Need a reef expert....

[Juicy]

Well It says that the G4 skimmer is good for 380G. Fencer what modifications did you do that increased it's effectivness?

[StirCrazy]

my theory is you can cut the rated number of the skimmer in half and thats the max it should be used on and only if it is lightly stocked. so a 280 gal skimmer would be real good for a lightly stocked 140 gal tank.

look at a bubble king add.. they say in there general print that the mini 200 is good for tanks up to 2500gal, but in the specks they state that it is good for tanks 135 to 265. I would assume that the 135 with a deicent load and 265 with almost no fish.. I would say even this one is to small for your tank, but I am not familier with the buble kings as they are to pricey for my liking, but for a deicent skimmer regular bking 200 or a vertex cone 300 you are looking about 1500 bucks. so if you can mod what you have to make it skim better try that first.. unless you can get a smoking deal on a big skimmer. Maby ask Asmodas as he usaly has 10 skimmer laying around

Steve

[fencer]

Wheel mesh mod you can find it on you tube. and gate valve mod.

[Juicy]

I am hoping to have exact numbers on my tank here this weekend. I am going to take a water sample into my LFS to see what they can tell me. I am planning on testing both my topoff water and my tank water. I will buy new lights and few tid bits while I am there to see if that will help get rid of this stuff. Does any one know if a 400 Maxi Jet has enough power to water through my phospahte media in my reactor?

[Skimmerking]

Hey there Juicy well you are well on your way with the nutrient export. if you sont have alot of corals in there may be see if saltynuts AKA EDDIE can take them
loose the lighting period for a week.
Still run the refugium lioght tho.
bump up the phos ban the maxi is excellent for the reactor too.
as for a skimmer, if you are running a huge FOWLR then get a excellent skimmer to work against the BIO LOAD. the skimmer is going to slow down the water changes for you and help in the aid of removing hte organic's in the tank extra nutrients ETC ETC. if you can buy a good external or if you sump will allow you. these are the skimmers that I would look at.
you want RAW POWER and a huge pressure pump for FOWLR a BECKETT or a dual Beckett.
Talk to Lando at Marine Aquaria he has a huge Dual Beckett that he might want to get rid off. the key with Becketts that you need a strong pump to run them and a good spot to put them at.
for a in sump the cone skimmer from vertex the 300 J&L has them,
the Deltec AP902 AP702, AP851 are awesome skimmers
the Bubble king is a great skimmer too SM200,SM 250, SM 300,
but there is a dowen fall they are very expensive skimmer's TRUST ME I KNOW.

can your sump handle a huge skimmer or not if not get a external. then you can keep the refugium going on your sump.

HTH.

P.S test you well for PO4, and high ALK Soug on here had a huge issue with HIgh ALK, so you may have HIGH PO4

[Juicy]

Thanks asmodeus,
I will definatley look into some of those skimmers, I appreciate the advise. I never really looked into the actual load a guy could be putting on his tank with the amount of fish a guy has swimming around, thanks StirCrazy. I always thought that if it was for a 280G it should work for it. You guys have alot of good advise, I am kind of glad I joined this whole forum thing. It is neat to hear everyones different takes on things so thanks again.

[Juicy]

For those Following this whole thread, I had my water tested on the weekend.
Both my topoff water and my tank water. All the nitrates and nitrites were at 0 and nothing was showing up in the phosphate catigory. The only thing they could find that may somehow help the cause was that my Mag was at 900. Other than that they said your water is perfect, I bought two new lights anyways just to see if that would help.