A good cheap HOB protein skimmer

[Auburn866]

I wanted to share my experience with the Macro Aqua M-50 protein skimmers (https://www.amazon.com/Macro-Aqua-M...1561679573&s=gateway&sprefix=macro+aqu&sr=8-3). I haven’t seen much about them and have been running one for about 4 months and wanted to share my experience for anyone else looking for a cheap HOB skimmer. So far I’ve been fairly impressed with this little thing, I have it hanging on my 45G and it really seems to pull a decent skim. You really have to give this thing time to break in, took almost a week before I was getting a good skim out of it. Also the instructions are pretty poor, don’t show how to disassemble and clean the unit. You can remove and clean the pump and impeller, simply give the pump a twist and pull. It is tight and I was a little concerned about it breaking but it does come off. This allows the entire unit to be cleaned quickly and easily. I have considered upgrading to the AquaMaxx 1.5 HOB skimmer, if anyone has any experience to share with those, but at over 3Xs the cost I’m not sure if it will make a big enough difference.

 

[Peace River]

I wanted to share my experience with the Macro Aqua M-50 protein skimmers (https://www.amazon.com/Macro-Aqua-M...1561679573&s=gateway&sprefix=macro+aqu&sr=8-3). I haven’t seen much about them and have been running one for about 4 months and wanted to share my experience for anyone else looking for a cheap HOB skimmer. So far I’ve been fairly impressed with this little thing, I have it hanging on my 45G and it really seems to pull a decent skim. You really have to give this thing time to break in, took almost a week before I was getting a good skim out of it. Also the instructions are pretty poor, don’t show how to disassemble and clean the unit. You can remove and clean the pump and impeller, simply give the pump a twist and pull. It is tight and I was a little concerned about it breaking but it does come off. This allows the entire unit to be cleaned quickly and easily. I have considered upgrading to the AquaMaxx 1.5 HOB skimmer, if anyone has any experience to share with those, but at over 3Xs the cost I’m not sure if it will make a big enough difference.

@Auburn866 - thanks for sharing your experience with the HOB skimmer. Although many reefers use in-sump skimmers, there are always people looking for HOB skimmer recommendations so this is helpful.

Also, if you are comfortable and when you have time we'd love for you to introduce yourself in the "Meet and Greet Forum".

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Thanks, comrade