$300 to spend-What skimmer?

[sean48183]

I've got a 150g with a 90g sump with about 70g of water in it so total water is around 220g. What skimmer can I get for $300 that will work for this volume? I was looking at the asm g-3 which is rated for around 250g and gets pretty good reviews. Let me know what all you experts out there think?

ps Height is no issue since sump is in the basement.

[greenmonkey51]

The octopus 200 recirc is 325$ and rated for 300g. Or the regular octopus 200 is around 200 and rated for 175g, but it has a bigger body than the ASM G-3. For the extra 100$ you could probably upgrade the pump or do some nice mods. Check out Premium Aquatics. Jason helped me pick a skimmer for a similar setup.

[sean48183]

Does the octupus 200 recirc require another pump? I only got $300 bucks but might be able to do 325. My banker(aka wife) only approved that much of a loan.

[Longchamp]

is ASM not cool anymore?

[sean48183]

I don't know but for the price looks like a pretty good skimmer. Nice height and body width and solid pump that comes with it. But seems like some people are down on it recently.

[fareforce]

The octopus recirc are awsome skimmers. Premium Aquatics just got a new bacth in that pull 2x that air the old ones did (and the old ones already rocked!). You will need a small feed pump that does 1.5x your total water volume. I use a MJ1200 ($18 or so) for my feed pump.

[leeweber85]

ASM G3 would probably be a little under rated. I maintain a 240g tank that uses one and it pulls much less than my Octopus NW200 I use on my 125g tank

The ASM is slightly smaller with a smaller pump and isn't the best quality... I hate cleaning the collection cup on it.

The NW200 is a larger skimmer, bigger pump, better quality and costs less!

[sean48183]

I went to premium aquatics and priced out the ocutpus 200 recirc with a maxijet and it is around $370 with shipping. Getting a little above my limit but is very intriguing. The fact that it only needs a maxijet and not a mag 12 or something is a bonus. Thinking about it but would like other suggestions that might come in around the $300 limit. I do keep alot of fish with some gluttons like a lunar wrasse and snowflake eel and also 3 tangs so I need something that can really pull alot of crap out. Maybe the asm g-3 and octo nw 200 are a little too small for what I need.

[sean48183]

What do you guys think would be better for my tank with heavy fish load-a octo recirc 200 or asm g-4. I can get both for around 370 bucks with the octo rated for 300g and the g-4 rated at 350g. Then again they rate the prizm pro at 300g so that may not say much.

[sean48183]

ok just found octo 200 recirc thru marine solutions for 289.99 so I am all over that. Anybody bought from these guys before. Does the octo put out alot of bubbles or is there some kind of bubble trap to keep them from emerging and how does the maxijet hook up to the skimmer?

[sean48183]

guess everybody went to sleep

[edwing206]

I just got a Octopus DNW-200 recirc skimmer. It originally had a Eheim 1250 for te feed pump but it was too much for my 55G(~75G overall) so I'm using a small Via Aqua pump that's 152GPH.

[rhoptowit]

go w/ the octo.

[greenmonkey51]

I'd check out the vendor section, but I think they're pretty good. I never had a problem with bubbles with my octo, but I had a bubble trap in my sump. The maxijet should hook up to the barbed adapter on the side with some vinyl tubing.

[carlso63]

Originally posted by sean48183
ok just found octo 200 recirc thru marine solutions for 289.99 so I am all over that. Anybody bought from these guys before. Does the octo put out alot of bubbles or is there some kind of bubble trap to keep them from emerging and how does the maxijet hook up to the skimmer?

I just bought a NW200 from them... they were fine to deal with and I didn't have any problems with the order.

They will have the best prices on Octos because I believe they now own the brand - anybody else selling Octopus Skimmers is buying from them and then marking them up a bit and reselling, basically...

[greenmonkey51]

They don't own the brand. Coralvue has the octopus brand.

[carlso63]

I stand corrected... but Marine Solutions is like the "exclusive distributor" of the brand and so gets the best wholesale price -

or something to that effect

[corals b 4 bills]

Why not wait a little bit longer and buy a GOOD skimmer?

[sean48183]

Is the octo not a good skimmer? I can't wait much longer because I need to start skimming quickly. Only have a prizm pro going on a 220g system.

[greenmonkey51]

Marine Solutions is the only distributor of the MSX brand in the US. The Octo is a good skimmer. I ran into this problem when picking my skimmer. There are a lot of people on this board, that think you have to pay 700$-1000$ on skimmer like they did. Not everyone has that type of money to spend. Stick to your budget and you'll be fine.

[sean48183]

Just picked it up thru marine solutions so just waiting now. Hopefully will do the trick. 14 fish and still adding so has it's work cut out for it.

[greenmonkey51]

Did you get any of the enkamat, for a mesh mod. You can add it anytime, but would be easier when setting it up. Also when you get it going I would look at a gate valve mod. Just a little easier to dial in.

[lildraken]

I just received my Octopus 200 DNW skimmer last week and I luv it. It's hooked up to my 110 gal with 30 gal sump. I didn't use a feed pump but rather diverted some of the water from my overflow into the skimmer.
I got it from premium aquatics and they're nice people.

[corals b 4 bills]

I kept buying crap skimmers until I picked up a new Deltec 1250 Turbo and my tank went from Ghetto to show tank over night, you don't have to buy new, buy used. This is my new skimmer that I will be installing on my new 180 tank upgrade later this year, this is a $1,600+ dollar Deltec 1060s skimmer I got for $750 here on RC so the deals are out there you just have to shop and spend alittle more for quality.

[Toshas79]

go with lifereef. I just sold mine and got deltec now I regret