[mike31154]

I ran an Aqua C with Mag 3 pump for a while as well since it came with a used system I purchased. Overall quality of the build is fine, I just found it extremely clunky and noisy with the Mag 3 pump. It skimmed very wet and thin, no sludge at all for me, just like a weak tea. I'm happy to be back to the old school diy air diffuser driven skimmer that came with the original system I purchased. It's quiet, very low power with small powerhead and air pump, and it skims nice and dry, very thick dark sludge. Those two are the only experience I have as far as skimmers go.

If you're at all handy, you may consider building your own. A search for diy skimmers should yield some good info. Shouldn't be too difficult for a medium size tank such as yours. DIY skimmers can be simple or complex, whatever your flavour, it can be done.