Protein Skimmer questions

[cwal]

I am needing to buy a protein skimmer for my 58 gallon tank (with a 20gallon high refugium). I will have softies, LPS and a few SPS. I am trying to stay under $260 and have been looking at the following skimmers:

Tunze DOC Protein Skimmers 9005, Urchin In-Sump w/ Drain Fitting & Maxi-Jet 1200 Pump, and a Pacific Coast 1000 Recirculating Skimmer (le t me know if there are any others that I should concider). I because I have to travel from time to time I need something that is easy to setup, maintain, reliable (doesn't overflow) and I have about a 6"x11.5" space to put it in (I could do a hang on in my refugium)

I could use all the help I can get.

Thanks

[kodyboy]

you could try a D&D marine typhoon hob ($68 at drfosters), cheap but built well and I am sure it would work very well on a 58 gallon reef. It drains into a bucket or container so it could be left for a while without overflow problems. If you have room an octopus NW150 (sump only) would be good as would a tunze (althought they are much more expensive).

[pjf]

I only have experience with two skimmers in my 75g Oceanic + 29g AGA sump refuge system: a Tunze 9010 and an AquaC Remora which is similar to the Urchin that you are considering.

Despite the upgraded MJ-1200 pump and surface skimmer box, the Remora was far behind my Tunze in performance. This webpage shows what my Remora collected every two weeks: http://www.proteinskimmer.com/products/Remora.htm.

In contrast, my new Tunze 9010 collects a cup (200ml-300ml) daily. It is wet skim just as the Remora collected wet skim. I may start dialing back the air to produce dryer skim.

The Tunze will fit in your small area. If the collection cup is full, the contents will spill back into the reaction tube.

My recommendation is to spend a little extra money to get the Tunze 9010 that includes the sump kit. If you add the sump kit to the 9005, it will cost the same.

I tried running the 9010 without the sump kit. It requires that the water level be at the “blue line.” This was hard to do because the sump has a lower water level and the plastic tank lip got in the way of the large collection cup. With the sump kit, the water level can range from 4” to 10” high. I built a small platform for my Tunze to sit on and it worked out well.

[Henry Bowman]

Do the Tunze and dont look back..... I have one on a 90. The 9015 outperforms a euroreef 80 that I ended up taking off.