Advise on skimmer

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dfwflyr

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I am currently running a coralife super skimmer on my 120 gallon set up. One of the things I am trying to accomplish is having a somewhat clear water column. I went with the coralife skimmer because it is a HOB that takes up little room in my sump (in have a small footprint for a skimmer available.) I am thinking about upgrading to a reef octopus diablo xs160 or an eshopps a-150. Will upgrading skimmers help the clarity of my water? Is the price of a better name skimmer worth it?
 
@dfwflyr wrote:
I am currently running a coralife super skimmer on my 120 gallon set up. One of the things I am trying to accomplish is having a somewhat clear water column. I went with the coralife skimmer because it is a HOB that takes up little room in my sump (in have a small footprint for a skimmer available.) I am thinking about upgrading to a reef octopus diablo xs160 or an eshopps a-150. Will upgrading skimmers help the clarity of my water? Is the price of a better name skimmer worth it? said:
I'm just starting in the hobby myself... But the only advice I can give is the same advice I was given ( by many many pros ) when I was building my setup. And that was.... Buy the best skimmer your budget will allow. Try to go with one rated for at least 150% of your actual water volume.
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Look at the bubble magus curve. Good bang for the buck skimmer. If money is no object bubble king


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In my opinion it will also filter socks help and they need to be changed out biweekly.....you need good flow in the tank to get the stuff sucked down.
 
More frequent water changes and run carbon. Those two things will make a difference also.

In my opinion the water BEING more clean (skimmer quality) is more important than it LOOKING clean though. I believe the more quality skimmer will assist in having cleaner and cleaner looking water.

I noticed significantly more clear water when I ran Biopellets as well.
 
I'm new to the hobby myself, but I can tell you this. When my skimmer was off line for a couple days, I had this nasty film on top of my water. Once my skimmer was back on. It went away. Coincidence? maybe, but too much of a coincidence to go unnoticed. Oh, I doubled my water volume rating on my skimmer since I love to feed my fish very heavily. Nori in the morning every other day. Autofeed twice a day sinking pellets, Cyclopeze or half a cube of Formula 1 for mid day snack, brine shrimp as a treat twice a week. Corals get Kent Zooplex every other day, Coral frenzy 2-3 times a week. I run bio pellets to help with the phosphates, and lots and lots of CUC to help with detritus. Lots of flow also so things don't settle. One drawback is I have to clean out my filter socks every week and carbon every 3-4 weeks. But, my water is very clear
 
My filter socks are filling up in about 4 days. The water is mostly clear at night but when my AI sols ramp up you can see the particles build. I dose prodibio bioptim and biodigest every two weeks. I have stayed away from bio pellets after having an issue with hydrogen sulfide. Carbon isn't good for my tangs which in the past has caused HLLE and killed them off. My only other option I can think of is filter floss in the sump baffles. I'm leaving town in the morning and I can post a pic on Tuesday. As far as tank flow...well two MP40's and an MP10 running at about 50% on a 120 gallon. The only other concern I have has is the return flow. I run an ehiem 1262. That should be about 600-700gph
 
If you have Wes models run nutrient export mode ... Make sure you have the mp40 placed where manufacturer sugests
 
@dfwflyr wrote:
I am currently running a coralife super skimmer on my 120 gallon set up. One of the things I am trying to accomplish is having a somewhat clear water column. I went with the coralife skimmer because it is a HOB that takes up little room in my sump (in have a small footprint for a skimmer available.) I am thinking about upgrading to a reef octopus diablo xs160 or an eshopps a-150. Will upgrading skimmers help the clarity of my water? Is the price of a better name skimmer worth it? said:
I would pass on both skimmers that you are asking about. I switched from Reef Octopus SRO 2000's to the newer design AquaMaxx EM series 200 & 300. I would recommend the EM300 as that is what I use on my 150g w/30g sump. It is available at Marine Depot for $379. There is another skimmer I would recommend that uses the new DC pumps, and that is the Reef Life Support Systems (RLSS) R6-I. It is out of stock currently at Salty Supply but it also gets rave reviews in other forums.
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@dfwflyr wrote:
My filter socks are filling up in about 4 days. The water is mostly clear at night but when my AI sols ramp up you can see the particles build. I dose prodibio bioptim and biodigest every two weeks. I have stayed away from bio pellets after having an issue with hydrogen sulfide. Carbon isn't good for my tangs which in the past has caused HLLE and killed them off. My only other option I can think of is filter floss in the sump baffles. I'm leaving town in the morning and I can post a pic on Tuesday. As far as tank flow...well two MP40's and an MP10 running at about 50% on a 120 gallon. The only other concern I have has is the return flow. I run an ehiem 1262. That should be about 600-700gph said:
The problem you saw with using BP's., is that you probably had no way to regulate the flow to the tank. A BP reactor needs to have independent control of flow to/from tank, and within the reactor chamber itself. This will ensure that once your nitrates are down where you need them to be, you can slow down/cut off the flow to the tank. Reef Dynamics has an excellent unit, or you can make one yourself if you are handy with pvc plumbing.
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