Skimmer group buy?

[Viggen]

Anyone looking for a skimmer?  I am thinking of adding a 2nd skimmer on my 475g, thought we might be able to save some money if a few are purchased.  I was planning on ordering from either Aquarium Specialty or Premium Aquatics

I want another Euro Reef/Reed Dynamics but it's out of my pricerange.... thus SRO XP3000, 5000 or 6000 external is what I am considering

[Amstar]

I might be interested if the price was right.  I SRO 3000int

[Neogenesis]

Pssst.....did you happen to see the skimmer I listed up for sale?  wink wink nudge nudge   

I know it's not exactly what you might be looking for, but I'm sure it's a heck of a lot cheaper.

[Viggen]

SRO3000 int would be $340+ shipping... guessing $360-370??  ish
SRO3000 external is $500 + shipping

I didn't mean to list XP... not sold on adding money for a cone.... I am looking at their SRO3000, 5000 or 6000 all external

[Blazinreef]

I run the SRO 3000 ext.  for the most part I love it.

[Viggen]

What don't you like about it?

[Blazinreef]

Well if I had to do it again I would go with the 5000 int.  As with all octopus stuff I had to silicone all the connections because they leak, even with gaskets in place.  I have had to do this with all 5 octopus pieces I own. 

Once you get it dialed in it works great.  My 2 main concerns with it are that when you first turn it on after cleaning you have to turn the water flow way down, or it will overflow.  (I have concerns about what happens if my power goes off and then back on when I'm not home).  Secondly, it pulls enough stuff that the holes in the lid crust over, not allowing the air to escape and the bubbles actually push the lid off and the gunk starts coming down the side.  I have something wedged between the top of the lid and stand to keep it tight.  I clean it about every week and it pulls tons of stuff. 

Over all it is a great skimmer.  If I had to do it again I would definitely keep the sro, just would go internal instead.

[Viggen]

Gotya..... I want external to maximize dwell time & allow me to run the skimmer's dirty water directly from the overflow, I just think it's more effecient that way since I can determine what flow rate through the skimmer vs being fixed by the supplied pump.

My old ER 12-2 I ran for a while that way (internal skimmer) then made it a RC-500 but always ran it internally, pulled out a LOT more stuff being setup this way.

My plan was to use a external skimmer internally so I do not have to worry about leaks, overflowing etc.....