coralife skimmer
 

I've narrowed it down to getting a coralife hang-on skimmer in a few days and want to know the pros and cons. i know it's a very popular skimmer and widely used. few questions though. Which one should I get for my 33-gallon mixed reef, the 65-Gallon rated skimmer should be enough right?
Also I've heard something about how they can clog or flood over, why and how can i avoid this? Also how much gunk would they pull out, enough for my tank?

There definetly cheap and they are very finicky. If you adjust them for water level they will run fine then they will start over flowing . The best way to run them is as a in sump model so if they over flow it just ends up going back into the sump. The 65 version has a small air intake and gets clogged quit easily with calcium. The 125 is a little bit better but has the same overflow problems. If you are going to buy one I would go for the biggest one you can afford. But in that case you might as well get a good skimmer. Allso if you are going to get a bigger tank later it's probably better to get a larger skimmer that you can use on that system. it will save you money in the long run.

there ok
 

mine has been running for about 6 munths now and i have had no problems but the air intakes do get cloged fairly easyly and if they clog compleatly you will get a flood but i clean mine weekly
you know clean out the cup and check the air intakes but to get a dryer skim i had to adjust the pump so its like only half inch below water line instead of the 3 inchs it says in the manual and i f i new how to post a pic i could snap a few and post them for you

I used one for about a year. When it was skimming well, it did a great job. It did overflow on me a few times, but I never seemed to get a handle on why, etc. Here's a picture of some of the junk it was able to pull out!

http://x0a.xanga.com/2b0c71336273517...b130929674.jpg

BTW....it was the CSS65.

ya i had a feeling that it was the air intake. So in general they'd be ok for a soft coral reef, but definitely some drawbacks such as flooding risk. so for an extra $50 i might as well go for the aqua-c nano. i just can't imagine that little skimmer being better than the coralife. the main reason I'm getting a skimmer is i'm dealing with a diatom problem at the moment and think it's about time to throw in an ok skimmer to help me out a bit-

thanks again drew, looks like if you manage to play with it and prime it right it pulls out a fair share of gunk; I was looking for a pic like that to see how well it skims

go with a 220 actually my freind has one f/s for cheap works fine but as you know they do act up that is the nature of a cheap skimmer!
I had one when first starting out cause I didn't wanna spend too much but after it flodded my room twice on carpet too, I almost threw it out the window hahhah JJ I got rid of it.
If you dont mind mopping or smelling carpet soaked with skimmate I say go for it but otherwise get an in sump!

ok well a soaked carpet all over the place is the last thing i need, ok so how about the Aqua-C's then? pros...cons...I've always had these recommended by alot of people, and it looks like a reasonable skimmer, question is; can I get away with an aqua-c nano or must i get the bigger one, the aqua-c regular? :confused:

by the way the thing that really caught my eye is how the aqua-c nano is rated for 5-25 gallons and the coralife is 2/3 the price and rated up to 65 gallon(if that's even really the appropriate rating..!)

I don't have any knowledge with aqua c but what I can say is bigger pump more bubbles=mo skimmate what size is your tank, sump?

i have an aqua-c remora. it's not as "amazing" as my euroreef was but it's pretty good. well built. I wish it wasn't as finicky about oils and such though. when my hands go in the water skimming stops for the rest of the day.

Do you have a sump?