skilter filter

[dantodd]

is it a waste of $50 or is it well worth the money?

[10" Red Devil]

Total waste my friend, will not skim anything. You could pick up a used cpr bak pak for about that price. Not sure if the reason you were considering the skilter was because of space limitations. If thats the case then I would maybe suggest a air stone driven picolo skimmer, 10x better. However ultimately if space is not an issue then save the $50 and with $60 or so more you could get a corallife super skimmer which is probably the best skimmer out there in the $120 and under category.

[dantodd]

thanks. I have a 20L that uses an AC20 as a return pump. the skilter would have made an easy drop in replacement. I tried a nano fission but....

perhaps I'll look for a picolo. Do you have a good US source? They've been hard to find for me.

[Agu]

I believe the Coralife skimmers are very similar to the piccolo skimmers.

Coralife Skimmer

[flameangel88]

Last night I saw a bak pak on the used equip forum for sale ($75) and you can get a new CSS 65 at bigalsonline for $75 + s&h.

[James11]

The skilter sucks, I picked one up at my LFS for about $35, worked Ok if you mod with the air stone. One bad thing about the mod is that you can't adjust nothing so your skinmate won't be that dark all the time. I would only run one if something happened and I had to have it in a pinch. Don't waste your moeny my friend.

[10" Red Devil]

Wait you have a 20long, then I would say definitely try to save up and get the Remora or the coralife super skimmer. The Super skimmer being slightly better in performance, but a little more shotty construction and a bit more bulky.

If I were you though and knowing what I know now I would hold out for a sump either get a drilled tank (best choice) or a external hang on overflow (dont get cpr!), Get a nice return pump, then get a nice in-sump skimmer like a ASM G-1 or a Eruoreef if you can afford one. This will future proof you for what you and every hobbyist eventually does SPS corals. This way your not having to buy equipment, then sell it because you have and will change your mind on what you want to do, consequintly taking a big loss.

But if your budget is real tight and your impatient like I was go ahead and get a Remora, coralife super skimmer hang on.

Good luck with whatever you do though!

[dantodd]

well, I'm not drilling the tank and I already have a space for a skimmer about the size of a piccolo so I'm really considering the coralife air-driven skimmer.

I have 220w of PC over the tank and it gets a couple hours of direct sunlight so my SPS is loving life in the tank. I got mostly browned out large frags from an LFS to see how they do. They are picking up some color after a month in the tank and all are doing well except the favia.

[oldreefer76]

Tunze Nano Doc would be the perfect skimmer and it takes up little space and at $135 is the best you can buy for your size tank and can be ordered directly from Tunze and will out perform all the above mentioned skimmers by a long shot

[10" Red Devil]

Oh I forgot about the Tunze,

Yeah cant go wrong with a Tunze! Although this skimmer is unproven, but it is probably great, everything else they put out there rocks anyway!

[10" Red Devil]

edit sorry

[20reefer]

Try the odyssea ps75, I bought one for $43 and it filled the cup in three days. Is a needlewheel skimmer and have work great. Two years ago I got a skilter and to reach a inch of skimmate you have to wait like two months well more time, in other word=crap.

[jlocke]

I have the tunze nano skimmer and it is great. takes up hardly any space and performs great. I had the skilter before and all it did was release micro bubbles into the tank and hardly any skimmate. Definitely go with the Tunze!

[spiderman2000]

thy only work on small tanks.
I know someone with a 20 gallon sw tank
it pulls out alot of crap.
but i would go with a ramora C my self.

[Agu]

How about links to specs on these skimmers you people mention ?

[skylsdale]

Skilter = pure crap.