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Skimmers? new versus old-better?? (1 Viewer)

reeffamily

reeffamily

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Glencoe, MN, United States
So I'm looking for a new skimmer. I have a 10 year old euro reef skimmer. works great but very loud and not sure how efficient. are the new ones that much better? quiet or more quiet? more efficient? I have a 125g tank. recommends on brand and model for my tank
 
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The pumps are the heart of your skimmer. The body styles have changed a little but IMO it comes down to the pumps you have. Newer skimmers use better pumps. When was the last time you cleaned your pumps? That may help with the noise. I know a lot of people who used to have those skimmers with good luck.
 
I used a Euro Reef RS250 for a long time and it was a lot louder than my new one but it worked so well it took an unbelievable deal on a new one to get me to replace it. I do feel the newer pumps are more efficient and operate quieter than the old stuff.

You could check the pinwheel magnet for swelling and scorring. Mine became louder as the magnet got worst and fragments from it were causing the noise. You don't want that to cause issues with your tank for sure!
 
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Find a bubble blaster pump that you can retro fit to your existing skimmer. While the cone style disturb the bubbles a little less the shape itself isn't the big of a deal. Upgrade your pump and good to go.
 
I'm using an older SWC250 with a PSK pump and I have such bad issues trying to get that thing to start up. Have to shake it, blow in it. Besides that pulls all sorts of stuff out of my tank. If I could switch pumps I'd try that before spending hundreds of $$$ on a new skimmer.
 
As stated above, The pump makes or breaks your skimmer. As long as you have a high quality body that is clean on the inside, I would recommend spending a couple hundred on a quality (and quiet) pump... And you will have a skimmer that most likely will out-skim a complete new skimmer twice the price of what you paid for the pump.

A skimmer is a skimmer and the skimmer companies need to keep changing body styles to "Newer and more improved!" to keep sales up. Granted I am sure there are improvements but I cannot imagine the improvement has increased skimmate production over 10% in the last 10 years vs what a higher flow pump with higher L/H air flow on your current skimmer body would yield your tank inhabitants

But if you have they money to drop and the latest and greatest Bubble King- Go for it! :beerchug:
 
Seems the consensus is the pump makes the skimmer, so when looking to replace a pump or for a new skimmer what pump would you all recommend? How do Sicce and Bubble Blaster compare?
 
As everyone has said it comes down to the pump. HOWEVER the biggest difference is not the pump but the price! If you were to buy a Bubble Blaster pump for $200+ you would be much better off purchasing a new skimmer and selling your old one. Even though a new skimmer might cost $100 more there is other improvements on skimmers that yours won't have. A bubble plate makes a huge difference for performance also.

IMO I would sell your current skimmer and buy a good quality one. When I upgraded tanks back in the day that was the option I had and made the most sense. I had an older Reef octopus with the old PSK pump, and was much happier with just a different model and pump.
 
Depends on the size tank and skimmer. A new skimmer for a 200+ tank is gonna cost a lot more than $300. So a new pump might be worth it. But I hate my PSK. It's older and has a lot of start up issues.
 
tagging along. I have an old reef mania that I ran on my 270 and was trying to figure out if I could upgrade the pump.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2
 
briguy350 said:
Depends on the size tank and skimmer. A new skimmer for a 200+ tank is gonna cost a lot more than $300. So a new pump might be worth it. But I hate my PSK. It's older and has a lot of start up issues.
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The newer Sicce pumps are much better then the older ones. I've been researching them a lot because I have a pair of PSK 2500's and have heard they have a lot of issues. The newer ones are much better made with a better design though.
 
briguy350 said:
Good to know think I'm gonna order one up!
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If you have the 2500's like I do just be aware you will also need an adapter for each pump... an adapter that's like $40 :brainoverload: When adding that to the cost of the new pumps I think I would end up getting a whole new skimmer but I'm gonna ride these pumps until the impellers explode or I have an extra wad of cash laying around lol
 
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