Skimmer help

[Johnboy]

Hi, I am looking to purchase a hang on the tank skimmer due to lack of room for a sump. My tank size is 180l or 45 American gallons. The main requirements are quality skimming and silent or as little noise as possible. Happy to pay about £150 .Hope someone can advise.ThanksJJ

 

[Frankie]

Hi, I am looking to purchase a hang on the tank skimmer due to lack of room for a sump. My tank size is 180l or 45 American gallons. The main requirements are quality skimming and silent or as little noise as possible. Happy to pay about £150 .Hope someone can advise.ThanksJJ

Look into Tunze Doc Skimmers for the better performance and maintenance. It is not a hang on back but can go inside the display tank. The design makes this skimmer one of the best performers available for systems your size. Don't get caught up in all the hype on designs and foam quality of other skimmers for your size system. This one will out perform all in the end because of the method of air and water contact time.

 

[Johnboy]

Thanks Frankie . My only concern is aesthetics. Is their any you can recommend that come close to this type of skimming that hang on ?JJ

 

[Frankie]

Not really. All others basically over skim. What I mean wit that is they pull out mostly wanted stuff and very little unwanted. That's why they have such a dark skimmate. It's loaded with beneficial bacteria. What were looking to do with skimmers is remove unwanted nutrients.

For a better understanding of skimming read the first post in this thread:
http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/f14/skimming-numbers-59522/

 

[Peppie]

If you dont want to look at a skimmer hanging in your tank. I recommend Reef Oct. BH-1000. It is rated for 100gal. It does a good job on my 90AIO
I didnt think the included surface skimmer attachment was sufficient. I made a larger one with a deep port for the intake tube for the skimmer

 

[Frankie]

Very cool dude! You could really control contact time in something like that by recirculating it back into the weir.

 

[ksed]

Look into Tunze Doc Skimmers for the better performance and maintenance. It is not a hang on back but can go inside the display tank. The design makes this skimmer one of the best performers available for systems your size. Don't get caught up in all the hype on designs and foam quality of other skimmers for your size system. This one will out perform all in the end because of the method of air and water contact time.

Well said !
I wish more people would understand this, and not get caught up on the hype factor.

 

[Krish]

Look into Tunze Doc Skimmers for the better performance and maintenance. It is not a hang on back but can go inside the display tank. The design makes this skimmer one of the best performers available for systems your size. Don't get caught up in all the hype on designs and foam quality of other skimmers for your size system. This one will out perform all in the end because of the method of air and water contact time.

That Tunze nano DOC skimmer is my top pick for an in tank skimmer if I ever went with another AIO (all-in-one) tank. For a hang on, I'd probably go with an octopus hang on, but in tank, Tunze nano is the way I would want to go. Quite a few AIO have enough space to fit them in with very little modification. That little guy is a work horse!

 

[Peppie]

Frankie
Could you give some more insight about returning some of the skimmer water back to the weir for more contact time?

 

[Skimmy]

tunze make great skimmers, i like them as well, but it think the 9002 is too small for a 45g tank, and a 9005/9011 is too big to be asthetically pleasing in a in-tank configuration.
also, i would suggest one be aware that the tunze skimmers tend to over rated as far as tank size, IMO, and in most pro's opinions, so i suggest to use them on smaller tanks than what they are rated for.

if your worried about skimmer power/bacteria removal(which i wouldnt be), all you need is a skimmer that allows you to adjust the air and water seperately.
god knows there are enough bacteria products/methods to implement into your system, as well as nutrient additives, micro foods, copapods, etc...
use them if your that worried... or dump your skimmate back in your tank...lulz

so the skimmer to make everyone happy here is this:
CPR AeroForce 2 Dual Pump Recirculating Protein Skimmer
the pump that provides process water has an adjustment on it, and you can go buy a $3 1/8" gardena drip line/air valve at the hardware store.

 

[Johnboy]

Thanks for all the great posts. What is the function of a gardena drip line?

 

[Skimmy]

Thanks for all the great posts. What is the function of a gardena drip line?

a drip line irrigation valve in 1/8"(sorry dont know mm) is commonly used at the end of the skimmer air hose as an air valve to control air into the skimmer if desired.

Control Valve - Micro drip irrigation system

i dont personally think you need to worry about getting one, but if you did thats basically one of the bset valves to use.
also, most hob skimmers come with a crappy air valve or adjustable muffler.
and another good skimmer to look at is this:
http://premiumaquatics.com/aquatic-supplies/JNS-VS1.html
it is also rebranded as aquamaxx HOB1

 

[ksed]

The CPR is an interesting unit , with the recirc design.

 

[Frankie]

Frankie
Could you give some more insight about returning some of the skimmer water back to the weir for more contact time?

On the output of the skimmer (I am assuming your just going over the wall where the skimmer sits) you can T it off and run a line to the far end of the weir so the water gets processed again.

Hope that helps some.

Frank

 

[Johnboy]

Thanks . All the recommendations look good . I love the design of the last one Skimmy. The only problem will be shipping them to Scotland. I can't seem to find any UK stores that supply them. Are they new designs ? JJ

 

[Frankie]

How much do you want to spend?

Korallen Zucht HOB Skimmer | new photo

You should have no problem getting this in the UK

 

[Johnboy]

I want to buy quality , so am prepared to spend a little extra if needed. My budget is arround £200 . The most important features I am looking for are quality of skim , size and decibel outputJJ

 

[Johnboy]

The zucht hob skimmer is £600 , that's to expensive for me ! JJ

 

[Skimmy]

Thanks . All the recommendations look good . I love the design of the last one Skimmy. The only problem will be shipping them to Scotland. I can't seem to find any UK stores that supply them. Are they new designs ? JJ

yes they are new designs...
and your not kidding, i spent an hour looking on uk reef sites and the best skimmer i could find for you is the deltec mce300
Charterhouse Aquatics | Deltec MCE300 External Hang-on Protein Skimmer

im going to assume its a hideous cost to get stuff from usa to scotland...

 

[Krish]

yes they are new designs...
and your not kidding, i spent an hour looking on uk reef sites and the best skimmer i could find for you is the deltec mce300
Charterhouse Aquatics | Deltec MCE300 External Hang-on Protein Skimmer

im going to assume its a hideous cost to get stuff from usa to scotland...

Don't mind skimmy. He thinks he knows a lot about skimmers, but he really doesn't. We've been trying to get rid of him for a long time here for posting false information....



Joking :lol:. Skimmy's the man :hail:! He will definately get you sorted out. Good luck dude!