Help me decide on a skimmer. POLL!

[Teeb]

I'm looking for a new skimmer for my 67g. I can't freaking decide on what I want. Anyone have any of the skimmers and want to chime in?


The SWC is cheaper, but I have doubt's about their future with the owner just getting a $1M fine.
Also considering the Avast pegleg, but I suck at building things.

[Goofball310]

Hey Steve,

Is you 67 fully stocked? What's your bioload?

Here is the air draw figures and footprint for the skimmers that you have in mind:

SRO: 570lph 9.5"x7.5"x20.5"
SWC: 650lph 9"x7"x20.58"
Avast: 800-1000lph w/ a psk-1000 9"x10"x22

I looked into the pegleg early last year and they have a video on how to build the skimmer step-by-step. Also, the pegleg w/ a psk-1000 might be overkill for your tank depending on bioload but you could always put on a psk-600 which would bring the air draw down to around 650lph. Reef Octopus also makes Diablo 160XS which uses the psk-600. The Diablo isn't a cone skimmer like the skimmers that you have listed but a typical cylindrical skimmer.

[Teeb]

Only 4 small fish right now, but I'm starting my BP back up and have learned they work better when heavily skimmed. I'll also be adding more fish soon. I'll have to take a closer look at the peg leg. The SRO gets great reviews everywhere and I haven't found many negatives about the SWC either.

[Goofball310]

Design on all three are similar, customer service w/ Reef Octopus (Coralvue) & Avast are both top notch (no experience w/ SWC), and the only real difference is air draw. If you look in the DIY forums of RC the one thing everyone tries to modify on their stock skimmers is the impeller to increase the air draw.

I have an ATB Mikro skimmer that used to be powered by an Eheim 1250. Air draw on that was around 350lph w/ a meshwheel and performance was okay to say the least. I upgraded the pump 2 weeks ago to a PSK-600 and I can definitely say that my skimmer went from okay to a truely great skimmer. I was planning on buying a new skimmer for my 150 gallon tank that I'm building, but I think I'm going to use the Mikro on it til the bioload outgrows it.

[Big_Pun]

just a thought I run a sea side aquatics cs-1 lil cheaper than a octopus and uses a psk-600 pump. I just did a water change 15 min ago cleaned up cup and this is what it looks like.

http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu357/stangchris/6273121b.jpg