20 Best Cheap Protein Skimmer (2022 Updated)

This protein skimmer is a beast when it comes to removing all the organics floating in my water. The adjustability is really spot on and allows you to dial it in exactly where you want it. The pump is relatively quiet.

No louder than your average protein skimmer (Normal hums). I sleep with it less than 5 feet away from me and it does not bother me at all. Packaging was great and was extremely easily to set up/install.

Break in period was fast (3-5 days). I expect it to last me a long time because the build quality is very good. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a skimmer that does not have a sump but wants a skimmer just as strong.

Even for people who have a sump but do not want to clutter it even more. ( Like me).

Extremely high build quality. This was my first time buying a brand new name brand skimmer. It makes the other ones I’ve had feel like little toys. The assembly instructions are a little vague but just follow the picture and it’s not bad, just don’t forget all 3 o rings.

Also don’t forget to prime the pump! I was lost for like an hour trying to figure out why the pump couldn’t pick up any water and it finally dawned on me. Just hold the air line kinked until the air is out.

It’s still breaking in for another week, but I’ve already gotten a bit of gunk in the cup. Looking forward to seeing what it can do!.

Me and my mom bought 2 of these to replace our instant ocean skimmers. We owned these for about a year until we started having issues with them. In fact I just got done messing with mine as it hangs off the side of my sump.

In the last 2 days this piece of junk over flowed and flooded my bedroom and leaked down into the basement and drained my tank a good way down. Before anyone comments – YES I have dialed down the flow both on the included coupler and on the collection cylinder, but the pump has a mind of its own and fluctuates water pressure.

Which brings me to my next complaint- The included water control coupler. This works fine for a few months until the seal breaks down on the dial and then the dial pops off due to the water pressure and now instead of water flowing into the cylinder its shooting out the side of the coupler.

So to cut this short see below I will bullet point the negatives: * Included vinyl hose to route from skimming cylinder to pump is too short to allow pump to be fully submerged in a wet dry sump * Included coupler water control valve breaks down overtime- dial pops off which water shoots out of the hole the dial fits in- which stops the skimming process.

*Too bulky and large foot print with pump to neatly organize in a wet dry sump. TOTAL pain to situate in a wet dry sump with limited space. * Pump is cheap- when it wears down you’ll need to replace it – New pump for this model will run you about $100 which is $20 cheaper – than buying a whole new setup again- trust me just went through this- spent $100 on a replacement pump which goes through phases of super weak – to stand back now entering fire hydrant mode (which helped flood my floors) I just ordered an Octopus 110 Skimmer.

This lil piece of junk is now sitting in a bucket awaiting disposal tomorrow.

Review/Discussion is about the 220G. Despite the productive criticism stated here – I like the unit, it is working well and getting out some foul smelling “Skimate”. Between water changes, the installation of nitrate absorbing filter pads and the protein skimmer – my reef aquarium water is crystal clear, and has no odor to it.

Read on. Several issues discussed here: 1) Items missing in Parts Diagram (but were with the product). 2) Instructions do not discuss the items missing in parts diagram. 3) O-Ring Treatment prior to assembly 4) Acrylic does not seem thick – I was very careful in my handling of the product, including how tightly I secured the collection cup to the main body.

FYI – To minimize the possibility of leaks – there are two rubber O-Rings that the technical support said to put Petroleum Jelly on. First one is obvious where the collection cup is secured to the main body.

The other one is the red air intake valve – that is leaking on my unit. This has to be pulled up to get to the O-Ring. This is NOT in the instructions – though to be fair – having worked on my home swimming pool – I saw the big O-Ring and thought I should coat it with something but did not, I did not know about the valve O-Ring.

Product is working well and was easy to configure. That being said the first issue regards the instructions that came with it. The parts diagram is incomplete. And instructions regarding the missing items are missing.

There is fortunately a picture of the completely assembled skimmer on the instructions. Items missing on parts diagram regards the venturi valve (separate cylinder on 220G), tube connecting it to the impeller screen cover.

This items supplies the air that is mixed with the water on intake. Missing in the instructions is the following: 1) Discussion of the setup of the Venturi Air Supply, connecting tube and valve. 2) Discussion on O-Ring treatment.

I set the unit up – got it going (easily enough) and did some work for a few hours to make sure all was OK knowing I would be in the next morning. Came in next morning to find a small puddle (less than 1/4 cup) of water that had leaked out – mainly from the air valve adjustment.

I called the tech support number who was very good at managing the issue. All I had to do was email the product purchase email from drsfosterandsmith. com and my shipping info. They are in the process of shipping me a new skimmer body.

Coralife may save themselves some return issues by at least addressing the O-Ring in their instructions and possibly including a small packet of lubricant/petroleum jelly. I will address the O-Ring lubricant issue tomorrow and see if it takes care of the leak.

Meanwhile I have a small bucket underneath the skimmer. Meanwhile our clients that come through our office see it and ask what it does (I don’t have a sump tank setup yet – that is a project for this summer!).

They think it looks cool and space-age.

I just installed this and so far so good. But have to admit, the instruction manual, really was poorly written and needs to be updated. The pictures don’t match what you actually get. Guessing there have been some design changes.

Here are some things that were left out: First of all, there are two water flow controls, one on the pump and one above water. The one on the pump was closed with no indication where to open or how much to open.

When I fist started it, the skimmer and collection cup filled full of water and overflowed. Once I adjusted the water flow on the outside and drained everything, it seemed to correct the issue, but no bubbles.

Finally figured out I had to adjust the flow control under water. Then it overflowed with bubbles and water. Tweaking the two finally stabilized the water and bubble flow and everything seems to be ok now.

Second, there is a cap with a hose that goes over the pump, you can see it on the box, but it is not in the manual. Need to attach that and then the other end that is sealed and has a vent just kind of sits on the outside of the tank.

The picture above shows it “resting” on the outside of the skimmer to the left of the red flow control nob in a recess, that is not actually there but you can leave the tube hanging over the edge of the tank.

Other than that so far, it is powerful and nicely priced. Directions need improvement and it ill take some tweaking to get everything to work right.

PRO: I bought a mini skimmer and that thing didn’t do anything. I didn’t want to do the sump. I didn’t want to lose some of my display by adding “sump area” in tank. SO I waited and waited months for this skimmer to be available.

I do not hear it. Very quiet. Now this skimmer catches SO MUCH GUCK! It truly is disgusting how much and how stinky this thing gets! I clean it every two weeks. It doesn’t fill up but no matter, the cup gets cleaned out.

I do have to clean it outside so I don’t gag-lol! I love this and it is perfect for my 75gallon. CON: I cannot use my regular lid on the side of the tank where the skimmer is. If it would have been 1/2 thinner, it would fit.

So I have put some acrylic there but it bows. Will eventually figure out a solution.

This skimmer is awesome. After reading the bad reviews I was skeptical. After receiving the skimmer I realized that those people just had zero idea what they were doing. Its pretty easy to put together.

The skimmer is super quiet. My biggest issue was adjusting during break in and micro bubbles. I put a small media bag on the outlet to help with micro bubble. I have been told that these may dissipate after prolonged use.

I am currently awaiting aquamaxxs reply.

Ok, so I have only had it up and running about three days, but I’ve been in the salt water hobby for over thirty years and hands down this is one of the best skimmers I have used. Putting it together was a little bit of a task, cleaning may be as well but in the end no real break-in period for me.

The skimmer is quiet. love that the way the pump is inside the skimmer and also doesn’t touch the bottom so the noise is very low. Adjusting the skimmer was a breeze and life is good! Oh, the footprint is fantastic.

It doesn’t take a lot of space on the inside either. I’m very happy with this purchase and will update if that changes.

I bought this a couple years ago (not from BRS) and never could get it working correctly. I figured I was just not being patient enough and I needed to put in the time necessary. Granted skimmers can be finicky.

I finally dug this out again, and gave it the proper attention. All the videos I’ve seen of this product show an older model motor. The one I have is an AQ-1000S and maybe this motor is just too strong.

However, something is seriously wrong with this design. I have spent hours trying to get this thing adjusted and it never has worked right. The worst part is that if this runs without air, it will overflow.

The videos all say. look you can run this on startup without air and it never overflows. Well, mine does, and that’s a really bad characteristic. What happens if the airline becomes clogged somehow? Then until it breaks suction all that water is going on the floor! Or maybe into an overflow container at least, I would never consider running this thing without some sort of backup protection.

The other issue is the noise. This is at least 2x louder than any of the other pumps I have running. Plus when I did have it running at it’s ‘best’ the overflow guzzled water all the time and was super annoying.

I don’t understand how this thing could possibly get so many good reviews. Anyway, I’ll keep the pump, it seems to be plenty strong. Maybe I’ll find a use for it. The rest of it is going in the trash.

Only downside is that there are no assembly instructions with this. I watched a video from the manufacturer on how to put the skimmer into operation. Surprisingly, it was skimming in less than a week.

It usually takes longer to break a skimmer in. Overall, it’s not very loud. One thing I would change is to not have the intake and exhaust ports sticking out at different lengths on the skimmer. Trying to keep the skimmer back far enough that the plastic portion of the glass lid can be trimmed enough so the lid closes all the way and the skimmer sits back farther on the exhaust side.

So I’ve had my Classic [REDACTED] set up for about a week now. I had struggled on what brand to go with, lack of accurate reviews made it difficult, in the end I bought Reef Octopus, after 7 days of use I can give a accurate description of my Skimmer, First of all there absolutely is a break in period, during this time, about 4-5 days, your new skimmer will act very inconsistent, it won’t have that perfect foam head, won’t really pull out a lot.

It will definitely overflow if u don’t keep an eye on it, I just let collection cup elevated higher then normal for a few days, then when you look at it after 4-7 days, and all of a sudden, that foam head has formed, it’s pulling out all kinds of nastys.

And operating like a high end skimmer should. It comes with a air valve to adjust air intake, and if your putting this on a new set up, your def going to want to use this, it’s adjusts the skimmer to ur lower dissolved solids tank, I felt it was important to say all this in the review because, most if not all of the other negative reviews of this product, is based solely on the break in period performance and not the stabilized performance that comes a little later, my skimmer hasn’t over flowed in a few days, collection cup has solids in it, and skimmer performs perfectly.

I highly recommend this product,.

This is the only product Ill give 5 stars w/o hesitation. Ive had this skimmer running 5 plus years now and never replaced a part. For those claiming its noisy, theyre doing something wrong. You can literally adjust the flow with the knob, and if the pump is clean, youre not hearing any noise.

Furthermore, its a solid built. I purchased the Reef Octopus the same year as the Skimz. Skimz is out of business and my Skimz skimmer need parts and now in a box useless. Im using the reef Octopus on my Red Sea Reefer 350 and its keeping a well stock tank clean.

This should be in the BRS top list of recommended items. My only complaint is the size of the cup, I wish it was bigger. Other than that, this is money well spent. Do the math 5+years of actively working for for under $300.

Thats less than $0. 15 per day and I believe I have at least 10 more years. If I ever need to replace the motor, parts are easily accessible. So I definitely recommend this product.

There is nothing revolutionary about Reef Octopuss skimmer design – for example you still have to pour the skimmate out over a sink because skimmate comes out the side and center of the cup (why do they all design skimmer cups this way?), and I find I need to get my hand wet to adjust the output (or the PVC T moves) – but there are many improvements on the mainstream skimmer design: it stops skimming when full, the cup twists into/out of the skimmer body without the frustration of the standard o-ring friction fit, an additional air injection option is pre-readied, and there are no thin/brittle acrylic parts or otherwise janky elements that will break.

The skimmer didnt need any break in and skims the same 6 months after setup. The bubble density inside the skimmer is dense enough to block light and it runs quiet. So overall you are not paying for new technology or like 2x better skimming, although the skimming quality is good – you are paying to not waste your time anymore on skimmer part replacements or skimmate overflow/splash cleanups, wrestling with o-rings or trying to figure out whats wrong/causing all the noise with your skimmer because this one just works.

The pump that comes with this skimmer is horribly underpowered. I have two of them, and they barely pulled anything out with this pump. I upgraded the pumps to reef octopus bubble blaster 3000 pumps, and now they work as they should.

They produce a strong foam head, and pull tons of gunk out. If you are looking at this skimmer, do yourself a favor and get the reef octopus SRO3000 skimmer instead. It is the same exact skimmer body, but comes with the bb 3000 pump.

you wont regret it.

I have this skimmer for about 4 years. At start it seemed okay. But then I had problems after problems: 1. The air intake micro adjustment screw was too lose and was screwing in by itself over time due to vibrations.

This was reducing air intake close to zero in a few days. I had to add some kind of a spring to add some tension for it. 2. The skimmer pump is rated as 18W. In fact, it consumes about 58W. It is very inefficient comparing to DC pump skimmers.

3. Time to time the pump would not start by itself. I had to blow into the air intake tube to make it start. 4. Over the time the pump output degraded to the point that even with the fully closed out skimmer outlet, it could not keep level of water in the skimmer high enough still consuming 58W.

Thoughtful cleaning with acids didn’t help. In the end I retrofitted Jebao DCP 2500 pump in to this skimmer using 3d printed parts. Now it runs with 50% of power setting for the pump that consumes just 14W and produces perfect foam.

At 100% power and 18-20 watts it makes skimmer overflow with completely open outlet and air intake. So the Nyos 160 skimmer has a good body design (except that air screw) and the bad pump.

This skimmer made me a fan of Reef Octopus. This is a no nonsense, set it and forget it skimmer. Noise level is low but not the quietest. I love this type of skimmer body and the cup can be a little stubborn to remove.

As far as performance you won’t find better. It never overflowed and consistently pulled out thick dark waste. After this skimmer I purchased RO’s elite series and was very happy with that skimmer also.

I wish this skimmer body design came with the dc pump.

This is the first skimmer I have ever owned and I am very happy with it so far. It runs very quietly. It pulls a ton of skimmate out of the water. The size is perfect for smaller sumps. The only complaint I have is that it is very finicky to tune it as the method of adjustment is to turn the air riser.

It would be nice if there was a large knob on the top to make adjustments easier. The unit is also very light weight which makes it a little awkward to remove the collection cup for cleaning as you have to hold the whole unit down.

Despite those minor inconveniences, this skimmer is well worth the money.

I really wanted a Reef Octopus skimmer, and got this one because it was the only one that would fit in the skimmer/media chamber of my sump for a 65g mixed reef aquarium. The break-in period took less than a week.

It’s constantly sucking brown foam and gunk out, and has improved my pH and ORP. The pump is very powerful for its size and extremely quiet. It’s also very easy to disassemble and clean.

you can’t go wrong with this skimmer. easy set up and adjustment. when they say silent they are not kidding. you can’t even here it run. I would highly recommend this to anyone

I like everything about this skimmer. Easy to use, maintain and the price isnt bad. I was going to go with a cheaper brand and Im so glad I didnt.

Had this runing for two years, amazing skimmer. A bit hard to tune initialy and sometimes after shut in using the apex to feed the pump doesnt start the bubbles

I would like to quickly talk about this Protein Skimmer I choose to run my SCA 150 w/ a 40-gallon Synergy Sump! I have been at this hobby a long time if you have read my build thread on r2r I have been through my share of skimmers in my time but these REGAL #ReefOcto Protein skimmers caught my eye especially since they took on a 3rd part pump called VarioS.

I was trying to decide to go with either a Reef Octo Space saver or a Regal 150 INT Protein Skimmer and I went with the Regal 150 INT which I could not be any happier how this skimmer performs. I have plenty of room to run the skimmer pump on the outside of the skimmer vs inside of the skimmer.

I just feel it’s so much easier to do any maintenance on your VarioS DC pump. Anyways, feel free to follow along on my new build thread link below. https://www. reef2reef. com/threads/flsharkvictim-custom-rimless-sca-150-build.

533545/.

I went with this skimmer on my 105 planet system and it is a workhorse. Even when water looks crystal clear it is still pulling things out of the water. I was going back and forth on this originally because of the price and am glad that I decided on this skimmer because it is awesome.

I’ve been running this skimmer for about 4 months now, and let me tell you, this is definitely the best skimmer I have owned in 8+ years of reefing. Performs great, tuning is extremely flexible and easy, and the results are consistent.

This skimmer is very quiet, and pulls out dark consistent skimmate in no time. I am extremely happy with this purchase and could kick myself for not buying it sooner.

The tea colored skimmate my previous skimmer pulled is nothing compared to this beast. My household knows when I am emptying the collection cup now as it pulls heavy chunky dark stinky skimmate out. After now that it has been dialed in correctly and adjusted to correct water height.

Very impressed with this one. Best skimmer I’ve owned thus far and I’ve had a few, highly recommended! *** MY ADVICE TO ALL FROM AN EXPERIENCED REEFER ON HOW TO DIAL THIS SKIMMER AND OTHERS EFFECTIVELY.

To dial, turn it up only to below the neck of the collection cup and let it run not touching the dial again. If you have no skimmate in the cup in a few days make small adjustments every several days until you start collecting skimmate then do not touch the dial again permanently even if you turn the power off and on leave the dial alone.

If your water level is overflowing the cup wait to turn the skimmer on until the sump water level is stabilized but leave the dial alone it should go back to it’s regular level of operation. You will get GREAT skimmate with this method.

Also be sure to check that it fits where you intend to put it as it’s semi bulky however it’s effectiveness makes up for this IMO.

I recently added this skimmer to an established 75G Reef. Assembly and installation was super easy. Make sure you water level is at recommended height and adjust gate valve to get your foam to desired height.

Boom. Done. Produced skimmate right away. Its foot print is a bit large and it barely fit in my eHopps sump, but its well built and affordable compared to comparable sized skimmers.

I’ve seen too many reviews claim that this skimmer is “silent. ” Perhaps the people who claim it to be silent couldn’t hear it over the sound of the rest of their equipment. But from my experiences, this skimmer is certainly not silent.

Is it loud? No. But it’s audible with the cabinet door shut — and that’s loud enough to be disappointing for anyone aiming to create a truly silent system like I was. It does have some very nice features like the built-in neck cleaner and drain line with a valve.

Honestly, these features are a game changer and I hope they become prevalent on more skimmers in the future. But again, if you’re buying this because you want a quiet skimmer, I would suggest looking elsewhere.

I got rid of this and purchased a Reef Octo Regal — that skimmer is far quieter than the Red Sea Skimmer.

Very disappointed with the product. It’s difficult to dial in. The water level must be perfect. Had to build a riser in order for it work in the Red Sea Reefer sump. Adding a float switch to prevent overflows was a pain, while the competition comes with this feature.

The only benefit to this product is the drain hose. I would not buy another one and can’t wait to replace it.

I have been using this skimmer now for 4mo. My bio load is light on a 160g system (Red Sea 625). In saying that this Skimmer needs to be emptied every three days. I have the unit adjusted for a drier skimmate.

Still needs to get emptied and cleaned every three days. 1. The skimmer needed a long 3 week break in. Be prepared for that. 2. The foam comes out the lid vents and makes a mess. 3. Removing the cup from the body is a pain.

The O-ring seal is very tight. 4. Running a drier skim causes the drain line to clog. Overall, its a good skimmer but it would be nice to have it CO2 recirculation ready. Also a different skimmer cup mount system would be better.

Bought this for my 28g reef tank and works great. Took about 2-3 days to break in takes a bit of adjustment to get right. All in all does its job plastic could be a bit better but it works without breaking the bank.

Tank is healthier now.

I’ve owned the 125 gallon since 7/2016, and the impeller has already broken. Plus, the motor makes quite a bit of noise. When it worked, it was great. I highly recommend either a different brand, or at least have a back up if it breaks.

Hopefully Coralife will replace it under warranty, but it looks like I will have to pay for shipping one way. Really not happy with that aspect of it. I will see if I can find a spare impeller, so if it breaks again.

Don’t buy it! If you have already bought it- Return It! ~especially if you purchased it for a primary filter. First, it releases a gazillion micro bubbles into your reef tank. I have tried almost all of the fixes I found online plus a few more and there is no good fix.

When I finally thought I might have found one, it developed another problem. What you run into: not enough water in filter tank for skimmer; too much water in filter tank resulting in too much bubble activity in skimmer cone and filter tank level getting too high; a gazillion micro bubbles going into your reef tank and a whole lot of irritation trying to find a fix that actually works.

I only needed it for the skimmer part and I tried almost everything I could find plus a few I thought up and this thing is fail straight from the factory!.

I put this filter skimmer on a 20 Gallon saltwater reef tank that I was struggling to keep clean. I was doing weekly water changes with two large Clownfish and some snails and corals , This filter is replacing a 100 sea clone skimmer and it is doing an amazing job at not only filtering but also skimming the tank.

The skimmer part is a little noise but not bad. The skimmer part was the reason I bought this filter and it is doing the job. All in all I think this filter is worth the money and seriously think of adding this filter to some of my other tanks.

The filter/skimmer works well, but it is very loud. There is a constant loud whistling hum coming from the air intake of the skimmer.

I’ve had this skimmer 6+ years now. It’s simple to adjust and is easy to break down completely for a full cleaning. I’m on my 2nd pump after calcium precipitation did in the original (my fault, over dosing).

I first used it on a very understocked 75 (2 clowns and about 25lbs LR). After downsizing with a move, it’s on bout 23 gallons total system volume; 13 display, about 8 in the sump, another 2 in a separate refugium.

Sump depth in it’s chamber is 8″. I’ve recently started using a ball valve to tune air intake since it is rather oversized for my current rig. It operates consistently and, with proper tuning for it’s load, pulls dark gunk.

I have had this skimmer for over 6 months now. I have it in the recommended depth of water and every week this thing changes. Some days it wont skim, other days it over flows. I am currently going on two weeks of constant overflow after spending 4 weeks of decent skim.

I just cannot trust this skimmer. It has been a headache since the moment I purchased it and I would recommend looking elsewhere.

I have a this and the 7curve. I love these skimmers. When I see people having bubble issues I DID also. However I just turned the bubble diffuser and thats the issue. One other tip for tuning the bubbles in the skimmer, I used a coralife WOODEN airstone from a skimmer i had 16 years ago! They choke it off a little to get the bigger bubbles for a better skim once its broken in.

I guess I should start off by saying the skimmer is working fine now. But I did have some issues until I figured it out. As noted by others, the “instruction manual” is a bad joke. I’ll just leave it at that.

After I got it put together and hung on the aquarium, upon powering up, it immediately started pumping clear foam into the collection cup that filled the cup in a few seconds, even with the cup set very high.

I put the air valve thingie back on and cut off some of the air to get it to stop flowing into the cup. At this point the skimmer was blasting bubbles into the outflow chamber and into the aquarium. Also, the water was gurgling up a storm on the outlet pipe.

I decided to let it settle for a few days to “break in”, but I was close to packing this up for a return trip. I was curious what would happen in the case of a short term power failure so I did some testing.

When cutting off the power for a few seconds and then back on, 50% of the time the outflow chamber would overflow water onto the floor. Well, that won’t work. In addition, the microbubbles were crawling up between the body and the cup and dripping onto the floor.

I had to tie a rag around the skimmer to soak up the water as it bubbled out. If I lowered the cup so the bubbles would not creep up, the cup would fill with white foam in a few seconds. I would have to live with the aquarium any time the skimmer was running? I tried putting some bubble foam in the outlet chamber but that did nothing to help.

While removing that, I knocked off the elbow piece on the outlet pipe, and it was like a miracle happened. The skimmer sopped putting bubbles into the tank, the cup stopped overflowing, no gurgling, and the bubbles stopped creeping up the side of the cup.

Apparently the water LEVEL is the key to the whole thing. I can only assume now that this skimmer was designed for a rimless aquarium with the water level an inch or two below the top. I have a standard rimmed aquarium and like to keep my water level near the top so one cannot see a space between the water level and the plastic rim.

This was my downfall. Rather than keep my aquarium level down 2 inches, I just left the elbow off of the outlet pipe. The skimmer now works like a champ. I get a quarter inch of “dark tea” per day. I have a very light load with only 4 small fish in a 75 gallon setup that is only 4 weeks old.

I have no doubt that this skimmer will do well even after I add more fish in the coming weeks.

Jimmy helped me pick out this skimmer. This thing is all that and a bag of corals. It started pulling muck out of my system right away with very little break in time. An unintended consequence that I love it it raised my PH.

It draws in so much air that my PH went up a full 2 points. Jimmy and Carlos have always made me comfortable and welcome me to the superstore every time I show up and I show up a lot. Thanks WWC!.

Purchased this skimmer 1 month ago. It did arrive with a cracked skimmer lid, but OCTO customer service promptly replaced it. The skimmer started producing dark skim within 2 days of having it up and running.

Its super quite, and I like the ability to adjust the motor speed, as well as the auto shut off. Overall a great skimmer, well with the money.

I have a 20gal drop-off AIO tank from IM. Im an old-school reefer, who thinks every tank, no matter how big or small, benefits greatly from a skimmer that works well. Id been using a $100 K1 nano skimmer for a year, and hated it.

It skimmed either super wet or nothing at all, was poorly designed/tuned, was poorly made, and I had to break part of it off to get it to fit at all when I got it. This skimmer is well-designed, and fits easily in my AIO.

I have only had it up and running for an hour, and it already is producing wet skimmate. For the price, I am very impressed! I just hope that pump is durable and that it performs even better as it breaks in.

(The adjustment knob for controlling the water level is unnecessaryId leave it wide open and use the adjustable hang-on bracket to set the water height. ) In terms of complaints, I wish that there was a way to easily connect it to my CO2 scrubber.

As-is, it looks like I would need to drill into it, and modify it to use my scrubber. Ill probably just leave it as-is, and accept that my tank will slowly drop a bit in pH to less-than desirable levels.

It also looks like it will be a pain to clean, due to the nooks and crannies from to the unusual design it has. Its too soon to give a review of how well this will truly perform and last, obviously, but I will be sure to post a new/updated review in the future if necessary.

For now, I think Ive finally found a good skimmer for the smaller IM AIO tanks!.

I wanted to make this review because there isnt a lot of information out there yet on this. The build quality is great right out of the box. Its powered by an ac to dc usb adapter. It literally makes zero noise.

Set it to the water level mark on the side of chamber and it took right off. Super easy to dial in the adjustments via the air control dial. The red piece in the cub can be removed so you can attach the included drain hose.

Currently in the break in phase, so far I couldnt be more impressed. Im running a cobalt c vue 18 gallon aio. And it fits great in the rear chamber.

I had the IceCap nano skimmer that would skim for a day or two then completely stop and only produce micro bubbles. The MiniQ started skimming after a day in after dialing it right. Produces nice big bubbles of waste definitely worth the money.

It fit perfectly in the middle chamber of my Waterbox Cube 20.