What skimmer for $250-$500 for 90gal?

Im a rookie in regards to skimmers. Thats why you guys hardly ever see my name in any skimmer threads but.... My mouth starts to drewl when I see the Octupus Xp-2000 cone skimmer.

Seems like the new skimmer designs are "cone".

Would the Vertex IN-280 be overkill? 1140lph@56watts and is rated up to 280 gallons.
Would this pull more gunk out than the vertex 250 or even the 180?

The 280 would be suited nicely if I would ever upgrade tank size.

 

GO WITH THE OCTO!!!!!! amazing skimmer and i PROMISE you wont regret it!!!!(yup as you guessed i run an octo and LOVE IT!)

 

Octo's are very, very good. Same with the ASM series. Basically the same design....they used to be the same company. ETSS becomes set and forget, but it takes awhile to set. I got pretty frustrated during that first month, but once it was dialed in, it was magic.

 

Personally, I wouldn't buy another Bullet. Much too finicky. Mine stopped foaming this weekend for some strange reason (again). I'm sure after I take it apart and put it back together and adjust the water and air for the nth time it will start working. It pulls nasty stuff when it works though.

I'd probably go with an Octopus or some variation of cone skimmer.

 

ASMs and the Octos are really not all that similar.. Well maybe the thin octopus SHREDDER skimmer(funny Shredder, my son is watching ninja turtles right now )but when you look into their other more popular skimmers the similarities end... The Extreme is, I would say, their most popular series and a beast!! Mine is like half of a 5 gallon culligan bottle... It is a beast. Quiet too. But Coralvue unlike ASM is coming out with more and more skimmers... Hurricone with the Askoll pump, then the XP which was supposed to be out in early August.. and now the Super Reef. The Super Reef is going to be arguable one of the best skimmers released in a while. The few people that are running them are absolutely pumped about them, and the clear volute!

 

Maybe this post was missed

Im a rookie in regards to skimmers. Thats why you guys hardly ever see my name in any skimmer threads but.... My mouth starts to drewl when I see the Octupus Xp-2000 cone skimmer.

Seems like the new skimmer designs are "cone".

Would the Vertex IN-280 be overkill? 1140lph@56watts and is rated up to 280 gallons.
Would this pull more gunk out than the vertex 250 or even the 180?

The 280 would be suited nicely if I would ever upgrade tank size.

 

IMO-there is no overkill with what you presented. That and the fact you "hint" or mention an "If I ever upgrade" I got to laught at that not you, I've upgraded 3 times in 6 months-WOO HOO.

If your pockets can take it and you have the footprint-get the bigger one, again-IMO

 

Skimmer ratings are highly subjective. Nobody really knows. There was a some recent studies done that showed skimmers only pulled out 30% of DOCs.

A skimmer will only pull the load that is there. If that load is only 50% of it's capacity, then it will do it. But we don't really know what the capacities are.

Also, the way foam fractioning works is that is will not work right is there is not enough DOCs to work with.

I do think you can overskim, and, I also see no need to purchase equipment I don't need and pay for electricity to run it.

Having said all that.... I don't think a 280 would be ridiculously oversized. I know a few that pull similar air with their's on a 90g. Supposedly the new wheel I'm getting will be close to that, so who am I to say. I would look at that as top of the range though.

The XP-2000 I think is too big. Too much air for a small body. I think they will detune them to around 900-1000lph. Just a hunch. It is a big pump for that body.

Look at a ATB 10.50 V1.5. ATB's are just dialed in and a proven design so many compare to them. I felt that was too big for my system. And some other guy sold his because it was too big for his and he has a bigger tank than me. Just saying as a comparison. A 840 would do great on a 90g. 10.5 too big. Shoot for in between.

 

Well, I was comparing two series I listed. They are pretty close (comparing them to downdraft, beckett etc.....).