Is this skimmer too big?

[RichReef]

If you can fit it, it's not too big.

 

[spsick]

Guys, bickering about the finer details of what makes one type of skimmer or another doesn’t help the OP. Let’s stay on track here

 

[92Miata]

My experience its very true. When needlewheels came out the big thing with them was power "efficiency". They didnt draw alot of power. They didnt need big pumps with big ampdraw to power them. Euroreef and Deltec were super popular back 20 years ago. Beckett driven and Venturis were superior but normally needed bigger expensive pressure pumps to drive em drawing big amps. But now you can get a pressure pump that draws less than an amp........so running a skimmer with a Beckett or Mazzei injector is possible without the huge electrical cost monthly.......no different with how ppl run led grow lamps drawing 50-100watts instead of 250-400-600 watt mh bulbs.

My Mazzei skimmer at half the physical size will shut down foam production in my old needlewheel CS-12-2 and pull out dark green sludge in the process. Its fast at removing organic waste. It processes ALOT of air.....its not sucking air thru 1/4 line hobby air line tubing either. Because of that I can heavy feed my corals n fish 5-6 times a day..........and allows me to run my skimmer PART TIME(which imo is better for the overall tank health) keeping particulate matter plentiful in the water column. I havent done a water change in 5 plus years........i have never run any type of filter floss or sock or mechanical filtration either. Heavy PT skimming, DSB, plenty of REAL live rock w all the hitch hikers, multiple refugiums. That it.

Again, we can, and have been measuring air draw for decades.

Your subjective opinions aren't facts.

 

[Rit6942]

Again, we can, and have been measuring air draw for decades.

Your subjective opinions aren't facts.

Then that would further my point.........show me a typical compact short body hobby grade needlewheel skimmer that can pull north of 2.5 scfm..........

 

[theMeat]

In the spirit of this thread am going to take out my regal 200int which produces a cup of thick chunky skim mate a week. my tank is 220 with med to heavy bio load, a 55 gal refugium, and a 40 long sump. This skimmer is slightly undersized.
My goal is a cup a week.
Will replace it with 5000 int which is almost double the size of what’s “recommended“. This is not the first time I’ve tried an oversized skimmer so my hopes are not high, but will try to document and we’ll experiment together.
This is the regal 220 I just took off line with one day of collection. Notice the thick dark foam

 

[theMeat]

To follow up ^
Ready to throw in the towel and go back to regal 220. Been three weeks and a couple of overflows later can still not collect much. Tried every setting for days, at different levels. The only way I can collect anything is so hi, just at the verge of overflow.