Help with skimmer decision

Hi all. New to your forum and salt water aquariums in general. Just setting up a 38 gallon tank and so far I'm only using 2 50 gallon aqua clear filters (came highly recommended from two different LFSs), lots of live rock, sand and a few crabs. We hope to ultimately have fish and coral too. I think I have my lighting picked out but will post that in the other forum. The tank has been running for about 4 weeks now and so far, water has remained stable with no issues. I'm really struggling with the protein skimmer decision. I think I have it narrowed down to Octopus BH 1000, AquaMaxx and CPR Bak PAk 2R+, or Aero Force. It has to be a HOB and quiet. I'm also a little concerned about heat transfer. The tank stays at 75 without the heater. I know a little warmer is desirable but I haven't added lights yet and am not sure of their impact. I also need good overflow protection and very little equipment in the tank itself. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

From my experience HOB skimmers are anything but quiet. You usually will hear noise from the air being sucked in. CPR Bak Pak 2+ equipped with an Accela pump is much quieter than if it has an MJ1200 but there is still some noise. The MJ1200 also will put heat into your system since it's rated @ 20 watts.

 

You might want to look into the Slim Skim by Hydor. They actually sit in the tank but are unobtrusive. I have read some good reviews in posts here. I dont personally have one though.

 

Thank you for the information.