Best protein skimmer for the money

I paid well under 300 for my G2, Octo's are great products though I'm sure it'll do a great job for you

 

The bubble blaster pump is fairly quiet.... I can hardly hear it after all other tank noise (cooling fan, and general sump water noise). My tank overall isnt too noisy. Makes a good reason to have a good home theater system. At night quiet. There is a slight and I mean slight hum to it. Nothing to complain about. Nothing that says noisy. My icecap cooling fan is by far the noisiest thing on my tank. Now thats something to complain about.

 

Ended up at 280 with a free purple pinwheel, free shipping and no NYS sales tax (8%).

I guess i didnt really look online for the ASMs but all the LFS around here sell em. G2's are 290 i think. I know alot of people are really happy with their ASM. I talked to a few who cursed them though, which frankly i found to be odd.

If i could have gotten a xp2000 like tatted for 330 i woulda prolly went that route.

It seems like the cones need a little too much adjustment.

As far as the Itechs go, i was seriously considering ponying up the 450 for one. but then i read on ZachB's build thread that his brand new one had a crack or somthin and he had to send it back. He got great service and all....but if im gonna spend that much on a skimmer for my tank it better be perfect.

then i started lookin at the XP and tatted's awesome review...

in the end, i just couldn't justify making the jump from two hundred something to over 400 when i felt the oct-ex was going to get the job done.

 

I dont think need much adjustment at all. The initial adjustments will be there with any skimmer... cone or not. But once you find the "sweet spot" you dont even think about adjusting. Only thing I have to worry about is holding my nose when I empty the cup so im not to gag

Heres my review on the XP :
http://www.3reef.com/forums/protein...eview-super-reef-octopus-xp-2000-a-75705.html

The octo xp ext looks sweet..... but Im definitely content with my internal version.

 

the only complaint I have about my ASM stands for Euro-Reefs and any other skimmer that uses this water height adjustment system and that is they can be loud with the way the water kind of crashes back down, I made a pvc pipe system that pushes the water back down below the water lvl in the sump that made it essentially totally noiseless. Like I said though, Octo makes a great skimmer it'll do a good job for you, when I was looking I was either going with a PM bullet or this ASM and the smaller size of the ASM is what won me over

 

the other thing, as long as we are being honest, is its alot easier to "not mention" a 280 purchase on a skimmer than 400 +

you shoulda heard what my wife said when she found out i bought a new glock. she thought that was pointless and it was for carrying into dangerous areas for work.

I can only imagine the flack i would take and for how long for a "secret" 4-500 skimmer gone wrong.

It played into my decision heavily. So pleaase, dont let my bias be part of your decision too. lol

 

I think you should have a fine balance between your equipment and your tank....

if your gonna go balls to the wall with fish/corals you should go balls to the wall when you buy equipment to support the thing we call a display tank.

There should be a fine balance with your equipment and your livestock.

 

And noise really is a totally subjective subject to begin with. Some folks talk about how silent something is when it just can't be heard over the drone of their other stuff that does not bother them to begin with. My Bubble King was very very quiet, but it was not "silent". My Sicce was noisy at first but it did quiet down like others say. I bought a Ehiem just because everyone raves about how quiet they are, when it was actually more noticable than the Mag it replaced.

Needle wheels in general are very hands off designs. The cone does nothing to change that. I have not adjusted mine in probably 4 months and that was when I was still playing with it.

There is no skimmer that will give consistent results with a fluctuating water level. Sometimes I think people complain about the skimmer when in fact it was fluctuating water levels.

 

like me with my last one ;D

 

Uh ya... I'm in that group too.;D