run it part of the day, so that may be something i need to do down the road with this tank.
in my case, i ended up with a reef octopus classic 150 int. definitely overized, but pulling lots of skimmate all the same, but i'm looking forward to giving heavy feeding and heavy export a real go with this tank. in hindsight, the classic 110 int might have also been oversized, but probably better sized for my actual water volume. i bought it thinking i'd have closer to 100 gallons in my system total, but based on how its performing, i'm pretty sure its going to work out fine and in the long run it will be a better fit for me than the 110.
hope this helps and good luck with the new tank and hobby!