My reef creations

[SnowManSnow]

whats the low down on these skimmers? I've heard good things from a few places.. they are very reasonably priced imo (if they are any good).

In particular the MC1 or 2

B

 

[Anonymous]

electric hogs. they need pressure rated pumps, which soak up the juice.

IMO the technology (becketts) are old news. There's newer skimmers that skim as well and use half the electricity.

B

 

[Ben1]

I just picked up a ATI BM200 http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant ... de=ATIskim

and it skims like a beast. Thing is awesome beside some stupid issues like the fact that the brand new pump has issues restarting. I think I just need to trim my mesh a bit though. For the 599.99 price tag its the best in its range IMO. Others I like in the $500 range were the MSX skimmers from marine solutions

http://www.marinesolutionsinc.com/catal ... _info.html

And the new octopus extreme series looks promissing

http://www.coralvue.com/extremeseries.html

Of course if you wanted to spend the big bucks there are nice skimmers like the ATB cone skimmers

http://www.atbskimmers.com/

The reefflo skimmers, still draws 95 watts though

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant ... de=reefflo

and bubble kings which I am sure you are aware of.

I went for the ATI BM 200 b/c IMO for the 500 range it was the best available.

I used a PM bullet 3 for a long time, and loved it. It skimmed very stong and was over all an excellent skimmer. Things I hated were the thumb screws, it was noisey, very large and needed a big pump. These are very similar to the MRC beckets, although the MRC's are available with a union.

 

[Ben1]

FWIW I just saw over on Reef2reef that MRC is coming out with a needle wheel skimmer soon that has a built in bubble plate, that one looks decent as well.

 

[discocarp]

Thing is awesome beside some stupid issues like the fact that the brand new pump has issues restarting.

I am abandoning use of my BubbleMaster 250 because of these pump issues. It skims great - when the pumps are running. They're terrible at restarting though, and sometimes they stop spinning randomly. Basically, this skimmer has just become a gigantic pain in the butt.

 

[Ben1]

I read about the issues with the pumps restarting before I purchased it, and was aware of it but it seemed most people that had this issue were able to resolve it by trimming back the mesh a bit on the impeller.

 

[discocarp]

Thanks. I was given the same advice from ATI. I've trimmed the mesh and tried every conceivable thing to solve it. No dice. I'm going to switch back to my euroreef.