Skimmer question

[Melusina]

Okay, now I'm confused - more. In looking at the picture of the MSX250, it says on the actual body of the skimmer "SWC" , but skimerwhisperer recommends the SWC over the MSX.

http://www.marinesolutionsinc.com/catalog/Protein-Skimmers-MSX-Skimmers/c22_48/index.html

 

[Skimmy]

actually, the swc and the msx are the same...it's the octopus extreme that's the one that isnt as good, but virtually identical...
confused yet????

the msx skimmers come from SWC, the octo extreme's come from coralvue, the octo extreme is the knockoff of the SWC skimmer. both companies get all parts from honya shenizen in china.

i know i've done my job if your even more confused now...lol

 

[Melusina]

actually, the swc and the msx are the same...it's the octopus extreme that's the one that isnt as good, but virtually identical...
confused yet????

the msx skimmers come from SWC, the octo extreme's come from coralvue, the octo extreme is the knockoff of the SWC skimmer. both companies get all parts from honya shenizen in china.

i know i've done my job if your even more confused now...lol

Clear as mud now, thanks!!

 

[Sascha D]

Thanks for the explanation of the differences. That helps. BTW, if I stayed with the ASM brand I was planning on going with the ASM G4xx - I know that the G2 wouldn't be powerful enough. There's just sooo many choices out there and I don't want to skimp, but I don't want to just pay for a name either.

About 2 years ago, I had an ASM G4x on a 200g with a 60g sump. Firstly the foot print is huge. The skimmer itself is like 3 feet tall and its a huge PITA to place. I had only paid $125 for mine on Ebay, but for the quality I would not reccomend buying one even if you got it as cheap as I did.

 

[aquariumdebacle]

can you recommend one for a small (6" x 11") footprint?

 

[Melusina]

Okay, so I'm getting ready to order the MSX250 when someone says to me, " you should look at the Red Sea C Skim 1200". I know that it just hit the market, but does anyone have any thoughts on that one? It looks like it has some nice features.

 

[Skimmy]

absolute total garbage for the money.
it's not even a quarter of the skimmer that the msx 250 is (400 lph air versus 2000 lph)
it's a cannister filter on crack that got too high and now thinks it's a skimmer.
the fact that red sea makes it should q you in...

 

[Reef Monkey]

I'd go with what skimerwhisperer says, he knows what he's talking about.

 

[luke33]

lol, the red sea 1200 vs a msx250. Totally different animals. The c skim will most likely be fine for skimmers 75g or less. That is if it actually pulls the 400lph it says it does. The msx250 pulls 1800-2800lph air depending on if you use PW's or MW's.

 

[Melusina]

Okay - I just ordered the MSX250. Thanks so much for all the help and advice - you've been great, and I really appreciate it.

 

[Skimmy]

no sweat...
luke and mine's life goal is to make sure every reefer in the world owns a skimmer that p0wn3$!!!1! lol

 

[luke33]

And for a good price too : )

 

[Melusina]

Hi Guys! I got my skimmer and I've had it set up for about 3 weeks now (don't ask- sump problems, etc. I thought I'd end up using the tank for a bathtub). Anyway, it's making me crazy. I can't seem to get it adjusted correctly and every time the water level changes in the sump it has to be readjusted. And I'm not getting any skimmate except the middle chamber where the bubbles come up is slimy and brown. What am I doing wrong?

 

[luke33]

What skimmer are you using and if your sump fluctuates half an inch your always going to have probs. It HAS to be at a consistant water level unless its a recirculating skimmer. But i'm sure we can get you fixed up as there are always tricks.

 

[Melusina]

I got the MSX250. I haven't gotten an ATO for the sump yet - it's on the list so hopefully that will help, although the one on my other tank (ATO) gets a little crazy sometimes and adds above the sensor.

 

[luke33]

Well, unfortunately if you have the water going up and down its going to be a nightmare until you get it constant. Only thing you could do is get a rubbermaid and put the skimmer inside it and put your return line going into that and overflowing out. This would give you a constant water line, but being such a large skimmer may not be suitable. Only other option is to recirc it and add a feed line to it : )

 

[Melusina]

Well, unfortunately if you have the water going up and down its going to be a nightmare until you get it constant. Only thing you could do is get a rubbermaid and put the skimmer inside it and put your return line going into that and overflowing out. This would give you a constant water line, but being such a large skimmer may not be suitable. Only other option is to recirc it and add a feed line to it : )

Okay, you lost me there

 

[luke33]

Sorry. Let me try and explain it better. If your skimmer compartment fluctuates then the water in your skimmer is going to go up and down making it impossible to control your skimmer, or getting anything out of it. The reason i say you could fix it by putting your skimmer in a rubbermaid is for this reason. You would get a rubbermaid and put your skimmer in it. Then you would put the rubbermaid in your sump. Your return line from your overflow would go into the rubbermaid and the water would flow out of the rubbermaid into the skimmer compartment. This way your skimmer would always be in a constant water depth like it needs. You would have to cut the rubbermaid where you want the water to be at depth wise. Make sense? Your basically adding a generic baffle. Not sure what kind of room you are working with though so you may not be able to do it.

 

[Melusina]

It does make sense but the way my overflow is set up it won't work. It goes into a small compartment and then flows into the fuge, which then spills into the sump - what you're talking about is setting it up the way the fuge is set up. What about the recirculating thing - is that possible? Or would it just be easier to get the ATO and hope for the best?

The weird thing is that I have an ASM skimmer on my 90 gallon and it doesn't seem to care what the water level is. It just chugs along, so I wasn't expecting this issue with the big boy tank.

 

[luke33]

Consider yourself lucky with the asm. I've owned them before and lots of others and water constant always affected the skimmer performance. And it will be much easier to just get an ato. Unless you are comfortable recirc'ing the skimmer. It would take a few uniseals, hole saw, elbo's, feed pump. Not much other than that.