Trying to pick skimmer size

[natas]

Been going back and forth on this. First here are my specs.

255G DT
Tideline 48 Sump

I do a continuous water change of 3 gallons a day and currently have a Skimz Monster SM163 skimmer. This skimmer is to small for this tank but its what I had on my last tank.

Almost 200lb of live rock. Tank is about 4 weeks old but has rock from my previous tank....so I had little to no cycle. I am currently running GFO to help keep the Phosphates down, but will eventually start dosing carbon once I get the right skimmer.

I currently only have about 6 SPS frags but have 15 frags coming from Cherry Corals this week. I do have a rather medium - large fish load going strong. I feed them a medium to heavy load of food.

6 inch Regal
6 inch Naso
5 inch Yellow Tang
5 inch Fox Face
Coral beauty
Six Line Wrasse
6 Dispar Anthias
Flame Hawkfish
2 small Clowns (1 inch)

The tank will hopefully be flooded with SPS along with a few zoa's. I may add a few more fish....still undecided.

So my issue is trying to decide on a skimmer. I want to keep it at $700 or less. Here are the ones I have narrowed it down to:

Skimz Monster SM203 - This seems a little undersized, but all the sales rep's at BRS say this would be perfect

Skimz Monster SM253 - This one seems to be a little to big, but then again it maybe perfect for what I eventually plan to do with the tank

Reef Octopus Regal 220SSS - This one seems to be the size between the two Skimz above. It looks like a great choice but there is one feature it is missing that I really like about the Skimz unit. Air intake adjustment. You can really dial the Skimz perfectly with this feature.

Ok so throw some opinions in this thread, and maybe some alternatives. Be sure to notice that all 3 units above have the pump inside the skimmer. I really like the space savings units....but I do have room if needed.

 

[saltyphish]

Couldn't you place a valve on the air inlet to help dial it in on the reef octopus. Not familiar with the unit so if not I apologize.

 

[cginter]

I'm in the same boat. Instead of the regal look at the RO elite 220dc. Both the SM253 and the 220 elite have adjustable air intake. I don't think either of them are over kill for a 250g tank. I have a loaded 180g and I'm looking at those two skimmers.

 

[natas]

the elite looks nice but it takes up a lot of space. They have a space saver version but then it goes into $900 territory. Looks like I may just go for the Skimz. Guess I have to wait for BRS to get it in stock

 

[cginter]

It does take up a lot of space and brs doesn't carry it. Looks like me and u will be waiting for the sm253. They told me late sept when I asked last week.

 

[natas]

yup, same here. I hope they get more then 1 in stock lol. We will be fighting for it.

The only chance I would get something different is if something new that fits my requirements comes out during Macna

 

[cginter]

Yeah I would hope they would get more than one. If brs carried the elite series I would get the elite for sure. It's basically a bubble king skimmer for 1/3 the price.

 

[natas]

I am looking at the elite skimmers and don't see how you adjust the air intake. I see the wedge for adjusting the water level and obviously the DC pump is adjustable. Care to enlighten me?

 

[cginter]

I believe the tall red tube twists to adjust the flow of it.