Coral Life Skimmer

Holygrail45 · #1 05/15/2007, 05:07 PM

Hello Community,

I have a small 30 gallon tank, for which Im using an old Skimmer that I inherited with the tank. I have an abudance of liverock which I feel does a majority of my 'filteration' for me, and some filter fabric catching particles before water enters my sump...and the skimmer ofcourse to finish things off. I've noticed that its starting to go on me and I need to get a new Skimmer.

I also want to invest in a new 75 gallon tank in the next year.

Thinking about getting a Skimmer than can take care of this 30 and then the 75 in the future.

Coral Life offers a pretty cheap ($150) skimmer rated up to 125 gallons. I read a previous thread here that absolutely bashed ASM Skimmers....so, I was wondering your thoughts on Coral Life.

I simply can't afford Bubble King or other $800 plus models.

sayn3ver · #2 05/15/2007, 05:12 PM

there are quite a few others, i myself am just setting up my first reef and i haven't purchased my skimmer yet but on a budget, octopus and aquaeuro skimmers are pretty good bang for your buck. Slightly more expensive but will probably work really well for your situation is a tunze 9005.

For what its worth coralife just jacked the prices on their skimmers and the general feeling is that they are definetly not worth it now.

Joshua1023 · #3 05/15/2007, 05:38 PM

Yes, they just raised the prices. It was always a good skimmer for the money, but now that they want nearly $200 for it, there are better choices for the cash. Also, if you want to go Coralife, go for the 220. It has the same pump with a bigger body on the skimmer. I'd go Octopus if you are running a sump.

mg426 · #4 05/15/2007, 05:55 PM

Coralife skimmers are crap, get a Reef Octopus or look at the AquaEuro USA skimmers.

Holygrail45 · #5 05/16/2007, 01:26 AM

Appreciate the good word. My main problem is height in my stand....I'll have to figure something out. My lfs is big on the Octopus too....maybe its the way to go.

Thx all.

aclos3 · #6 05/16/2007, 01:52 AM

Coralife are crap for people who can't have a little patients in getting them turn run right. They are, however, great skimmers for anyone who is willing to put in a little effort tuning them. There are much more expensive skimmers that take a lot of fine tuning as well.

Tang Salad · #7 05/16/2007, 06:45 AM

I agree with aclos3.

But I didn't know Coralife raised their prices. That will definitely change my opinion of them.

fishes2889 · #8 05/16/2007, 07:59 AM

Most the people who hate CSS skimmers are the ones who have never owned them!!!!

Dont hate what you dont have to give an opinion on!

I personally like mine and its perfect for the tank that i have. It pulls out all the gunk i could ever want. Like someone said above, they just need some fine tuning, but if you dont clean your skimmer at least every week or 2 then its not going to run properly...IMO!!!!!!!!!

mg426 · #9 05/16/2007, 08:51 AM

For the record I did own a CSS 220. I did have about two months worth of patience. I did speak to ESU on the phone more than once (a waste of time). I did e-mail them several times. I did have the CSS 200 in a baffled sump so the water level never changed. All I got from the CSS 200 was constant overflows and No skimate ever. The one that I owned just flat out Did not work period. I also read the CSS skimmer mods thread . I gave up a got an ASM G3 problem solved.