Need advice on skimmer choice

pappdr · Sep 14, 2017

Forsaken77 said:
My AquaMaxx skimmer stinks also. Constant fiddling with it, bubble plate flew off at first until replaced, parts decay and break after a year from the salt environment, my power cord started cracking within 6 months, the skimmer takes hours to start performing after feeding, the impeller started to eat into the pump body, the skimmer body had a leaky weld and had to be sent back to MD, tested, and replaced, but the cracking power cord passed with flying colors ;Muted (/sarcasm).

Obviously I haven't had a good experience with the skimmer. What I have had a good experience with is AquaMaxx and their willingness to help rectify the situation. If you have an AquaMaxx product and have a problem, contact them directly, not MD. MD will make you pay for a new part, while AquaMaxx wants a picture of the malfunctioning part and will have MD send it to you.

Even though they have great after sale support, I rather a product that just works. So AquaMaxx will stay in my cube until my 180 is done, then in the trash it goes. I wouldn't even try to sell someone else this headache. It's the Cone-S Q2 btw and I got the first run of them.

I have 2 Aquamaxx for my 65 and 180.
I have had issues with the smaller one doing inexplicable things but the larger one works like a champ. As far as structural integrity, I have no complaints.
The problem I have with the smaller unit is that salt gets into the air line and kills the bubbles. Then it often overflows.
I'm considering a new and different unit hoping to find better performance. I will likely do that when I reconfigure the sump and tank for FOWLR

CodyRVA · Sep 14, 2017

frank@wall said:
Imo it is true. I had many many skimmers from cheap tp very expensive and once you dial them in they all work fine. On cheaper models the only issues i had was the pump failing or impellers breaking. Once fixed or replaced it was back to normal. Like i said this is my opinion and experience.

DSC reef said:
I don't know, even coralife has come a long way. I'd agree with you 10 years ago but most skimmers are gonna perform. This could be a debate for ages.

I'll agree that there are more quality skimmers on the market today, but by no means are they created equal. That being said, there's a reason top, reputable, resellers test what they sell before they sell it and why they don't market each and every skimmer or brand.

Brian W · Sep 14, 2017

I really like the Reef Octopus skimmers but the last 2 that I have purchased I have dropped by mistake and the connection where the pump goes has broken clean off. RO said there is no way to repair it and that I would need to buy a new body at $100. I could buy a used replacement for about that much.

in the pics are the RO 150INT and RO 110INT
If you decide to go reef octopus get the skimmers that have the pumps on the inside of the unit. May have to go larger and spend more money for your tank size, but its better than dropping it and having to buy another one.

jmp21677 · Sep 14, 2017

I had the same issue with a mc600 skimmer from deltec. The intake from the tank snapped off clean!

jmp21677 · Sep 14, 2017

I went ahead and purchased the NYOS 120. It was a little more than I was looking to spend but looking at reviews there was a lot of success on 170 reefers! Plus I should be okay when I drop the bomb on my wife that I'm going to upgrade the tank next month! Torpedoes away!