protein skimmer recommendation

[RMX]

hi, can anyone recommend the most effective protein skimmer that money can buy (under $50 hehe)

intend to run it like three times a week in my 2ft.

kind of confuse with abt airstones and powerheads.

so which kind/one works best? and where to get

[Hon]

Hi RMX

I guess the only way to get a good protein skimmer under $50 is place your $50 on 4D or Toto and pray you win one of the top 3 prize. Then you can get a good protein skimmer

[Achilles Tang]

Oh come on Hon... you're mean!!!

RMX, why don't you DIY a good skimmer then? Rrrobt is building one based on Robe's designs.

I'm am sure they'll get help you along.

Your budget may go up to $100 but you will get a very good skimmer compared to those sandstone types.

[Morgan]

Hi guys

I think Robe DIY skimmer cost more than $100. He is using beckett, which need a high pressure pump.

He got his beckett from USA. Overall it is still cheaper to make than to buy a beckett style skimmer. Only that you have to plan it out properly.

DIY with air stone will be the cheapest. If you drop by 110 LCK FF, you can see that their tanks are running DIY skimmer made from mineral water bottle!

[Norvin Ng]

For those with the cheaper skimmer (Macro, Jebo, etc) venturi skimmers, this may help : I boosted the air intake into the skimmer by adding an air pump and its working well for now. But first make sure that you have an adequate water pump for the capacity for teh skimmer.

[Hon]

just kidding...

But I lost touch with skimmer, maybe you need to wait for others to suggest. The last time I bought my skimmer, they only have Sanders...kee..

[LiveRock]

Hi RMX

I have tried ORCA25 with differing results...

it is cheap compared to the others and if you adjust your parameters right, it can indeed produce foam and gunk.

I sold mine because I have a small tank where water evaporation is high and hence the water level is not constant and the skimmer can't really perform. But if your water level is OK, then it is a very cheap skimmer. Just remember to have good water and air flow and use wooden airstone instead of the one supplied.

Now I have 'upgraded' to a Red Sea Prism. I'm very happy wif it as it is a hang-on the back type; doesn't takes up space inside the tank :-)

Hope my input helps....

Cheers!

[derf]

liverock,

u are using prism oso? hw did u adjust ur flowrate to the correct level?

[LiveRock]

Hi derf

I was referring to the water level. With ORCA25, the water level matters a lot.

With the prism, because it has a water intake, as long as water comes in, it is ok.

There are 2 things that can be adjusted with the Prism. The air intake and water flow rate.

The water flow rate control is at the water intake pipe. The air intake is the small black rubber tube attached to the top of the waste collection cover.

Increase the air intake by removing it from the cover.

If the water flow rate is too high, you will get a lot of wet foam and waste a bit of your water. Adjust the water flow rate until you get dry foam. The container should get greenish sludge. If it is yellowish water, then you are getting more wet foam.

Hope info helps.

[derf]

dry foam? hmm... gotta go back n check. if i turn it up, the container fills up really fast. now, i tunr the flowrate down n it seems like it's taking forever to fill the container.

[RMX]

i saw the orca skimmer at serangoon north. $20+

looks quite big. but maybe doesnt make much diff cos i will be putting it in the tank only when i wan to skim.

jus dont know abt the effectiveness/efficiency

worse come to worse, jus do saltwater change everyday, or convert them to freshwater buggers

u know im not serious

[ECBM]

hi RMX

I'm using this orca skimmer 25 (abt $20) so far so good working well.. only thing you had to change the air stone to wood block type (sander 2 abt $2) with a strong air pump (abt $11). only thing u had to adjust your parameters right, it can indeed produce foam and gunk as what Live Rock mention.

[orgas]

hi there,

i had bought a Macro venturi skimmer for about 3months now but it doesnt seem to work. had the powerhead and airpump all in place but it just doesnt work. Do i need to get a wood block to the skimmer?

pls advise.

orgas

[RMX]

i guess i dun need to bet on 4D in order to get a proper skimmer then.. hehehe jus the $20+ one and an airpump

[Tanzy]

Doesn't hurt to use what's left to buy 4D so you can get a better skimmer and a bigger tank.

[RMX]

read somewhere keong seong has a $12 skimmer. anyone got any opinions on it?

[ECBM]

I seen b4 i think is make in taiwan. To me dun seen like effectiveness / efficiency lor

[Phang]

Correct me if I'm wrong....

How effective a skimmer is depends mainly on 2 issues,

surface area of bubbles and time the reef water is in contact with the bubbles...

So basically if we can get the water in contact with a large surface of air bubbles with as long a period of time possible, then the skimmer becomes really effective...

So,

Large amounts of minute air bubbles = more surface areas...

Higher water column in skimmer = more time bubbles comes in contact with water....

If we cabn get this to happen in our skimmers... then effective skimming will happen.....

[Bluebeard]

read somewhere keong seong has a $12 skimmer. anyone got any opinions on it?

i bought that $12 skimmer before, it's very very lousy, don't work at all!!!

lucky is that the owner of keong seong allow me to exchange it for a better one but the new one cost me $79 but it's great!

[LiveRock]

I find that if you do not have a sump or trickle system, a P. skimmer is actually very very useful. Beside mechnical, biological and chemical filtration offered by other methods (Berlin, etc.), adding a skimmer can skim out all the organics dissolved in your water. Nature does it when you see waves smashing on the seashores or rocks. You see foams of organic gunk with lots of bubbles... right?

ORCA25 is a cheap workable solution if you have the time to adjust the parameters, change wooden air-stone regularly, and have space in your tank for it.

The reason I switched to the prism is that it works and removed all the inconvienance mentioned above.

There are other good ones that are HOB (hang-on-back),

like

(a) CPR BakPak

( Red Sea Prism Pro

© AquaC Remora and Remora Pro

(d) H&S HOBs

(e) EuroReef HOBs

I think the cheaper ones (abt $200 plus) are (a)(©