Suggest a skimmer for me please

I have been out of the game for a while and am not sure where to start my search considering so many new skimmers have come out in the past 18 months or so. I have a budget of ~$250, but am willing to spend a little more if it gets me better performance or quieter skimmer. I demand almost silent running. The set up will be a mixed reef with mainly sps in a 40b with a 20L sump. I will be running biopellets so this will also need to be skimmed well. I feed the crud out of my fish and corals so it has to be able to handle a lot of waste.

What are your suggestions?

 

I have a Coralife needle wheel super skimmer and 2 months in am loving it. It is kind of touchy but once you find its sweet spot it is flawless. Plus I got it on sale for 90

P.S. it is the 65g model and is being run HOB on a 29g mixed reef

 

do not do a coral life!

reef octopuss is pretty much the way to go unless you want to add a couple bucks for a vertex. Pretty much the two best value versus return brands in the market right now

 

Corallife is one of the brands I stay away from at all costs. I love the bubble blaster pumps and vertex has the omego 150 coming shortly. Plus RO has the NWB SSS design coming soon as well. What about skimz and warner marine? Has SWC done anything new lately?

 

CAD Lights Pipeless Protein Skimmer - $175 ish
Seems to have a lot of buzz lately.

I really like my SCA-301.
The SCA-302 would certainly handle your bio load w/ pellets.
Don't let the price fool you, their two skimmers seem to be the best bang for the buck for systems 120 and smaller.

They are BM/SWC clones, so same performance, 1/2 the price.

 

Corallife is not the best of quality. My vertex 3 plus years old. High quality manufacture, easy plug n play set up, and great skim when dialed in with little fuss needed after broken in.

 

Bar none

The SCA skimmers best bang for the buck!!
I'm still using my formerly named SC150, and it works awesome.
Very little maintenance, clean the cup every day or two.

 

The biggest buzz right now is some skimmers using DC pumps.

 

I've been using the Curve 7 since February, and it's by far the best skimmer that I have used. If (and I stress IF) the SCA's are producing the same results for 1/2 the price of an already low priced unit, you couldn't possibly be disappointed.

 

With a 40 breeder I don't see the need for a DC controllable pump so I have crossed those off the list. I wish Bubble magus used different pumps. I had an SWC 160 cone with an atman pump and it was a PIA. I really want to stay away from some of the random cheap Chinese pumps used to keep cost down. The 6" reef octopus seems like a good possibility and reasonably inexpensive. Water level recommendation will also be good for me sump. I would really like a skimz or warner marine, but feel they are a little overpriced. I keep coming back to the new vertex omega 150 too. I do like the cadlights design as well. Too many options haha