What brand protein skimmer?

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Good review Albert.

[banditpowdercoat]

I have to ask, what makes a skimmer soo damned expensive? I mean, I have never seen a junk one yet, let alone a good one, but by looking at pictures, some acrylic tubing and a pump? I am an extreme DIY person and hate overpriced things(the if you need it, your gona pay attitude) with a passion, guess I just need some explanation why they cost so much.

[albert_dao]

Originally Posted by banditpowdercoat

I have to ask, what makes a skimmer soo damned expensive? I mean, I have never seen a junk one yet, let alone a good one, but by looking at pictures, some acrylic tubing and a pump? I am an extreme DIY person and hate overpriced things(the if you need it, your gona pay attitude) with a passion, guess I just need some explanation why they cost so much.

For the most part, you're paying for R&D, cost of materials and a decent pay wage for labor time.

Consider the prices on cast acrylic tubing ATM:

http://www.polymerplastics.com/trans...acrylict.shtml
- play with the prices (8"diameter, 1/4" thick @ $110.88/ft!!!)

http://www.professionalplastics.com/...c-Tubes---Cast
- $115.41 for 8.5"!!!

Additionally, many of the pumps are further modified from their stock versions. Royal Exclusive goes as far as to have Askoll custom manufacture motorblocks to their exacting specifications.

Toss in rising wages, import costs, wholesale distributor markups, retail markups, and boom, there's your skimmer price. By no means are the people at the manufacturing end making a KILLING off each individual skimmer.

Edit: Let's imagine what it would cost to build a BK 250 with some inferred and some arbitrary numbers...

Cast acrylic tubing 12" diameter @ 3/8" thickness = $1155.49 (source: http://www.polymerplastics.com/trans...acrylict.shtml)
PVC Sheet 3/8" = $68.57 (source http://www.professionalplastics.com/...-Sheets-&-Rods)
Red Dragon retails at $830. Let's be conservative here and assume it costs the manufacturer about 40% of this value to custom order this from Askoll, then perform further modifications such as the anti-calcium bypass and CNC'd impellar = $300.00
Labor (I'm going to assume a decent wage since these things are manufactured in Germany, not China, so how about $35/hour? Let's go with a conservative two hours per unit) = $70.00
I'm not even going to include the price of rent, utilities, interest rates, blah blah blah...

Total costs to produce (estimation) $1594.06
- 25% just to account for anything I might be missing like wholesale discounts, etc $1195.55
Manufacturer's markup @ 15% (conservatively speaking) $1374.88
Wholesaler's markup @ 5% (again, conservative figure) $1443.62

Retail value of the unit $1824.99

Hope that makes sense.

Edit #2: All that said, I absolutely CANNOT figure out where Deltec gets off charging what it does. The construction is skimpy, the materials are just kinda okay (extruded acrylic on some models as I recall, ABS neck, Uniseal grommets vs. bonded bulkheads or PVC joints, the list of where they cheaped out goes on and on), and the customer service is non-existant (this may have changed recently, so don't hang me for it), OMG...

And for the record, YES, I do have experience with Deltecs.

[banditpowdercoat]

Ouch, never thought tube would be that expensive

[jasond]

Originally Posted by banditpowdercoat

Ouch, never thought tube would be that expensive

I bet you never thought you would spend money on "live rock" either! That still makes me shake my head. Yes I see the benefits, but yes I am still paying money for rock!

[blaster]

Great i just ordered a minibubbleking300 for my 120,iguess i might as well sell that then.

[digital-audiophile]

Here is a question, Albert you sort of eluded to it on the weekend.. when calculating water volume for the appropriate skimmer should you take the gross water volume, or a calculation of water volume after accounting for water displacement from live rock, sand and equipment?

[Matt]

Albert,

Kudos for a thoughtful, complete and nuetral set of replies here. You've helped me as much as the OP, I think.

[marciemp]

Thank you so much for all the replies. It can be so hard to get a sense of what is good and what is bad reading all of the forums as everyone has different experience based on so many things, not just quality of product, but customer service, price...
Thanks again, really gives me a better idea of what's what

[albert_dao]

Originally Posted by marciemp

Thank you so much for all the replies. It can be so hard to get a sense of what is good and what is bad reading all of the forums as everyone has different experience based on so many things, not just quality of product, but customer service, price...
Thanks again, really gives me a better idea of what's what

What is your budget?