anyone using a skilter?

[goldie]

I am 2 months into my first sw tank and my lfs suggested I buy a 250 skilter he has for sale. It is apparently a skimmer and a filter built together. Just wondering if anyone has any experience with one of these. Sounds very cool but I don't want to wast my money if it is crap

[Myka]

It is a piece of crap. Not really a skimmer. I have one from about 10 years ago, and I took the "skimmer" part out, and modified it into a fuge for one of my small tanks. Then the motor died and I threw it out.

How big is your tank? I could reccommend a skimmer for you that isn't too expensive. The AquaC Remora line is the lowest quality I would reccommend. Anything less is a waste of money imo (like Prism, BakBak, SeaClone, Coralife).

Oh, and don't listen to the guy at the LFS anymore. He doesn't know what he's talking about. He was trying to make money off a newbie. Good move asking here. Find a better LFS to go to.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Myka

Oh, and don't listen to the guy at the LFS anymore. He doesn't know what he's talking about. He was trying to make money off a newbie. Good move asking here. Find a better LFS to go to.

Good advice.

[castaway]

I had one worked not bad as a skimmer but it was very noisey.
Get something different
The red sea prizm skimmers are good

[Aquattro]

This "might" skim something on a 5g nano, but it's not really a real skimmer.

[Zoaelite]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

This "might" skim something on a 5g nano, but it's not really a real skimmer.

Skilter 250 Power Filter
The Aquamaster 250 power filter is designed to be an easy-to-use filtering system that cleans the aquarium water with mechanical, chemical, and biological action. It has a flow rate of 250 gph for fresh or salt water aquariums up to 55 gallons.

The Aquamaster is easy to operate. The unit simply hangs on the back of the aquarium. It has been designed to be self-starting and maintenance-free. It is is manufactured of high impact plastic for dependable use. The Aquamaster 350 also has an extra large filter box that leaves plenty of room for additional filtration media to supplement the Bio Matrix Filter Cartridge. If you feel additional chemical or biological filtering is needed to balance your aquarium's needs, the Aquamaster 350 is designed to give this type of versatility.

The Aquamaster 250 provides three stages of filtration as it passes through the Supreme Bio-Matrix cartridge. First, it is mechanically filtered by the dense polyester filter material. It then passes through an activated carbon medium that is specially designed to be an effective chemical filter. Finally, the entire cartridge, surrounded by its unique clam-shell style frame, acts as an efficient biological filter. The snap-together cartridge is easy to replace and allows for either partial or total change of the filter media. This assures uninterrupted bacterial filtration.
Size:
Total filter: 8 1/2" long x 6" wide x 8 1/2" high
Outside the tank: 8 1/2" long x 4" wide
Warranty:
The Aquamaster 250 has a 90 day warranty.
Availability: Usually ships in 2-3 business days.

206564
$34.99

I'm going to have to disagree Brad . Have you used the unit personally? I havn't but from the discription it sounds like its an okay unit and for a price of $34.99 it wouldn't hurt to try it. In essence its a HOB aquaclear 55 with a small skimmer built it.

It depends what goldie is using it for, if its for a nano then it would work excellently, just replace the filter floss with live rock rubble and you have all 3 types of filtration occuring in one cheap set up. Little fast to just shoot it down with out knowing the intended use.
Levi

[Myka]

The price has gone down. When I bought mine 10 years ago it was $90 on sale with a lot of dust. I should have known better w/ all the dust on it. For $35, I'd rather spend that on an AquaClear. The cartidges are expensive for the Skilter, but if you filled it with lr rubble it may be a decent little filter. Don't expect it to skim much...on any size tank. Mine skimmed VERY hit and miss, was a pain to tune it in, and would lose its tuning easily. When it DID skim it didn't produce much, and the skimmate was just light tea colored. It was pretty useless as a skimmer. The Skilter isn't powerful enough for a 55g either...like nowhere near. Try maybe a 20g max.

[Aquattro]

Levi, a good friend of mine used one when they first came out, so I do have personal exposure to them, and no, they do not work well at all. IMO, a seaclone is way better, and we all know how well they work (yes, I owned one of those).

[Zoaelite]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

Levi, a good friend of mine used one when they first came out, so I do have personal exposure to them, and no, they do not work well at all. IMO, a seaclone is way better, and we all know how well they work (yes, I owned one of those).

Oh beleive me I know that Seaclones work about as well as Heath Ledgers sleeping meds. did. I wonder if you could convert this unit into a nice HOB fuge? It looks alot larger than the aquaclear and could be modded fairly easy, for $34.99 its worth a try.

[goldie]

the tank is 33 gallons. My aquaclear just died and I had been meaning to buy a skimmer so I thought this might be perfect, but maybe I might be better off just getting a new aquaclear and a decent skimmer. I found someone selling a used red prizm for $40. Do you think I need an aquaclear with that. I was told in the beginning that I woudn;t even need a filter with live rock...but the idea kinda freaked me out being an old freshy.