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View Full Version : Why is there so much hatred for the Coralife Super Skimmers


dirkomatic
03/26/2013, 09:07 AM
The Coralife 65 I bought seems to be doing a great job... But I'm a noob, what do I know...

Could someone tell me why everyone says to stay away from them?

thegrun
03/26/2013, 09:35 AM
They are notoriously difficult to keep tuned to the consistant skimate thickness, inefficient and cheaply made. Other than that they are wonderful skimmers!

dirkomatic
03/26/2013, 09:42 AM
They are notoriously difficult to keep tuned to the consistant skimate thickness, inefficient and cheaply made. Other than that they are wonderful skimmers!

Are you speaking from experience, or just repeating what others have said?

I know I haven't seen many skimmers, but mine doesn't seem cheaply made. It is all pretty thick plastic and has a decent pump. Granted, I only have a CUC right now, but the skimmate seems consistent. The only thing that bothers me about it is that I have to turn it off to take the cup off.

JustinGr
03/26/2013, 09:45 AM
Trust me, I had one, no, two, and they worked OK, but when I got a new Reef Octo skimmer, the results were night and day.

My Coralife had a problem of working well for a period of time then for no reason flood the floor. I have never had this happen with my Reef Octo.

They are OK for intro skimmers, but if you want the best skimmer, you need to upgrade.

McMillin5
03/26/2013, 09:48 AM
Cant buy parts i need a venturi and they dont even make them

dirkomatic
03/26/2013, 09:55 AM
Trust me, I had one, no, two, and they worked OK, but when I got a new Reef Octo skimmer, the results were night and day.

My Coralife had a problem of working well for a period of time then for no reason flood the floor. I have never had this happen with my Reef Octo.

They are OK for intro skimmers, but if you want the best skimmer, you need to upgrade.

This is good info... How long was that period of time? My 65 has a drain hole on the cup and came with hose to connect to it. When I was "tuning" it, I used the hose until it seemed to be operating like it should, then I plugged the hole. I check it at least twice daily and it seems to be doing fine. Perhaps it floods because something gets clogged and needs cleaned?

dirkomatic
03/26/2013, 09:56 AM
Cant buy parts i need a venturi and they dont even make them

Have you contacted Coralife? I thought I had lost the plug to my cup drain and they were going to send me a new one. I found the plug and didn't need it, but I was pleased that they got back to me.

thegrun
03/26/2013, 10:33 AM
[QUOTE=dirkomatic;21326111]Are you speaking from experience, or just repeating what others have said?



Experience (although it was many years ago). Judging by the posts on this forum things have not changed. You do run across the occasional aquarist who likes them, but when they eventually change skimmers they realize how poorly they actually function.

MondoBongo
03/26/2013, 10:40 AM
coralife in general is garbage. i've bought several of their products and all have been sub par. including the 125 skimmer that would randomly flood, or not produce bubbles. finally the pump went after only 6 months. unbelievable.

bought a reef octopus and it is awesome.

i've also had some of their other stuff like power strips. they're very cheaply made and tend to fail without warning. i will no longer buy anything coralife.

TAZ_67
03/26/2013, 10:58 AM
My Coralife had a problem of working well for a period of time then for no reason flood the floor.

That was my experince with it. Still sitting in like new condition where I left it. Waiting on a trash trip on cleanup day.

Dapg8gt
03/26/2013, 11:11 AM
I had one for a few years and was in the same mind set as you as its a good skimmer.

Trust me it's not. It's now available as a back up to mine and I dread the day I have to use it. All I can say is you need to keep your water level constant(ATO or daily top offs)or you will run into issues.

I got a HOB aqua C and I was impressed with it (by the way it's not that great) compared to the coralife. It was a way better producer and more consistent. I now have a reef octopus BH90 on my 45g and it's literally a night and day difference than the two previous budget skimmers. When you do switch out to a better skimmer you will realize what the difference is. Seems as long as you and your tank are happy who cares what people say.. It works that's all that matters. Not the most best but it does what it's intended to do.

dirkomatic
03/26/2013, 11:25 AM
I had one for a few years and was in the same mind set as you as its a good skimmer.

Trust me it's not. It's now available as a back up to mine and I dread the day I have to use it. All I can say is you need to keep your water level constant(ATO or daily top offs)or you will run into issues.

I got a HOB aqua C and I was impressed with it (by the way it's not that great) compared to the coralife. It was a way better producer and more consistent. I now have a reef octopus BH90 on my 45g and it's literally a night and day difference than the two previous budget skimmers. When you do switch out to a better skimmer you will realize what the difference is. Seems as long as you and your tank are happy who cares what people say.. It works that's all that matters. Not the most best but it does what it's intended to do.

It's in it's own section with a constant level. Maybe that's part of the reason it seems to be fine to me... Someday I guess I'll get a better one, but it's just not in the budget right now.

Jstdv8
03/26/2013, 11:31 AM
I had one and I too had issues with it not being consistent.
Went to a turf scrubber now and I won't go back to a skimmer.

Reeferz412
03/26/2013, 11:39 AM
The only coralife item I liked was their 150 w metal halide clamp on light. The lamp was super heavy and I needed to attach a weight to keep it from leaning over. That light went through 2 other owners before me and it worked like a champ for a year until I sold it.

Their skimmers require modding in order to work. Their adjustment knob is a lot like odysseys skimmers.

snoopie702
03/26/2013, 12:10 PM
I had both models when I got them to work they worked great for about 3-4 days. Waisted money is all they are to me.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

dirkomatic
04/02/2013, 06:54 PM
So, my Coralife Super Skimmer 65G still seems to be working really well. I've gotten a hold of one of the old models which everyone complains about... They are night and day. The cup on the new 65G is twice the size of the cup on the old one. There is a drain and plug on the new one and not on the old one. The output is slightly different. It seems like its made of better material...

Maybe they run the same and I'm just a newbie fool, but I think maybe Coralife has made some improvements and their skimmer is still getting a bad rap for the performance of the previous model....

thegrun
04/02/2013, 09:13 PM
Could be, thanks for the update. I'll try not to bash them with problems from long ago. That said, I suspect if you ran a high end skimmer you would be surprised at how much better it works. I do want to keep an open mind however. Years ago if you told me Red Sea would ever make a decent test kit I would have laughed at you. Now they make very good test kits. Companies do change.