Advice on skimmer selection

[Poisns1]

Looking to purchase a new Waterbox 155.5

Display is close to 100 gals and sump about 55 to total water capacity at 155 gals.

Have a Bubble Magus Curve 5 but looking to possibly upgrade to a Curve 7 or Curve 7 Elite. Heard good things about Reef Octopus but never owned. Are there any other skimmers that would compete with the Bubble Magus' above and perform a bit better?

 

[tzabor10]

Reef Octopus is the best IMHO

 

[Formulator]

Looking to purchase a new Waterbox 155.5

Display is close to 100 gals and sump about 55 to total water capacity at 155 gals.

Have a Bubble Magus Curve 5 but looking to possibly upgrade to a Curve 7 or Curve 7 Elite. Heard good things about Reef Octopus but never owned. Are there any other skimmers that would compete with the Bubble Magus' above and perform a bit better?

I have a reef octopus 202-S classic that I absolutely love and has lasted me about 6 years so far with far less maintenance than recommended. I have a 120g display with 60 g sump. Remember that your water volume is much less than the capacity of your tank and sump. Need to account for live rock and the fact that your sump runs about 1/3 full.

 

[cilyjr]

I've used all the bubble magus skimmers.
Currently running a nine elite. I don't know that it's worth the price. Jump to go from the standard to the elite. But overall they are well performing skimmers.

 

[Poisns1]

I have a reef octopus 202-S classic that I absolutely love and has lasted me about 6 years so far with far less maintenance than recommended. I have a 120g display with 60 g sump. Remember that your water volume is much less than the capacity of your tank and sump. Need to account for live rock and the fact that your sump runs about 1/3 full.

I'm going to be running fish only with Marco Rocks, no live rock. that said what is the skimmer range I should be looking for?

 

[Doctorgori]

I have or had both Reef Octopus and Bubble Magnus Curve, both are solid choices and both last a long time..
Currently using Red Sea reefrun series for overflow protection …only time will tell

 

[Formulator]

I'm going to be running fish only with Marco Rocks, no live rock. that said what is the skimmer range I should be looking for?

If you are just setting the tank up new, you have a great opportunity to measure the amount of water you put in it. Many of us probably wish we would have done that… otherwise a rough ballpark estimate is typically just to use your display capacity as the total since the sump adds volume and the rock/sand subtracts some, the idea being that the two cancel each other out. For skimmer sizing this is probably a sufficient estimate.

 

[PharmrJohn]

Reef Octopus is the best IMHO

When I reboot, I'm going Reef Octopus. In the past, I had a No-Name for my 75 and an E.T.S.S. 400 for my 90. I do not want to repeat such errors.

 

[Fungusamongus]

I went with the Simplicity DC skimmer. Works super well and I dont even run it but 6 hrs a day. I would check them out.

 

[tzabor10]

When I reboot, I'm going Reef Octopus. In the past, I had a No-Name for my 75 and an E.T.S.S. 400 for my 90. I do not want to repeat such errors.

This is why I go with Reef Octopus. They are very well made and lots of experienced reefers have them. So if you have trouble, lots of help is nearby.

 

[Poisns1]

This is why I go with Reef Octopus. They are very well made and lots of experienced reefers have them. So if you have trouble, lots of help is nearby.

Reef Octopus makes a lot more models than Bubble Magus. What model do you think would be equivalent to the Curve 7? I was thinking maybe the Classic 152-S or 202S?

 

[tzabor10]

I like the control of the varios pump so I bought the elite. You really don’t need a big skimmer. They just take longer to break in. There is a nice classic 110 available as open box at BRS. Other sites have sales like that too. I’d say 152-S out of your choices

 

[C_AWOL]

If you don't plan on buying a controller with a skimmer sensor of sorts then I can only recommend any skimmer with a built in float switch (such as the regal/elite line of reef octopus which is on sale as of posting)
Having something like that has saved me a number of times during spawning events by preventing collected skimmate from ending up all over the place.

If you do have/plan on a controller to monitor your skimmer to prevent overflowing then I suggest picking any dc > ac for noise reasons (they really are a lot more quiet!) and for superior tunability (not as important)