Protein Skimmer?

[d.french]

my octopus exteme skimmer way outperforms a coralife, have had both skimmer and me myself and other have flooded there house because of coralife. If price is a issue i would watch for good sale in reef central club forum or on craigslist before i buy a coralife. My buddies coralife hardly spits out anything but that berlin i had filled up cup once a week or 9 days dark green not that week coffee look. Asm aren't bad but you have to mod them to get them to do something.

 

[fatman]

Adjustments very in there simplicity. The Octopus is easier to dial in than the coralife. But bang for your buck is still with the Coralife. Well adjusted it will do as well or nearly as well as an Octopus needle wheel or Turboflotor of the same design capacity. It can be expected for some advantage in performance be on the side of a pump with larger flow. Coralife has the smallest flowing pump. Regardless, I would rather own and use two Coralifes than a single Octopus and that is about the price difference involved. Two Coralifes will obviously run circles around the single Octopus with out any chance of any valid argument in disagreement being possible. And the advantages of that are great, as are the advantages of redundancy. The only real advantage to an Octopus is the better materials of construction and easier operator adjustments. ASM still uses cheap extruded plastic for construction same as Coralife and Turboflotor. There are many regulars on this site who will swear by their Coralifes. I personally use dual Turboflotors as I buy them in quantity at a discount, and I like their size and the pumps they come with. I do not like the cheap plastic they are made of though. I like the cell cast plastic of an Octopus needlewheel, but that is all, as they are over priced just like the Turboflotor and their pump should be up graded.

 

[McCrary]

Fatman- I don't think the Coralife is in the same ballpark as some of the skimmers coming out recently. The coralife 220 is $215 and the Octopus 200 is $200, so both are priced close to each other, but the Octopus would kill the coralife in terms of skimmate production. Not to mention if you went to the MSX-200 you would only be shelling out another $100 and you would have a skimmer that just might take out more gunk than the Octopus and the coralife combined. Plus, the Octopus is made out of cell cast acrylic, which is what my $1,000 H&S is made of (although the quality is obviously different), and it is the same size (24" tall with a 8" wide reaction chamber). The idea that two coralife skimmers are going to beat a single Octopus might be true, but you are totally ignoring skimmer subtleties like dwell times which determines the extent to which some larger molecules are broken down. Pump flow does have to do with how well a skimmer performs, but a good measure of the skimmer isn't necessarily all in flow, it has a lot to do with air intake. But like I said, skimmers can perform very differently just because of slight differences in design and small subtleties that most won't even notice.

 

[d.french]

ive only seen store owners recommend a coralife talk to luke33 on reef central he will point you in right direction and luke plus hundreds of other will not recommend a coralife. There are alot of reefers here in st. louis area and alot of us use either ATI skimmers, euro reef, and alot use octopus skimmers, some use ASM but they use mesh mod to get more out of them.

 

[McCrary]

sjm817 (Team RC) is another good guy to talk to, they keep more up to date on the skimmer threads than I do and would definitely be able to point you in the right direction.

 

[d.french]

euro reef or deltec are over priced skimmers, octopus and msx skimmers are the best skimmer for the price right now alot of online stores sell alot of them, octopus nw 200 only 200 bucks, thats not bad at all. But you get what you pay for its your tank.

 

[d.french]

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=ESU-33004&Category_Code=Superskimmer

or

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=CV-OCT-NW-200&Category_Code=Octopus



not much price difference just difference in quality

 

[McCrary]

Yea, I used different sites, but the prices are very similar to one another. The MSX seems to be the hot skimmer right now, just like the BubbleMaster was like 6 months ago. The one nice thing about buying a skimmer from Deltec, H&S or BK is that you don't have to fiddle with them, or mod them and they produce skimmate for a long time with consistency. But you do pay for the convenience and the name of those companies.

 

[d.french]

premium aquatics is close so they have fast shipping for me, thereefstop.com i know that guy who runs that website give discounts for being member of local rc club so i only order from them. there are many skimmers out there to choose from, i've seen people in our club and other forums ordering those other skimmers reeflo brand also. they look like nice skimmer but i can't let somebody recommend a coralife to someone and why would someone want 2 skimmers when you can have one that is similar price and performs very well, but like you said it depends on many different things like setup, water depth, air intake, lots of mods can be done to any skimmer to make it kick @ss. Mesh mod impellar drill bigger hole for more air flow in intake.

 

[McCrary]

The coralife is a viable option for a HOB skimmer (overflow issues aside), but it just isn't going to perform on the same level as larger in-sump skimmers. That isn't to say its a bad skimmer, but you have to look at things in perspective, in-sump skimmers will trump HOB skimmers of the same price simply because of the size and design differences.

 

[fatman]

I just believe you are principally paying for name and pump value when buying a skimmer made of cheap extruded plastic. I have over two dozen skimmers in use and they all k=have cracks in their collection cups just from general use not accidents. They are all extruded plastic. When I recommend coralife it is the 125 because of its price its is a better deal than others in its performance range. The small octopus is in the same performance range. A pump can perform somewhat better and be in the same performance range. If is is designed for a tank between 90 gallons and 150 gallons nominal it is in the same range. Al four of the skimmers I refer to are principally for tanks in that size range. For your money the Coralife is the best choice. It is not the top performer, it does not use the best materials for construction, but its price for the performance it provides makes it he best bang for your buck. The Octopus is the only mass manufacturer which sells a cell cast needle wheel skimmer in that size range, but their price is high because of its materials and name, obviously not because of greatly increased performance or its pump. They all perform well it does not really matter which one performs 10 or 20 percent better or what ever. If you start out with an over sized and good priced skimmer there is no need for a skimmer that works better at double the price. If Octopus used a better pump or lowered their price it would be a great skimmer. As it is it is an average performer made with heavier materials and that is not a good enough reason to pay so much more for a skimmer when Coralife sells so cheaply. If all four of the skimmers were made out of cell cast acrylic my opinion would differ,then only the pump, and prices charged would be taken into account as performance is not greatly enhanced by any improvements I have witnessed. Dwell times are an adjustment. Admittedly adjustment ease varies from skimmer to skimmer. If I could purchase Octopus for the same price as the Turboflotors I use I would use them instead, but that is only because of their better materials used in construction. I pay little more than what is typically charged for Coralifes so I buy the Turboflotors. They would be a better skimmer than an Octopus if they were cell cast plastic instead of extruded plastic. I would not however pay full price for Turboflotors, I would buy Coralifes. To put it simple, I will not pay a high price for an extruded plastic skimmer. And the cell cast skimmers are good quality, but then they typically charge them out of the ball park or use cheap pumps and try to mid price range them. The skimmer market needs to settle down so that their prices can become competitive before it is worth buying anything besides cheap needle wheels that perform nearly as well as the much more expensive ones.

 

[d.french]

i think your missing the whole point i'm trying to make here fatman octopus aren't high priced, that just it look at price difference between the two there very close in price, deltec, euro reef, bubble king, ATI, reeflo, and tunze are all high priced skimmers.

i posted a link with prices between the 2 skimmers only a couple of bucks difference.

 

[d.french]

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4392+13924&pcatid=13924

the first three skimmer 110, 150, and nw 200 are comparable by price and size recommended, except coralife actually won't handle the size tank it says it will, seen it first hand.

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=Octopus

 

[fatman]

And the price of a Octopus,if it is not expensive then it is what? It is not ungodly priced. It is mid lined just like the others being debated. It is actually nearest in price to the cost of a Turboflotor which is expensive even for a midline as is the ASM, but they fit in closer to the Coralife than others do. I have stated the fact that the Octopus is made with good materials for its price and easily adjustable, which is nice, but other than that, the upgrade in materials and its name it has nothing to offer to warrant its price and neither does the Turboflotor or the ASM which are also over priced for the league they are in. They are all upper level entry models, nothing more. The Octopus outperforms the Coralife, but not enough for the price difference even given the better materials. The Coralife is the only one in this category with a price that is justified by what it offers. It is not the best performer, but it offers the most value for the price asked. The OctoPus takes second place in value due to its better materials, the Turboflotor has the best pump placing it in third and the ASM is in last place value wise. The others mentioned aren't even being considered herein given their prices. There are no new points being brought out so why is this debate continuing? By me it is not! The End!

 

[Asteroid]

Hello All -

I read and re-read this thread trying to get a feel for what skimmer to get to hang on the back of my 55gallon glass aquarium (48" x 13" x 21") And I admit I am new and presently know virturally very little about skimmers. My question - if money were factored out of concern and functionality is the sole criterion, would (could) someone please rank order the top say 5 skimmers for me to think about buying? Thanks....

 

[d.french]

from what i've read on reviews, not personal opinion

better skimmers

bermuda rogue
aqua c remora
deltec which is expensive but awesome
lifereef hang on skimmers

below here are ok skimmers

red sea prizm skimmer
coralife skimmer
octopus
cpr bak pak

in sump skimmer are the way to go if you can do a sump.

 

[reeffreak]

Hello All -

I read and re-read this thread trying to get a feel for what skimmer to get to hang on the back of my 55gallon glass aquarium (48" x 13" x 21") And I admit I am new and presently know virturally very little about skimmers. My question - if money were factored out of concern and functionality is the sole criterion, would (could) someone please rank order the top say 5 skimmers for me to think about buying? Thanks....

For HOB and money is no object,right?

Aqua C Remora Pro
Lifereef-the best IME,but I'm partial.
Coralife SS

Octopus and other skimmer companies make great in sump skimmers but never heard any good or bad about there hang-on models.

 

[McCrary]

Dude, french has been doing some research. The bermuda rogue is a good one that can definitely handle the load of a 55, so can the Deltec MCE600, the MCE300 could probably handle it unless you have some crazy bioload.

The AquaC Remora uses some dated technology and they can have performance issues based on the placement of the injector nozzle. This takes them off the list IMO. The Red Sea is probably less effective than the Seaclone. Coralife has overflow issues when used as a HOB and can dump like 5 gallons onto the floor for no reason, at also releases a massive amount of microbubbles.

If I didn't have a budget I would get the Deltec MCE600, but most people have budgets, so its up to you.

 

[d.french]

there is one hang on octopus skimmer that i've seen in action and is awesome i put link below.

http://thereefstop.com/index.php?_a=viewProd&review=read&productId=342#read_review

 

[ccCapt]

The Octopus outperforms the Coralife, but not enough for the price difference even given the better materials. The Coralife is the only one in this category with a price that is justified by what it offers. It is not the best performer, but it offers the most value for the price asked. The OctoPus takes second place in value due to its better materials, the Turboflotor has the best pump placing it in third and the ASM is in last place value wise. The others mentioned aren't even being considered herein given their prices. There are no new points being brought out so why is this debate continuing? By me it is not! The End!

What are you talking about...lmao. The Octo NW200 is $200 and the comparable CSS 220 is $210. The is no comparison between these skimmer. The Octo simply is a better skimmer design wise, price wise, construction wise and pump wise...period. Obviously you have not used both to see the differences or you wouldn't make that statement.