Skimmer for 93 Cube

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Jimbo

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I tried asking this in the " Skimmer Q and A" sticky with no response. I'm about sick of the random overflows of my Reef Octopus XP 1000 and looking for a new skimmer. Great skimmer most of the time, just tired of it.

Tank will be predominantly SPS, 100 total gallons. The most important thing for me is consistency and no more random overflows!

Looking in the $500-$600 range. Considering the NYOS 160 but there doesn't seem to be much feedback out there on these. Also the Vertex 180i. RLSS 6 has been recommended to me previously.

Kind of restricted on space as 12"x12" is the size of the sump chamber. A 9 " running height would be perfect but less than 9" would work.

Any suggestions?
 
www.dinkinsaquaticgardens.com
Really leaning towards a NYOS 160, last concern is it too much for a 93 Gallon?
 
BRS
you can save a couple hundred bucks and go with the SCA302. they are great skimmers, very quiet, very efficient, and ive never had an overflow out of my sca301. they are small footprint skimmers. customer service is on par or better than the high end companies.
 
oh, and these are designed for a 7 inch water level so your good on your height and these are easily adjusted so you can run them in more or less water.
 
Deltec
Wow, $179.99 Have to admit, I'm a little worried about a budget skimmer like that ( not to sound like a snob lol ) Can't imagine the pump being very durable but what do I know. What's the cost of a pump replacement on these? Warranty information?

Glad you guys are happy with them. Thanks
 
Tidal Gardens
Jimbo said:
Wow, $179.99 Have to admit, I'm a little worried about a budget skimmer like that ( not to sound like a snob lol ) Can't imagine the pump being very durable but what do I know. What's the cost of a pump replacement on these? Warranty information?

Glad you guys are happy with them. Thanks
Click to expand...
the pumps are good and quiet. warranty is 1 year us warrenty (sc aquariums is not a Chinese company it is American and holds an American warranty) replacement pumps are cheap if it goes out after the warranty. when you email them with a problem it is the owner who responds to you. their customer service rivals that of the most expensive top brands. sca skimmers are only budget because the company is build by and owned by hobbyists who aren't concerned with all profit. they make enough to make it worth it but keep everything affordable.
 
I am sorry I have bought SCA skimmers and they are not that good. I should have known better too with all my experience. I figured what the heck they were going on frag tanks with almost very little load and costed almost nothing and I was reading all these rave reviews. . They are touchy, Either they are over flowing or producing nothing. All I am going to say is I replaced one with a used aquamaxx CO-1 Which is also a cheap skimmer and it pulled out in days what the SCA did in a month. Plus it did it after almost a 50 percent water change.
 
Avast
personally ive never had an issue with my sca, once it was broke in and I adjusted it (yes theyre touchy during adjustments) I never had to touch it again. I ran a fairly dry skim in a low bioload tank and was amazed at crud that was pulled out. took about 4 days to fully break in, 10 minutes to get adjusted properly, never touched it again except to clean it once a month and then I didn't do a deep cleaning so there was no break in period after.
 
I've ran an SCA 302 for about 5 years until about a month ago. At no point did I ever have overflowing issues, pump failures, pump restart issues. Actually I've never even had to deal with customer service. But with having said that I recently purchased a Vertex Omega 150 for a new build, and replaced the SCA on my current tank with an RO Diablo XS 160. The SCA simply does not compare to either of these two in terms of quality of materials and construction.

The SCA is a good economical skimmer, but it is still an economical skimmer. It's made of cheaper lower grade materials than more expensive brands. So, although you may not ever experience an issue IMO the potential for issues is certainly there.

I will note that the RO Diablo has performed much better and more consistently than the SCA 302 did. And the RO is definitely and overpowered skimmer for my 35 gallon system by any conventional standard. The SCA simply couldn't keep up anymore. It used to run great but stopped producing dark skimmate. No matter what I did it'd only give me a tea colored skimmate.

My recommendation is to stick with your original budget and stick with tried and true brands. If I'm not mistaken NYOS is the company that produces the Skimz line of skimmers. I've also heard very good things about the RLSS line and I was strongly considering that option for my build but ultimately ended up with Vertex.

I have not ran the Vertex yet since my build is still ongoing, but I can say it's quality is superb. It definitely rivals the look and feel of a BK. I've never owned a BK but I have seen them in person.

The ATB Nano One is within your price range and is rated for up to 150 gallons. It utilizes a DC pump as well.

The Bubble King Double Cone 150 would be well suited and may be closer to your price range pending any possible black Friday sales. I saw one for about $650 on PA not too long ago. The BK double cone 180 would be even better but a little farther out from the $500-600 budget.

If I were to ever upgrade skimmers it'd be either the ATB Nano One or BK Double Cone 180. Both these companies have fantastic quality, customer service, and their products are workhorses.
 
You can usually find BKs in the drygoods selling section of this forum for good deals as well.
 
spartanman22 said:
I've ran an SCA 302 for about 5 years until about a month ago. At no point did I ever have overflowing issues, pump failures, pump restart issues. Actually I've never even had to deal with customer service. But with having said that I recently purchased a Vertex Omega 150 for a new build, and replaced the SCA on my current tank with an RO Diablo XS 160. The SCA simply does not compare to either of these two in terms of quality of materials and construction.
.
Click to expand...
I cant say anything about the sca after more than a year, I am happy to see yours lasted 5 years though.
 
Ya like I said it's an ok skimmer I was fortunate to get a decent life out of it and I'm sure many others have. But, given its lower quality grade materials it opens the door for many more issues than a higher quality product.

I have no problem recommending the SCA if you're doing a budget build. It'll do the job, and will save you some money. But if the OP is willing to commit to $500-600 on a skimmer for a 120 tank that puts him in the ballpark for many of the top tier skimmers for that tank range. If you're able to spend it, I'd certainly recommend higher end products over lower end.

This hobby can certainly be done on a budget (successfully ran sps reefs in High School and college), but boy is it much easier when you have quality equipment!
 
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