Bubble King or Reef Octopus, sizing ... ???
 

My 11-ish year old ATB skimmer is finally starting to show signs of failure, surface crazing/cracks around the ports where water enters and leaves the body, stress cracks around the screw holes, and it is getting to be a complete pain to cut mesh-wheels.

My next tank is going to be about 300G total system volume and I am looking to get a very good controllable, DC, in sump skimmer that is "+1" to my tank size needs.

I am trying to decipher the advertising speak for Royal Exclusiv and Reef Octopus but so far I am not having a lot of luck.

So far, it looks to me like I am looking at a Reef Octopus 300 series, either in sump or space saving. So far, easy enough.

However the Bubble King are all over the place. I think I would need something like a SuperMarin 200 or a Deluxe 250?

Can anyone who has owned either of these makes/models comment?

Charles

I have a BubbleKing Royal Exclusive 250 external.
I've had it for about 6 years. Expensive, never had a problem with it, enjoy working on something that's high quality.
I purchased mine from Wai's.
It looks like there is quite a price difference between a Reef Octopus and a Bubbleking, so you'll have to decide that for yourself.

Is the 250 the right size for that volume?

Charles

It depends.
Do you "overstock" or "understock" your aquarium?
Your aquarium will be healthier if you "understock" in general.

I ran the supermarin 250 on a 300 gallon system heavily stocked with a 60 gallon frag system and 100 gallon sump. It was the work horse and the heart of the operation. Bbk or bbk, there is my choice.

Thanks, that helps.

Charles

I'm a BBK fanboy for sure. I use a DC-250 with speedy3 DC pump on a 270g lightly stocked and I'm honestly not feeding the skimmer enough. I need more fish and over feed to try to get some nutrients in the water.

Fwiw,

I've done some recent research on BBK, the supermarin 200 would be perfect for your system. It would be my choice.

Having said that I have not researched the octopus skimmers.

Just to put some relevance to my opinion, I was researching skimmers for my next system, slightly larger than yours. And I plan on having lots of fish.
If you find a supermarin 200, you won't be disappointed.

One of my clients has a Supermarin 300 on a medium-stocked but very overfed 375-gallon display with another 40-50 gallons in the sump. It's fed by an RD3 Speedy pump and a Mini 1500 pump. The skimmer has been running for 3 or 4 years without a hitch. It's set and forget, requires very little maintenance. My only complaint is that every once in awhile (maybe 3 times per year) it will overflow for no apparent reason. It seems like this is when the cup has been emptied, but not cleaned for a prolonged period (like 2 weeks lol).

The only thing that would hold me back from buying a Bubble King is that replacement pumps have been harder to get in Canada in the last couple years, and none of the major retailers in Canada are stocking Bubble King anymore.

I can't compare to a Reef Octopus, as I've never worked with one. Reef Octopus has a Canadian distributor though, which is handy, just make sure the model you pick is one that they stock pumps for if that's one of the reasons you pick RO. :D

I have been using Super Reef Octopus for years and have been more than pleased. Performs awesomely. I got the neck cleaner and also added a collection bucket. Great skimmers. No experience with the Bubble king.