Skimmer sizing for 300 gal + 150 gal. Needle vs downdraft?

[wmilas]

I'm laying out my new fishroom and picking out new "toys" to be placed. I'm currently looking at about a 300 gal display tank (although it might be as big as 450 gal depending on the drawings.. ie its going to be 72x36x30 but bit might be as long as 96x36x30 depending on the wall space that is available. There will be a separate sump, refugium, and frag tank, probably totaling another 150 gallons. The display tank will be a reef mix and I'll probably overfeed the fish.. Heh I'm honest :)

So we are looking at 300-450 gal display + 150 gal "other".

After looking around and reading ALOT of articles on how skimmers actually work, along with all the different types of skimmers, Ive come down to 2 types I'm interested in... needle/mesh wheel and downdraft. Airstones are too much work (although really efficient and I have the vertical space) and beckets seem to be not as efficient along with the cleaning issues.

So I'm looking at something like the reeflo Orca 250 atm or the ETSS 900. The ETSS looks to be more powerful, and more efficient than the Orca (watts per airflow) but I have absolutely no experience with downdraft style skimmers. I've seen them used on large systems and I know they scale hugely where needlewheels don't.

I'm afraid unless I get some silly expensive bubbleking or deltec with multiple recirc pumps (which are going to draw as much wattage as a pressure rated pump on a downdraft) I'm not going to get the amount of skimmage (is that a word? :) that I want.

Does anyone have any experience with a downdraft compared to larger needlewheel type skimmers? I should have plenty of space so size isnt that much of a concern, but wattage is. I'd prefer not to burn 500 watts on the skimmer.

Help :)

[klasiksb]

We are planning basically the same gallonage system and are going to go with the Reeflo 250. I know that doesn't really help you, but I like the sound of it. :D

If you haven't already, there is a reeflo skimmer thread, might want to ask around in there about that skimmer. Not sure about the downdrafts.

[SALT WATER CRAZ]

I love my Bubble King but like you said that are a lot of $$$. All I can say is get a good skimmer thats over rated for your system now. so you dont have to do it all over again down the road. (do it once and do it right)

I am way over skimmed I run my skimmer 12 on 12 off with abought 450 gallons with the 300 bk in sump. I have a sps tank and feed my wrsses a lot of frozen food to...

[Tasmanian]

I have a 220 with and additional 70 or so gallons in the sump and have used a Euro Reef with good results. The pump broke and while I'm waiting to replace it I've hooked up a ETSS 800 that I was going to use on another system. I just hooked it up today so I can't tell you anything yet. But, in a week or so(they take awhile to "break in"), I'll be able to give you my comparison between a down draft and needle wheel skimmer.

[USC-fan]

I would go with the reeflo Orca 250. Awesome skimmer for the money!

[suasponte2/75]

My Deltec APF600 recirc pump recently broke down and I had to order a new one $250 (yikes).. Fortunately, a while back I saw a killer deal on an ETSS 800 for like $70 so I jumped all over it for a back-up skimmer and/or for my future FO tank. This week I hooked it up awaiting the arrival of my new deltec pump and gotta say.... I'm having second thoughts on hooking the Deltec back up. It's been skimming pretty darn well if not possibly better than the Deltec. Don't tell the Deltec guys, it might burst their bubble :D. I'm also only using a MAG 9.5 versus the recommended MAG12 and can't imagine it running even better than it has been. For the power consumption, I'm not sure how huge of a difference it would be since I also need a feed pump for the Deltec as well so that's 2 pumps total versus only 1 for the ETSS. HTHs.