can someone recommend a good protein skimmer for a 250 system? it does not have a sump so i need a plumbale system or a large hob type. any help would be appreciated.
I would recomend the ASM 5 or 6 but only with a sump. I don't know what kind of system you have, but if you want to keep corals you need to have a good sump and refug system. There are some good inline skimmers on the market, but are always subject to overflow and you would have to have the pump in the tank along with the returns.Is your tank drilled, and if not can it be? I will never set another system up unless the tank is drilled. Hope this helps you.
F/S MRC MR-2 Protein skimmer with pump. can get this for 299. he said its rated for 300gl. would this be considered a good deal? i am not familiar with the brands yet.
My Reef Creations (MRC) is a good brand that Chris has some experience with. He likes this brand and I believe has had good luck with it. Contact him for more details
I have several MRC products - an MR2 protein skimmer and two of their calcium Reactors. There calcium reactors are great and wouldn't hesitate to recomend them. As for the MR2 protein skimmer that I have had for about 4 years now and it has preformed OK. They are built like a tank and are good at producing skimmate continuously but it is quite wet. I have just this past week replaced the feed pump which has produced alot smaller bubbles which I suspect will help improve its production. As for the overall design being a becket injector. A becket injector is a ball that is attached to a arm that holds it while water rushs past it and causes it to beat back and forth thus creating bubble from the air in the becket chamber. You have to make sure that your feed pump is screened in some way because the least little thing can dramatically affect the pumps production when things collect around the becket. It also is a skimmer that requires very high flow which makes dealing with micro bubbles more of a problem. I know that the MR2 is now made with a second injector option which helps but I don't know what other improvements have been made. I am currently needing a large protein skimmer for my 300 gallon central sump system and will probably purchase an ASM G4x or G5 and stay away from the beckets. I am very impressed with the sedra pumps needle wheel design which is what ASM uses. The bubbles are very fine and produce alot of skimate as Fischer12's is testimate to. Another things about protein skimmers that I have learned to avoid is needing to feed the skimmer with intake water seperate from the main pump of the skimmer like a recirculating skimmer requires. It doesn't seem reasonable to me to have several recirculating pumps creating bubbles only to have to have another pump to get water into the skimmer. This seems like more effort and more heat and more electricity, just doesn't seem like a great thing. The ASM skimmers, which are still available but are not being produced anymore, are a good combination of all worlds. You do not have to provide for water intake, it is an in sump skimmer so no worries about leaks and the bubbles produced are very fine. What more can I say - take a look at www.asmskimmer.com they have several mods that can be done to the skimmer to improve them. Most notable is the gate valve mod - I think that the recirculating mod is not really neseccary after seeing Fisher12's produce. The only skimmer that I personally dispise is the Coral Life skimmer that is quite popular with people, probably because of its low price. I have never, never ever actually seen one produce skimmate that is respectable enough to be useful. If you have lots of money then a Euro Reef is pretty much the same thing as the ASM just built alot sturdier, but in my opinion not worth several hundred dollars sturdier. Hope this helps - let us know what you decide on.
