What would be the best protien skimmer for a 55gal reef? Mine just died.

[Caesar Augustus]

Well as usual Scott seems to be the harvenger O the future. My old POS skilter died (almost burning down the house in the process) and its time for an upgrade. My main concern is those damn micro bubbles many good skimmers give off into the main tank. Also my 55 has no sump so its gotta be a HO. The only other filtration on the tank is a hang on Fuge, But I've got Macro comming out of my ears (The Fuge is full and I pull a pound a week out of the tank). So what is the best way to go. Remora, Berlin turbo, needle wheel? Please advise.
Keep the Faith,
Augustus

[WillieM96]

From what I hear, Remora is top of the line for the HO skimmers.

[BubbaWPB]

I vote for Remora, although the Berlin turbo would be adequate.

[Reefland]

I agree, the Remora is the way to go. However if it doesn't work with the budget, a CPR Bak-Pak would work on a 55. You do have to worry about bubbles with both so also look into the bubble catchers.

[Caesar Augustus]

Do the bubble catchers work on either well? I'm sure the Remora is the better skimmer but is one or the other going to give me a royal bubble battle?? BTW Scott, you were right, the skimmer wasen't worth the power is used. I'll have to weight my options, I'd personally pay more for less problem later.
Augustus

[Reefland]

I think you would get fewer bubbles from the Remora. With the Mag 3 upgrade, it is an awesome skimmer.

[almostdiva]

I think you would get fewer bubbles from the Remora. With the Mag 3 upgrade, it is an awesome skimmer.

DITTO! It's what I have on my tank and it works great. Don't bother with the prefilter box though, IMO. DEFINITELY get the mag 3 upgrade.

[CSeaSee]

The CPR has a bubble catcher that works pretty well, but it's big and ugly and takes up space. I like the BakPak also, it works very well. How did the old skimmer almost burn down the house? Also, now that the BakPak is broken in, I don't get a lot of bubbles during normal operation, unless I just fed the tank.

[smidoid]

My main concern is those damn micro bubbles many good skimmers give off into the main tank.

I know *what* microbubbles are - I have a cycling tank full of the b*ggers while I sort out the return line (all the bubbles are coming from the syphon break.)

Now here's the question.... [Cue drum roll]

Apart from being ugly, is there any actual threat to the livestock - fish, coral, inverts, pods... I don't need to worry at this stage as there's only really LR in my system, but I'm curious why people seem so concerned.

[Caesar Augustus]

WOW Thanks for all of the feeback people. Let me see if I can address some questions. First, The skilter motor and seal started to fail and send a minute drip down the powerline, thus causing it to almost short out or catch fire. Thank God I heard the sizziling of the water on the powerstrip before I had a fire or meltdown. Second, Micro bubbles are not a hazard to fish or anything else however, they will annoy certain corals if left clinging to them. By annoy I mean they will stay closed or al least not fully open or extend leading to bad things man...bad things. Blowing them off daily with a turkey baster is an option but not a pretty one. Also, I have found that they make the tank less attractive and harder to view and enjoy.
To almostdiva, why did you say don't bother with the pre filter? And to whoever had the back pack2, did the micro bubbles eventually go away completely? I've got to get a new skimmer soon because I don't want a bio bulidup YKWIS. Thanks all and Keep the Faith,
Augustus

[Poseidon]

I have recently noticed some very cool Hang On skimmers from LifeReef, along with my favorite Remora and BakPak skimmers you may want to look at those.

[smidoid]

WSecond, Micro bubbles are not a hazard to fish or anything else however, they will annoy certain corals if left clinging to them. By annoy I mean they will stay closed or al least not fully open or extend leading to bad things man...bad things. Blowing them off daily with a turkey baster is an option but not a pretty one. Also, I have found that they make the tank less attractive and harder to view and enjoy.

Well there ya go! So they're an annoyance at this stage. The level of panic they instill in some folk is scary! "The bubbles are coming, the bubbles are coming - run for your life!"

No really, thanks for clearing that up - since I don't have any mature corals yet, I'll stop worrying for the moment.

[CSeaSee]

My BakPak has no bubble filter of any kind, and unless I've fed the tank, I don't see any (or very, very few) bubbles. I think that as far as negative effects go, the bubbles may drop your calcium levels at a slightly faster rate than no bubbles.