How much did your protein skimmer cost?

I have several, all pretty good. Last year, I made a huge jump in the cost area, $850 for a Bubble Master 250. It's on my very heavily stocked 210 and does a great job. I feel I got my money's worth, as it is a much better skimmer than others I've had (Euroreef, AquaC). I really value my fish, and decided it was time to bite the bullet and make the investment. I've seen them recently on sale for $650 shipped, wish I'd gotten in on that deal! This skimmer and my chiller were two key pieces of equipment.

 

When you're looking after high-end high dollar livestock, there's probably no justifiction necessary. If you can sleep at night knowing there's no issues, then all the better.

Probably not the best analogy, but think of a weapon for self defense. If you're faced with losing your life, you want a weapon that is definitely not going to jam, misfire, or injure you. A cheap gun does the exact same thing same as a very pricey one, but the pricey one does it more consistently, without fail.

Sometimes spending 10X more than most isn't the worst thing in the world.

 

Amen to that Jason. When you have big water volume, the game changes completely. What is cheaper, buying a bunch of smaller skimmers or one big one that will do the job?
Let's see, 4 EV-180s at $400 each, that about the price of the BK right?

That said, I paid $380 for my EV-180 with Mag7.
$120 for my Bak-Pak2
$80 for my Coralife Superskimmer 65G
And $865 for my Bibble King Mini 180.

 

ASM G2 in the 300-500 range, very happy with it, low maintence and gets some really nasty stuff out of my water

 

I can appreciate everything that you guys are saying, esp. about the water vol and all, its just hard for me to "dish-out" that kind of money for only one piece of equipment.

 

My Bullet 2 is the only skimmer i've ever had so I don't know what to compare it to.
I know I can tell just by looking as some skimmers that they are not going to last as long.
So it is at least built well.

So one question I have is do the expensive skimmers really pull out more skimmate?
Especially that bubble king. hehe

 

I use a AquaC Remora Pro skimmer, paid under $200, and works Great easy to adjust and I only have to change it once a week or so..

 

40 for a seaclone.. very satisfied.. i moded it and get a full cup of coffee color skim once every 6 days.

 

Does custom cabinetry hold up a fish tank any better than 2x4s or cinder blocks?

 

A quality skimmer makes a huge difference in the health and stability of a heavily stocked tank. I don't know if I got the best value in my BM 250, but it does a better job than any other skimmer I've had. I have thousands of dollars and many years of my time invested in my fish. The peace of mind from a good skimmer and temperature stability from my 1/3 hp chiller are important to me. And I have a back-up HOB Remora Pro on the tank, just in case my return pump fails, so I have at least some skimming and circulation until the problem can be remedied.

For my smaller tanks, 55 gallons or less, I use decent quality HOB skimmers, such as the AquaC Remora Pro or BakPaks. I also have a Euroreef for my 90.

On all my tanks, I also tend to pair skimming with a refugium lit 24/7 and packed with chaeto. The skimmer gets crap out of the water before it gets turned into nitrates, and the refugium macroalgae takes up the nitrates that get through. I consider them complementary and very valuable technologies for tank maintenance.