I built a becket skimmer when I first got into the hobby. It pulled out some ranky skimmate.... but in the end I kept worrying whether I was pulling enough.

Then you talk to one or two of our members that run no skimmer and have beautiful tanks, and wonder exactly how much do you need to remove? If you're SPS bound you probably do want a good skimmer.

Wild is correct, IMO, with the right pump your creation will pull excellent mess out of the tank. The skimmer itself is relatively simple to design and build, I would definitely recommend getting a big collection cup what ever your end result is.

I went with a coralife 120, then to a dual recirculating octo skimmer, then to my current skimmer... not sure what it is, a euroreef skimmer? Either way, I've not noticed anything more impressive over the last in all four skimmers.