Which one to buy?

[Kshack]

Need sone help on which skimmer to get.

I have a 230 gal. tank with about 15 gal. of water in the sump. Not enough room in the sump, so the skimmer will need to be outside. I would like to get the Ehim pump, so the A200-1260 (rated at 300 gal.) would seem to fit, but there is a lot of talk of oversizing these things. Would the A200-2x1260 be worth the extra $ in performance? Cost is $500 more.
Another question. The in-sump models are pretty much rated for the same size tank, but are shorter and $2-300 less. I have been advised that taller is better, but then why are the shorter skimmers rated for the same size tank?
A-200-1260 29" tall $1099
200-1260 23.5 tall $899
A200-2x1260 32" tall $1599
200-2x1260 23.5 tall $1299

Tank will be set up as a reef with fish, sps, and lps. Possibly BB, but may add thin layer of sand for looks and a place for wrasses to hide.

Thanks for your help.

[Fliger]

I keep hoping someone will try that 200 2x1260 for $1,299 - thats an amazing deal. I can tell you if you spend that money, you will make your life easy. I'm sure the 1x1260 would be fine also, but I like oversizing in case of emergencies. Its not external but its so oversized it doesn't matter anyway and would be plug n play.

[Johnsteph10]

I have to agree with Fliger.

The 200-2x1260 is probably one of the best priced high performance skimmers out there!

[ReefSalt]

My choice would be the A200-2X1260 since its recirculating, but the internal 200 unit is also very effeicient.

Bottom line is you cant go wrong with any one of these H&S skimmers.

[UCanDoIt]

The A200-1260 should be adequate for your tank. But everyone who buys high end skimmers love to overskim and if you're in that category, A200-2x1260 is the way to go!

I have a A200-1260 (rated 300g) on my 175g Fish Only Tank
I have a Deltec APF600 (rated 200g) on my 75g Reef
and I have a Deltec AP600 (rated 130g) on my 60g Reef and I'm selling my AP600 right now and upgrading to a APF600 next week.

[Kshack]

Thanks for all the input so far. I did not realize that the 200- skimmers were not recirculating. I thought they were just shorter. Not so, they do not recirculate. So the question is...if they are not recirculating, and they are shorter than the A200-, how can they be rated at the same or very close to the same size tank capacity? Logic would dictate that the shorter skimmer would have to better designed to rate the same, but I thought recirculating was the hot ticket (like the Deltic).

[Fliger]

Well truth be told, all the ratings are arbitrary and ambiguous from Seacone to BK. Even within "heavy load" everyone has a different definition. H&S has externals, but also offers internals I suppose to save some people money or for folks with hieght restrictions. If you ask Klaus Jansen (designer of BK), he thinks that there is no difference between internal vs external, I personally have experienced a slight advantage. Not so much that its a better skimmer, but that you can "manipulate" externals further. But in all honesty, when you're so far oversized (like a 2x1260 on a 230G tank, there is no realized difference, only when you're pushing the limits on a skimmer). When I have a 340 gallon tank, I had a 2x1260 and I asked both Doug of Deltec and Brian of H&S (i own a few products of each) if going to a bigger skimmer would be better and they both said no, of course I didn't believe them so I got a 3x1260 and they were right, it was a complete waste of money as the 2x1260 kept up with my input and kept my tank nutrient free.

I do think that any 1x1260 would be fine, but I'd still say that for $1,299 - that 2x1260 is the best deal. A snail dies and its in your collection cup in no time. ;-)

[tacocat]

15g in a sump isn't much water, so an internal seems out of the question. Ihe internals work great, but best results are had if your sump incorporates a seperate skimmer chamber which maintains constant height in any situation.

The external skimmers are taller because the needlewheel intakes are higher on the external skimmers. The internal skimmers have the pump intakes an inch from the bottom or so.

[AcroSteve]

You need an A200, not a 200 if you are running it external.

[Kshack]

OK, new direction. Talking with my wife about how large some sumps are and she said why not set up a larger sump in the basement? Well, that started the wheels turning and I think I will do just that. I have a 80 gal tank I can use. So at that point the question is...If you can go in-sump, are those models better, or are the external recirculating models preferred? Or are they the same and it just depends on where you can fit one.
Put another way...do the A200 recirculate because that is the only way to introduce air, or is there some magic to recirculating?

Thanks

[AcroSteve]

They are not the same, the external recirculating allows much more control over the dwell time of the reactor, and therefore has the probablility of more efficient operation. This is accomplished my varying the feed rate.