Let it foam: Selecting a skimmer

I have always held the opinion that foam fractioning is one of the most important ingredients for a successful reef aquarium. This is probably mostly because of my obsession with water quality, always trying to find methods to more closely imitate natural waters over the coral reefs.

Probably one of the most difficult decisions for a new hobbyist setting up a new reef tank is the selection of technical equipment. In the old days you were faced with options that really could make a big difference in your success as a starting reefkeeper but today many of those options are gone. For example, it is pretty universally accepted that you should use so called “stream” pumps for water movement and either T5 or metal halides for lighting. Almost all successful hobbyists use activated carbon and, if necessary, phosphate binders. You also don’t have to spend much time reading discussion forums before you realize that a sump with refugium is a good idea. And so on. To me all this has made captive coral reefs very easy to start and there really is a recipe for almost bullet proof reef tank. But one problem remains and that is, surprise surprise, selecting a efficient and not overly expensive protein skimmer.

The problem is that as of 2009 you will still find very bad skimmers in practically all shops, online and brick & mortar. There are severely overpriced brands and manufacturers who are much better at marketing than they are designing quality equipment or providing customer service. And when was the last time you saw an online discussion about skimmers where majority could agree on a set of recommended skimmers? Sure, there are sponsored forums where most people praise a certain brand but I wouldn’t call those very objective evaluations.

Criteria not to use

• Looks. Skimmers are not works of art. They are functional devices whose only goal is to remove as much organic matter as possible and bring the gas balance closer to equilibration with air. You don’t buy a Ferrari to do trucking.
• Price. In any given performance category it is very unlikely that neither the cheapest nor the most expensive skimmer is the best choice.
• Manufacturer’s tank size recommendation. Almost all manufacturers are extremely “optimistic” with their tank size recommendations and you should pay no attention to the maximum tank size that is recommended. Typically these are at least 2-4 times bigger than reality. You could use the the minimum as a starting point but even that is sometimes completely unrealistic. If you see very wide range between minimum and maximum you know that the manufacturer really don’t know much about skimmers.
• Size. A huge skimmer from the 90s is likely to be much weaker performer than a latest generation skimmer 1/5th of the size. The design and correctly balanced dimensions are much more important.
• Hype. Some skimmer manufacturers are extremely clever in their viral marketing. They are able to attract people who roam online forums praising the manufacturer and their products with little objectivity.
• Materials. This is related to the above point. I can’t understand why some people get so worked up with the type or color (!) of plastic used. Skimmers are placed in the sump or installed close to tank and they stay there – if you find yourself constantly moving and dropping the skimmer you are doing something wrong. In 20+ years of reefkeeping I have never heard of a case where skimmer body just broke while in use.

Criteria to use

• Performance. This is the most important criteria, obviously. Nothing else matters if the skimmer chosen is either too small or too powerful.
• Price. Most people do not have limitless budgets. And many people who do are smart enough not to pay too much for anything.
• Noise. Unless the skimmer is to be placed in a separate room with good sound proofing you will want a skimmer that doesn’t sound like a water processing plant.
• Number of DIY modifications. If you find a lot of small modifications people do to the skimmer to obtain better performance it is clear sign that the manufacturer does not know how to design a good skimmer. In general, a well designed skimmer performs best without any modifications.
• Reliability. Try to find out how reliable the pump used is. There are some high prized skimmers (for example Bubble King from Royal Exclusiv) that have constant problems with braking shafts. Others don’t start every time or the pump spins in wrong direction.
• Service. If the skimmer breaks you will want to get spare parts as fast as possible.  Unfortunately there are huge differences between manufacturers and their representatives. Some notoriously bad are Royal Exclusiv and ATI. You should get very good customer service from ATB, Tunze and Warner Marine, for example.

Unfortunately there is no easy way to find out about these aspects of skimmer models available to a aquarist. The only reliable way to sift through all options is to do a lot of googling and reading. Pay close attention to the photos. A good skimmer will produce thick and dark skimmate. You should also try to find how the tank looks; a beautiful and clean looking, well stocked reef aquarium with many fish is the best recommendation a skimmer can have.

I have some tips for you if you are new to online reefkeeping community:

Beware of fanboyz! There is this group of people (kids and childish adults) who want to like their skimmer so badly they get very angry when someone even mildly criticize their favorite skimmer model or manufacturer. Most of these people are very inexperienced and seem to be completely unable to form an objective opinion. Unfortunately they also quickly degrade any discussion to a level that doesn’t help anyone.

You will find a lot of people who offer their opinion about skimmers who have only used one model. By far the most useful opinions come from people who have had more than one skimmer in the same tank and who are not constantly changing their equipment or husbandry practices.

Everything is relative. After two very bad skimmers one slightly less bad seems like a great one. If you keep researching you will probably come up with a number of skimmers that you can place in a relative performance scale.

It is only human to think that your latest piece of equipment is better than the one it replaces.  Many people are very exited about their latest purchase and thus the initial reaction is likely to be better than the product really deserves. The most valuable opinion comes from the people who have used a skimmer for more than, say, 6 months.

Tags: equipment, food for thought, Husbandry

This entry was posted on Friday, September 4th, 2009 at 10:16 and is filed under Husbandry, Ideas and misc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.