Looking for the BEST under 300 dollar protein skimmer

[LatinP]

Hey guys, as the title says I'm looking to get a new protein skimmer for my 90g and I'm hoping to get the best skimmer money can buy (within the 300 dollar price range) so far I've narrowed it down to 3 options but I'm open to any suggestions.

option 1: Reef Octopus Extreme XS 160 Protein Skimmer - $294.99
option 2: Bubble Magus BM-NAC7 Cone Protein Skimmer - $249.99
option 3: SWC Xtreme 160 Cone Protein Skimmer - $274.99

Within my price rangeI've been told these are the top dog skimmers, general consensus is that the RO Extreme has a better italian made pump and wider neck but others say the SWC is the better option. Very few put the BM as the top dog but I thought I'd throw it in there since a few people seem to like it alot. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated, planning on buying this coming week.

 

[ryangrieder]

honestly, about everyone who recently is plannig on buying a skimmer, all looks into these three and compares them on which is "best". about a dozen threads have been made on these three skimmers within the past 2 months. in the end, nothing was claimed "best". look at it this way, all three are great skimmers, the all have pros and cons, in the end your going to get the same results. someone is going to say BM(probably jerl77 lol) someone will say SWC, and someone will say RO. all three of those skimmers are great. amazing at that. cant go wrong with either, and your going to love each one, so when it comes down to it, its really your choice.

personally, i picked the NAC 7.... not because its "better" or the "best" but it fit my budget, the size was perfect for my sump, and i liked the reviews.

 

[JonnyJ]

honestly, about everyone who recently is plannig on buying a skimmer, all looks into these three and compares them on which is "best". about a dozen threads have been made on these three skimmers within the past 2 months. in the end, nothing was claimed "best". look at it this way, all three are great skimmers, the all have pros and cons, in the end your going to get the same results. someone is going to say BM(probably jerl77 lol) someone will say SWC, and someone will say RO. all three of those skimmers are great. amazing at that. cant go wrong with either, and your going to love each one, so when it comes down to it, its really your choice.

personally, i picked the NAC 7.... not because its "better" or the "best" but it fit my budget, the size was perfect for my sump, and i liked the reviews.

+1


i havent researched personally, but make sure you check the footprints of the skimmers to make sure your sump can accommodate them.

I personally went with the swc120 cone because of the small footprint. I can also add that it is really quite and well made.

 

[Mattl22]

Just got a bm and love it

 

[CheckSix187]

I also made one of these threads when I started my 90 gal and I had the exact same price range, with masterswimmers help I went with the reef octopus, I highly recommend them and they are widely recognized as one of if not the best brand out there, I would contact Russ (masterswimmer) on here or just go to WWW.saltwatercritters.com and check them out, great guys and products. They stand behind everything they sell 100%

Sent from my Thunderbolt using Reefs

 

[strgazr27]

Magus skims like a Mofo lol.

Sent from my DROIDX using Reefs

 

[NYreefNoob]

what is the water level where the skimmer will fit ?
imo
all 3 are decent skimmers but all 3 are made with cheap materials, ,the octo having the better body of them, and this time around they put a pump thats more fitting to the body, the octo 160 use's the newer sicce pump that doesnt have the same start up issue's older one's had,

swc is probably the best design but the resun pump is known to have issue's.

if you could add a $100 to it hands down id go for the Skimz SK181 kone.
after having owned a few skimmers, there are certain things for me that are important. build, quality of the build and customer service and michael hall of
www.aqua-digital.com has to be hands down one of the best people i have dealt with in this hobby,
if going the octo way look at reef specialty, best prices on the octo's and if your a RC member they take 5% off, free shipping and no tax

also depending how heavy stocked the tank will be take a look at the vertex in180 {owned this skimmer twice } awesome skimmer, solid built and performer, but a little big for a 90g unless it is heavy stocked

 

[LatinP]

Thanks for the replies guys, not sure why this was moved into the looking to buy section, I'm not buying used I'm buying new please don't pm me.

what is the water level where the skimmer will fit ?
imo
all 3 are decent skimmers but all 3 are made with cheap materials, ,the octo having the better body of them, and this time around they put a pump thats more fitting to the body, the octo 160 use's the newer sicce pump that doesnt have the same start up issue's older one's had,

swc is probably the best design but the resun pump is known to have issue's.

if you could add a $100 to it hands down id go for the Skimz SK181 kone.
after having owned a few skimmers, there are certain things for me that are important. build, quality of the build and customer service and michael hall of
www.aqua-digital.com has to be hands down one of the best people i have dealt with in this hobby,
if going the octo way look at reef specialty, best prices on the octo's and if your a RC member they take 5% off, free shipping and no tax

also depending how heavy stocked the tank will be take a look at the vertex in180 {owned this skimmer twice } awesome skimmer, solid built and performer, but a little big for a 90g unless it is heavy stocked

Never heard of that skimmer looking at it now. The water level in the skimmer section of my sump is exactly 9" high and the skimmer can't exceed 23" tall. I'm interested in looking at this skimmer now but 100 bucks more is a bit steep. I'm buying a whole new Apex controller along with it so the budget is sort of tight. The tank isn't heavily stocked at all 2-3 small fish, a yellow tang and corals but I'm really looking for the best performance in my price range to pull out any nasties and keep water quality at it's best. Right now it's looking like the RO or maybe the SWC but if I can crunch some numbers the right way I might look into that Skimz, any idea what pump it comes with? I don't see any information about that on the site.

 

[saltwaterinbrooklyn]

I love tunze skimmers personally

 

[Bry17nyc]

Im looking for the exact same thing
a good skimmer for my 90 gal

I heard the reef octopus 1000sss is pretty good
and it fits almost everywhere

 

[strgazr27]

all 3 are decent skimmers but all 3 are made with cheap materials.

I have to respectfully disagree here. I spent about 2 months going back and forth over a skimmer. Traveled to 3 different states to see them in person (I know, nuts) and honestly the difference is very hard to see if at all. My NAC5 is as well made as any of the others I have looked at.

Another thing to consider is that it's pretty hard to tell the difference between a well setup straight body and cone style skimmer. They will both perform equally well when setup correctly. I need to find the very informative article that went over this.

None of the above choices is bad and will work very well when properly setup and maintained.

 

[NYreefNoob]

the material used is very thin and can grip and squeeze the bodies, by a few skimmers i meant 23 or 24 skimmers i have owned. the reason i asked water depth is because different skimmers perform best at different depths, and if you are limited on height under a stand, but need a skimmer that goes in 6" depth would mean you need a platform to put under the skimmer shortning the height

few guys i chat with on RC that are skimmer nuts like me

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2018475

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2018318

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1589426&page=131

 

[JBL]

I had read and heard so many good things about the SWC Xtreme 160 Cone Protein Skimmer, I just bought one to replace my Red Sea C-Skim1200 piece of cr*p. Can't wait to get it in there this weekend.

 

[ryangrieder]

Just my 2 cents, I'm a bit drunk, so sorry if I don't make sense...

I'm confused about is...what does what it's made of or how strong it is have to do with anything? I mean, the skimmer never has weight on it, or for the matter no skimmer has it be built "strong", i though it's more important about performance. You can't judge a skimmer due to it's build quality. For example no one is going to say ohh that jet car is garbage because it's made of a plastic body. No, they are going to say that car is amazing due to how fast it is and performance. No disrespect at all to rick, but I don't think that many people care if you could squeeze it a bit and it bends a little bit. I feel you seeing you have the most experience with skimmers, speaking about the pumps they come with or bubble production is WAY more important here rather then how think the plastic it. It's like saying ohh of you get mad at it, don't throw the BM skimmer against the wall because it would break,throw the reef octopus because it's made stronger... Let's face it, they are made of plastic, not metal. Having thinner plastic won't effect the skin mate....

 

[garys reef]

bubble magus nac7 is amazing just my 2 cents

 

[LatinP]

I had read and heard so many good things about the SWC Xtreme 160 Cone Protein Skimmer, I just bought one to replace my Red Sea C-Skim1200 piece of cr*p. Can't wait to get it in there this weekend.

You should do a review when you get yours I'm still tossing a coin between the SWC and the Reef Octopus. One advantage the SWC has is that it's 2 inches shorter so if I did have to lift it I have those extra 2 inches while the RO is a little bit taller (not a good thing) it also comes with a better pump and cone shaped neck. I dunno...

 

[Hecdr34]

I have the SWC 160 cone on my 150 and it's awesome. I went through the same thing you're going through now and after many days of researching I have no regrets with my final decision.

 

[JBL]

I have the SWC 160 cone on my 150 and it's awesome. I went through the same thing you're going through now and after many days of researching I have no regrets with my final decision.

Thanks for the input, It makes me feel better on my decision for my 150 also! I also have limited room under my tank since I have a 55 I made into a sump/fuge and only have so much room between the tank edge and the bottom of the 155.

Trick now is trying to get the C-Skim out since I almost broke it getting the big POS in there in the first place! Ugh!

 

[NYreefNoob]

if i am paying x amount of money, lets use the 300 dollar range, yes performance is number one for me for a skimmer, and no i wont be tossing mine against the wall or hopefully dropping it. but i want one thats built solid, if i am paying the same amount and all 3 are close to the same in performance, i would choose the one built the best, the thinner the acrylic the more chance of cracking eventually. not that ya hear of it often, but wouldnt you want a piece of equiptment thats built more sturdy ?

as far as pumps, having a skimmer that is built proper, meaning one that has a pump thats fitting for the body air and water wise, having the proper sized neck for that pump and body, ATB builds about the most balanced skimmer there is { bubble magnus = ATB for those that didnt know } just like vertex is made by same company as BK. except with the vertex i feel it is a much better built skimmer.

i havent went by what a company recommends tank size on a skimmer in a long time, very few put out realistic number. a swc 160 definately isnt big enough for a 150g system, will it work and pull crude ? yes it will. will it do as well if you stepped up to the swc 180 ? no it wont.

where do people feel the bubble blaster is a better pump ? check RC you will find alot of people who have had issue's with that pump, granted it does have a 3 year warranty which is a huge bonus.

btw i have nothing against these companies, and i do make reccomendations on the octo's but more to the cone version. and really like the es200 by octo also, i think the swc is a great skimmer up to maybe a 120g

if your really after a skimmer go to the skimmer thread started by MOJO on RC he's had a few more skimmers then me and is the person if i have a question i personally ask or chat with

 

[Hecdr34]

Swc 160 outperforms the 180