thinking of 'upgrading' skimmer from Euroreef CS8-3 to MSX300A

[davidm]

My tank (180) is in need of some facelifting after a ballast blew 4 days into a 2 wk out-of-town vacation this summer. I've had a euroreef skimmer with a GenX 6000 pump for ~8yrs and am thinking of 'upgrading' it wth a MSX 300A skimmer with a Askoll 1500 pump. The pumps put out the same gal/hr (1500 gph) but the Askoll might be better at low pressure ?? in the skimmer, and the MSX300A (12" diam, 25" tall) has about 40% more volume compared to the Euroreef CS8-3 (8" diam, 30" tall). Does anyone have any opinion about how these two skimmers/pumps would compare?

 

thanks, David

 

http://www.marinesolutionsinc.com/catalog/...oduct_info.html

[steveoutlaw]

Ever think about Deltec? I saw this on RC......looks to be in your price range and these are proven performers:

 

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...=deltec+mce+300

[Fazio92]

I've heard great things about the MSX skimmers. There's a "MSX Club" thread on RC that might be helpful. That is what I was originally planning on getting, but changed my mind and got an MRC, mainly so i can upgrade later without having to buy and entire new skimmer.

[hlem]

300A for a 180? a bit much i think. i have the 250 for a 265gal tank, but i do have 300-400LR and fairly large remote 6in DSB.

[ctenophore]

What's wrong with your tank that you feel a new skimmer will solve it? A nice vinegar bath and maybe a new impeller could have your ER running like new. Don't get caught up in the skimmer hype, you're probably looking at < 10% difference in efficiency.

 

Without seeing your tank or knowing what the symptoms are, my generic advice is to look at your water flow patterns, make sure any circulation pumps are cleaned out really well, and blow off your rocks/sand/etc to stir up settled detritus. Then do a ~30% water change and maybe spend a few bucks on some cleanup crew.

[davidm]

What's wrong with your tank that you feel a new skimmer will solve it? A nice vinegar bath and maybe a new impeller could have your ER running like new. Don't get caught up in the skimmer hype, you're probably looking at < 10% difference in efficiency.

 

All good suggestions. I had/have some die-off when 1/3 tank didn't have any light for 10 days upon losing the ballast, am losing a large green slimer colony, generally have more algae than I would like, and growth/health in other corals aren't as I would like. Upon my return I did a couple of water changes, cleaned the tunze pumps used for circulation, put in some carbon, and decided to upgrade from the old magnetic ballasts to electronic. The old ballasts were ~10 yrs old and I began to question if they were firing the bulbs properly, and this wasn't the first time I had to replace the caps in the ballasts (although those didn't die while I was out of town before). I'm sorta wondering the same thing about my skimmer - the euroreef is about 10 yrs old, it originally had the sedra pump, which now Euroreef recommends for smaller skimmers and recommends replacing with either the GenX6000 or two eheim pumps. I went with the GenX, but it's only feeding the skimmer with a 1" tubing I jury-rigged since I didn't want to redrill the Euroreef. It's functional, but not exactly assembled professionally. Also not sure if the GenX is optimally matched with the skimmer body. Bottom line is I'm wondering if the euroreef is like a 15 yr old car not running like it should and maybe not worth putting more $ into when it needs repair.

Edited October 20, 2009 by davidm