$400.00 on Fire!!!

[Poseidon]

Okay now that I have everyones attention, I have an extra 400.00 bux burning a hole in my pocket. I want to get an RO/DI (sick of the trips to the grocery store) and a Protein skimmer!!!

Does anyone have any ideas of where I can buy both items and get the most skimmer for my money, I'm thinking around 50-75 GPD for the RO and the rest will go towards the skimmer.

So I'm looking for suggestions as to what Skimmer would be the best in price range I have to spend. (hence the other post about the CPR Skimmers)

My tank is a 135 with a 55 gallon fuge (holds about 35-40 gallons) a pair of 10K AB and a single Actinic Blue VHO

Livestock is 8 fish and mostly softies with 45-60 snails Xenia, anthellia, HAmmer coral, capanella, blastomoussa, colt coral, some shrooms... and GSP and Galaxia

All opinions are appreciated!!!

[tendar]

You are going to be hard pressed to get both for $400. A good skimmer for much water is going to take pretty much all that money.
I would go with a Aqua-C EV-180 or 240 or a Euro-Reef. If you can find a used skimmer you may be able to get both then.
The ro/di unit will run around $200.

[MasterBlaster]

As hard as it might be to do in actual practice...

Try NOT to let money restrict you on something you REALLY need to get.

Tender is correct - use the $400 on one item, or the other, whichever is most critical to your reef at this moment.

It can cost a lotta dinero learning the cheaper way is usually more expensive in the long run.

Easy for me to say, eh?

[aiptasia1]

Poisiden,

Go on Ebay and look for RO/DI units...I got mine from Pure Water Planet on ebay for $100. Its a five stage unit and i've had absolutely no problems with their product. I checked my water at work with a purity tester and it measured 25, 0 being the best and 1000 the worst. Hope this helps.

[Reefland]

I was just browsing around and found that Captive Reefs has a 75gpd 4 stage RO/DI unit for $170; it's right smack on the front of their homepage.
http://www.captivereefs.com/captiver...ID=ro-CAR175-4

They also have Euro-Reef skimmers however that is not going to happen with your current budget. My Reef Creations has their MR-1 for $245 (again a little over your budget) but that does not include the pump. It's going to be hard to find a skimmer that will work effectively for your 135 for around $250.

Regards,
Scott Z.

[Poseidon]

well I think I may have done it....

I found an 85GPD RO/Di for 78.00 bux on ebay, 20.00 for S&H

Protein Skimmer looks like the CPR SR9 or SR6... for around 250 plus shipping 9-15 dollars from premium aquatics.

big risk from e-bay I know but i figured its worth the chance

[Reefland]

Be sure to give us reviews on everything when you get time.

[Poseidon]

I sure will I'll even post pix once I get it all hooked up and running....

I just have to remember to turn down the res of the pix I take....



hopefully this gets me on the right track and the last pieces will be the Ca reactor and maybe a 3rd halide someday....

Mike

[Poseidon]

Update....

after speaking to Cory at Premium Aquatics he suggested a Kent Nautilas Skimmer driven by a Mag 12 pump... thats the pump I use to run my return...

I haven't recieved the RO unit as of yet. but I just sent payment through paypal on Wednesday night...

Any Opinions on the Kent skimmer?

[captivereefs]

While the kent is a good skimmer the euro reefs are 100% better. By the time you buy the Kent skimmer and the pump to drive it you could almost buy a Euroreef cs6-1 which performs much better than the kent. I would save my money and buy the best skimmer i could the first time around. Hope what ever you do works out for you.

[Poseidon]

Thanks for the input, I did get a screamin deal on the Kent though. I bought from Premium Aquatics and got the Kent and a Mag 12 shipped for 259 and some change, so I really can't complain on the cost at ALL...

Plus looking at the Kent and the Euro Reef skimmers the kent will "fit better" in my application, I only have 1 maybe 1.5" between the top of my sump and the bottom of the shop light above it, so an in sump skimmer would be a real pain in the ar$$ to clean and service, but an inline skimmer I can plumb in next to the sump and have plenty of room to work.

Mike

[captivereefs]

Glad to hear you got a good deal. Sounds like the kent might work better in your application. Just remember to watch an external smimmer when adding anything to your tank!

[Poseidon]

Well the skimmer arrived via UPS last night, and it was very well packaged from Kent and the mag 12 also well packed from Premium Aquatics. I tried to get it up and running last night, but fell victom to the old "instructions who needs instructions".... I plumbed the skimmer in right next to my sump, as I had planned 1" Pvc all around, just as I was ready to plug the pump in, I thought well lets glance at the book and make sure I didn't miss anything... Bold LETTERS "THE OUTPUT OF THE SKIMMER MUST ALWAYS BE ABOVE THE WATER LEVEL OF THE SUMP WATER MUST NEVER BE MADE TO FLOW UP FROM THE OUTPUT ONLY HORIZONTAL AND DOWN"

Talk about rain on my parade, the first thing I did was put a 90 on the output so I could get the water over the top of my 55gallon sump!!!! ARGH!!!!

No real biggie, I have an alternate location in mind and honestly it will be easier to clean on a shelf next to my tank anyway, but I had waited SO LONG to get a decent skimmer I really wanted to have it upi and running 5 minutes after It came through the door....


I'll post pix tonight once the beasty is running, still no sign of the RO unit though, I paid through paypal by check so I guess that takes a few extra days to clear...

[Poseidon]

well here is the skimmer, its been running for almost 24 hours and there is a small area of stable foam at the top, but no real production yet. Hopefully this is a break in period. As my tank has gone with out a skimmer for a year now, I know there are plenty of materials to be removes (unless I have the worlds best DSB )

First:

[Poseidon]

closer of reaction chamber:

[Poseidon]

Okay I found the problem, the 2 90's I had on the intake caused the flow to slow down so much it could not draw enough air to be effective, here is an after picture: