Protein Skimmer Sizes? (180 Gallon Tanks+)

[rainmaker]

180 tank here, with a Reef octopus Diablo 250 external skimmer and upgrade Varios 6 pump
Rated 250 heavy
550 light

 

[Kasey Grohowski]

180 tank here, with a Reef octopus Diablo 250 external skimmer and upgrade Varios 6 pump
Rated 250 heavy
550 light

How's it doing and how stocked is your tank?

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

My personnel experience, i bought the worst version of a Euro Reef 180 skimmer, I had it on a 120 gallon tank, it would not put skimmate in the cup, it would put a lace of skimmate around the cup. So the waste would have to build up enough to get to the point that the skimmer could remove it.
So I put my Euro Reef RS 80 in the same tank, it would fill the cup every 8 hours, so I would have to dump it 3 times a day, and this was thick chocolate syrup.
When you oversize a skimmer, people keep turning it up so it will skim, so they put it on a knifes edge, then it would start to over flow at random times.
I believe that there are some very good skimmers out there that are a perfect match for a certain size tank. For example a Bubble King 160 for a 90 gallon tank, ATB 840 for a 120 tank.
One skimmer for a 180 gallon tank is a Vertex Omega 180 skimmer, that one is the best Omega skimmer in my opinion.

 

[Kasey Grohowski]

My personnel experience, i bought the worst version of a Euro Reef 180 skimmer, I had it on a 120 gallon tank, it would not put skimmate in the cup, it would put a lace of skimmate around the cup. So the waste would have to build up enough to get to the point that the skimmer could remove it.
So I put my Euro Reef RS 80 in the same tank, it would fill the cup every 8 hours, so I would have to dump it 3 times a day, and this was thick chocolate syrup.
When you oversize a skimmer, people keep turning it up so it will skim, so they put it on a knifes edge, then it would start to over flow at random times.
I believe that there are some very good skimmers out there that are a perfect match for a certain size tank. For example a Bubble King 160 for a 90 gallon tank, ATB 840 for a 120 tank.
One skimmer for a 180 gallon tank is a Vertex Omega 180 skimmer, that one is the best Omega skimmer in my opinion.

It depends on fish/feeding amounts also. I'm upgrading my sump and I won't be able to fit a skimmer in there after I put this one in. I also know I plan to put a lot of fish and feed a ton in my tank. Which is why I know I'll need a huge skimmer.

 

[rainmaker]

It does a great job
Tank stock heavy in my opinion
Hippo tank , sail fin tang ,timmin tang , fox face, blue throat trigger , 2 clowns , dwarf angel , m wrasse then couple more smaller fish

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

Keep everybody posted on how it works out for you, I am upgrading from a 120 to a 275 gallon tank, so I definitely want to learn from your experience. Mine will be a fish only with heavy feeding.

 

[Kasey Grohowski]

It does a great job
Tank stock heavy in my opinion
Hippo tank , sail fin tang ,timmin tang , fox face, blue throat trigger , 2 clowns , dwarf angel , m wrasse then couple more smaller fish

I'd consider that light, lol. I'll have 2 schools of anthias, and chromis. Plus at least 4 tangs, 4 clowns. Maybe a few others and oh yeah my 2 sharks. So I need that power.

 

[PYRU]

I think what you have is good to go. I ran the same with a heavy stocked 180 and it did a great job. Right now I have a seaside cs9 which is a curve 9 with a psk1200 pump which was filtering a heavy stocked 210 when I bought it. Id try the 9 before upgrading.

If I had to buy a skimmer right now I'd probably give eshopps a try

S-300 Space Saving G4 Protein Skimmer

Eshopps Premier Line of Protein Skimmers! The S-300 is the perfect space-saving protein skimmer for any reef tank that needs an efficient and high-performance skimmer. Eshopps Intelligent Design (EID) features 5 specific advancements in protein skimmer technology that help make keeping your reef...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

 

[Kasey Grohowski]

I think what you have is good to go. I ran the same with a heavy stocked 180 and it did a great job. Right now I have a seaside cs9 which is a curve 9 with a psk1200 pump which was filtering a heavy stocked 210 when I bought it. Id try the 9 before upgrading.

If I had to buy a skimmer right now I'd probably give eshopps a try

S-300 Space Saving G4 Protein Skimmer

Eshopps Premier Line of Protein Skimmers! The S-300 is the perfect space-saving protein skimmer for any reef tank that needs an efficient and high-performance skimmer. Eshopps Intelligent Design (EID) features 5 specific advancements in protein skimmer technology that help make keeping your reef...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

I have the 9, good skimmer no doubt. I just know I'll need more.

 

[rainmaker]

There pretty large tangs sense I’ve had them several years now clowns large also and fox face bigger than tangs
So number or size of fish can determine the bio load
I also use the neck cleaner on the skimmer which helps a lot

 

[ndrwater]

So the 11 is rated for 450 gallons on a heavily stocked tank. I'm even thinking about going for the 12, which is 1050 on a lightly stocked. Presumably 700-800 heavily stocked. I kinda also think that it's unnecessarily big. Thoughts?

You really can't go to big. If you have the room and budget, i say go for it

 

[Jon Fishman]

Most (if not all) Skimmer manufacturers list their ratings on a "lightly stocked" scenario. Most reefers exceed lightly stocked in a very short period of time.

I greatly under-stock

 

[PYRU]

You really can't go to big. If you have the room and budget, i say go for it

I thought you run into tuning issues if you go too big like that. I'm not sure if that's accurate because I've never went that much larger.

 

[Kasey Grohowski]

You really can't go to big. If you have the room and budget, i say go for it

The 12 is $50 more than the 11. So I figure if I'm willing to get the 11, might as well get the 12.

 

[Kasey Grohowski]

Keep everybody posted on how it works out for you, I am upgrading from a 120 to a 275 gallon tank, so I definitely want to learn from your experience. Mine will be a fish only with heavy feeding.

MarineDepot claims that at 40 fish being fed 3 times a day, the Curve 12 is good for 300 gallons.