woudl anyone like to temporarily donate a skimmer to a "skim-off"?

[fishieness]

hello everyone. well since my sump/fuge idea failed when i mom got too worried somethign would spill, im stick with all HOB stuff. Right now i have a coralife super skimmer 65 and jsut last night i bought a remora pro with a skimming box and a rio 2500 pump. i MIGHT use mr pink's seaclone that apparently leaks and jsut wont skim if i can get it to work. But im basicaly jsut going to get everything tunes, and just run them all on my 40 reef for a good two-three weeks, maybe even less, to see how they all do and compare them to eachother. since there is so much info on the ability of these skimmers, but ive never heard of anyone runnign them at the same time on the same system. maybe we will realy be able to see jsut how close or far appart form eachother they are.
if anyone wants to lend me an extra HOB skimmer or two that they have and would be willing to give up for a little while that owuld be amazing. I promise you will get them back. and once i am finished, if im not able to make it to the next meeting (of CTARS for those waho apply), i could meet you somewhere and drop it off. I am esspecialy interested in a larger coralife. and would love both expensive and inexpensive skimmers.
thanks! you can PM me or better yet, post here so people will know who is contributing.
PS: if you have a skimmer that was already temp. donated, or i have listed above, dont hesitate to give it up because i have heard so many mixed opinions....ESSPECIALY if it has a different pump, or any mod. ect. and i dont think i will be using mike's seaclone because apparently it leaks (which is why i dont have a sump....just in case). and any modded skimemr would be interesting. size doesnt matter for this test.
also, this will be a GREAT way for anyone to show off a skimmer they are tryign to sell and do a good deed!! jsut think, everyones goign to want to buy your skimmer if it outpreforms the remora pro!


thansk everyone!
so far i have POSSIBLY a seaclone, coralife super skimmer 65, remora pro with skimmer box and rio 2500, and a skilter.
PS: i can come and pick up or meet particialy to those of you who are on the south-west side of mass. i live about 40 minutes from aqua dreams. also, if you know anyone coming to the august meeting here in CT (8/20) and would like to have them handle the transaction, that owuld be great and ill make sure it gets back to you.

 

[fanaglethebagle]

I hate my seaclone...

 

[fishieness]

haha. yeah. that is what i hear, but people still buy them, and those who have never used anything else even swear by them. But maybe if you temp. donate it to this cause people can see and not buy them anymore?
my friend has a seaclone he was going to lone me, but as i said above, apparently it leaks.

 

[dz6t]

you are not comparing the same class of skimmers here. While a seaclone is useless for a 75 gallon tank, a Remora Pro can't fit into a 10 gallon tank.

Seaclone is very good at skimming 10 to 20 gallon tanks.

 

[JayM]

I hate my seaclone...

I hate my coralife

 

[fishieness]

you are not comparing the same class of skimmers here. While a seaclone is useless for a 75 gallon tank, a Remora Pro can't fit into a 10 gallon tank.

Seaclone is very good at skimming 10 to 20 gallon tanks.

i knwo im not doing the same class. but that would be realy realy hard to do out of donations only. A seaclone may do a fine enough job for a 10 gallon, but im not testing what is best for each size tank, but what each skimmer can pull out for the exact reason you mentioned. a seaclone is good for a 10-20 gallon tank, but their measurements say they can handle between a 75-150 gallon tank. and then there is my coralife which claims a 65. so the classes dont realy matter, but the performance, which is what i am trying to test.



JayM: why do you hate your coralife? which one are you using?

 

[marco67]

No offense but I really think your wasting your time here,
If (as you said in another post) you goal is to keep your system leak free. Using a hang on is exactly what you don't want to do.
Don't get me wrong I don't mean to be harsh but what I see here is a recipe for another hobbyist getting washed out. Even if you get these skimmers and test them you will just be testing for which one will be the least disappointing. Then you will have a frustrating tank with equipment works marginally and that is difficult to maintain, then one day it floods and Mom hits the roof.
Please consider spending your time and money on a good overflow box (or drilling) and an ASM, CRA or octopus skimmer. These are all very affordable option that WORK and Work well, they won't flood and you will still be in the hobby a year from now.

If it's a money issue and those skimmers are the only options ....put them in the closet, that's where they will be the most reliable. Seriously if it's a money issue just spend your effort doing regular frequent water changes, I promise you that will produce better results and les spillage than the skimmers you are testing
Best of Luck
Marc

 

[fishieness]

no see, i already took that road. i bought the acrylic, made a pump, bought a pump and overflow box, and did all the plumming and put everything together. Thought about getting a euro-reef and decided for a ETSS reef devil instead. was ready to pay for it and have it shipped to me. already had my coralife sold once i upgraded skimmers. it all worked fine, then my mom got scared that if the Utubes break syphone then ill have a flood. i assured her they wont but she said if i have another leak ill have to give up all my tanks. and i have never had a problem with any of my HOB things so far in the past year and a half this tank has been going.
and the original plan over a year ago was to drill, but i had decided that my main goal was not to reduce water changes (i have no problem doing 12.5% per week for this particular tank), but to get my clownfish to breed and raise the fry. well since i am going to college in about a year now, i dont want to have my clownfish get used to their new environment by removing them and taking everything out,a nd basicaly starting over.
and i havent oufn my tank difficult to maintain at all. i actualy love doing the normal work and have actualy found it to be pretty minimal. and i may not have the best tank in the world, but i like it very much.
and yes, i will never find something that will compare to an ETSS or an AMS or a bubbleking, but the whole point of this is not to find what is the best road for me (i have already choses my route with my remora pro), but for other hobbiests entering the hobby. So many times ive seen people asking what HOB skimmer they can get. one person says a prizm works fine, another says it sucks. someone says a remora, the original poster says they are too expensive. So here i am trying to figure out what is the best and most efficient skimmer for people like me, who for one reason or another, cannot have a sump weather it be a money issue, time issue, whatever. I will actualy have information to back everythign up. if someone things the more expensive skimmers are too expensive for them, then either i could help them with a cheap alternative, or possibly even help them find a skimmer that is the most efficient for the money.
and im sorry for the long post, but although, as i said, i dont (by FAR) have the best tank in the world, or even what some people would consider nice, but i supose i can get defensive when someone calls my tank marginal or dissapointing because even if you dont think it is nice, i still love it and love the hobby
so again, sorry, but i jsut want to try to do this to try to help some people out, mainly because the coralife is the only skimmer i have PERSONALY used. all my other knowledge is based on other people, but there are so many mixed opinions.

 

[marco67]

First please don't misunderstand my previous post, I am not calling your tank marginal or dissapointing (I would never do that) it is the results I say will be. The difference is that you are setting yourself up for a no win test.

I understand your position and I know what I posted isn't what you wanted to hear but I've seen it before many many times. I understand how you came to the desision to do your test and I don't blame you, I'm just trying to help and tell you you are wasting your time. As far as teir being mixed opinions on some of the skimmers you listed ...well yea there always will be. I know I've been there, I'm posting this from experince, I've had the visi jets the seaclones the prisms and every other cheap POS they put on those retail shelves. I've also had many different MRs euro reefs and deltecs. Most recently I've installed some Octopus skimmers (I find them to be buy far! the best value on the market today!!)
But that's not the reason for my orginal response....what I saw as your concern was not being able to have another leak? Trust me you will not make it through this HOB testing without one.
Good luck with it .... no matter what you decide always remember that do nothing is an option and in this hobby it is many times the best choice.

Marc

 

[fishieness]

thanks. i knwo the possibility of a leak is there. which is why once i set it up, im pretty much goign to spend a day or so adjusting and just makeing sure it is actualy running and does not have a huge leak in it, or make sure the bubbles arent goign to overflow the cup. I had actualy planned on putting buckets, a 10 gallon i will one day use for rearing clowns, and even my old sump underneith it to catch any water that may fall if for any reason it does fail. if ig et a seaclone or any others that i hear are extreamly unreliable, i may even put it in the tank depending on size.
and sorry. i reread your post and realized you said the equiptment will be marginal and dissapointing. lol. and sorry for the misunderstanding.

 

[dz6t]

I hate my coralife

sell it to me
I love mine and hate my AquaC remora pro...too much skimate

 

[fishieness]

sell it to me
I love mine and hate my AquaC remora pro...too much skimate

hmmm.... i just bought a remora pro and sold my coralife. lol. or well, not sold yet, but im going to run them for a while right next to eachother and observe. what model do you have?

 

[dz6t]

the 65 gallon one.
The Remora Pro comes with a mag3 and I think it is too much flow. I replaced it with a Rio 1400 and it is too little flow.

 

[fishieness]

ill keep that in mind. thanks!

 

[dz6t]

Octopus skimmers is another needle wheel skimmer just like the Coralife super skimmer. The magic is resided with the needle wheel pump. The body of the Octopus skimmers is a very plain design.

 

[fishieness]

they dont make octopus hang-ons though do they? ive heard a lot of good thigns about them, i have jsut never heard of a hang on one.
well maybe if my coralife out preforms my remora like yours does, ill seel both and get a 125 or even 220 coralife.
i must say, for the money and from what i have seen, my 65 does a good job (although this is realy the only skimmer ive had experience with, which is half the reason why i want to do this experiment. lol)

 

[JayM]

how do you deal with the microbubbles from the coralife's output? it drove me nuts....so nuts that it is sitting in a box now as an emergency replacement only

 

[dz6t]

I don't have any micro bubble. I have two coralife skimmers and one with the bubble trap and one doesn't. There is no micro bubble to deal with. Defective skimmer?

 

[fishieness]

i have like maybe 35 in my entire tank? lol im not having a mircro bubble issue at all. i only notice a FEW if i look for them you are using the bubble diffuser right?

 

[dz6t]

what is FEW?