Skimmer

[Yano]

Well for my 60gal I have decided to go sumpless, for now at least. So now begins the hunt for a good HOB skimmer. http://www.garf.org/bullet.html Here GARF used a Visi-jet protein skimmer, they are very inexpensive. Anyone here ever used one? What do yall recommend?

[Yano]

http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/product.detail/iid/7911/cid/1991
What about these? ;) Only $26,250.00, what a deal! :P

I have heard good things about remora, but they are a bit pricy(for me) So I will give the Visi-jet a try.

[Troy Valentine]

Yano,

I used the Visi-jet skimmer on a 30 gallon reef a few years ago. I felt it was a waist of money. The problem you are going to run into is all of the micro bubbles that come out the bottom of the skimmer. I would save your money and buy a Prism. IMHO that is the biggest bang for your buck.....HTH

[Ram_Puppy]

I have to put my two pence in for a Remora Pro, That is what i am currently running, and it is IMHO, the best HOT skimmer you can get, I have a friend who runs a prizm and a remoral pro w/ mag 3 on his tank, the prizm is ok but the remora blows it out of the water (pun intended.)

[Troy Valentine]

You bring up a great point. 8) The Prism can finicky if it is not cleaned regularly.

But the Prism is $77 Compared to the Remora Pro at $208
For more than twice the money I would expect more than twice the skimming power..... ;)

[Dozer]

I currently have a BakPak on my 55 that's been running for a while. I can't compare it to other HOTB types because it's the only one I've ever used, but I'll tell you a couple things about it. For the most part it does pretty well. It pulls out guck. The biggest thing is water level- it needs to kind of be just right. If you let evap. go for too long, the whole thing gets thrown off. I would guess all the HOTB work like that though. The microbubbles tend to come in "spurts", usually after a water change, tank cleaning, replacing evap. water, stuff like that. There is a spong that they give you to shove in the return to reduce the bubbles but I DO NOT trust it. It clogged up the return for me one day because it had some gunk in it and was shoved in at a weird angle and the skimmer started to back up. Luckily I was right there or it would have been a flood for sure. There is a "bubble trap" attachment which is a plastic baffle type of thing that you can buy to put into the chamber that used to hold filter media (before I switched to live rock). Honestly the bubbles have never been bad enough to bother me so I didn't bother. Hope any of that helps in some way.

Also, I'm going to be moving my fish/corals into another tank in the next couple weeks and when I do the 55 can go skimmerless for a few days if you wanted to borrow the BakPak and run it and test it out before you buy something. Just let me know...

[Ram_Puppy]

True, the old axiom, you get what you pay for. I can tell you I get the nastiest skimate I have ever seen off my remora pro. I have never owned a prizm and only have to go off what my friend has told me, but I can sing the praises of a skimmer i am more than delighted with. I think there are two places you shouldn't skimp on a reef tank, your skimmer and your lighting...

[Troy Valentine]

I think there are two places you shouldn't skimp on a reef tank, your skimmer and your lighting...

Here Here!!!

[Yano]

What about these?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=46313&item=4312930 556&rd=1

[Ram_Puppy]

ouch, dude needs to tone down the green and red, hurts my eyes! :)

Well, I have no experience with the model, so I can't say (he spelled venturi wrong. :) ) anyhow... it looks pretty bulky... but for 30 bucks?

The thing is 20" around, are you gonna have your tank sitting 20 - 25 inches off the wall? That skimmer, while HOT, I think is designed to actually hang on a sump.

[NaCl_H2O]

What's your time frame?

I currently have a Red Sea Berlin Turbo (http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=RS1121) which I will no longer be using after I setup my new system in a few months. Mine isn't a HOB, but they sell a HOB version and I assume it could be "Converted".

I would be willing to sell it for 50% of retail. Not the "best" skimmer in the world, but it has done an adequate job for the past 12 months, with a little fiddling of adjustments every few days, and a good cleaning every 30-60 days.

[brewercm]

srodgers
It can't be converted because the inlet on the sump model is in the same position as the outlet tubes. The HO version has the inlet to the side instead making it possible to hang it on the tank. I just sold one of the HO versions but was actually using it sitting outside the sump but not hanging on.

[alexwolf]

I will have a BakPak2r with the preskimmer and bubble trap for sale soon. I need to get a HOB fuge, then it will be available. I love it, no complaints. I did have a microbubble problem before I got the bubble trap. Now none.