Skimmer Question

[cpllongjk]

I am currently in the process of rebuilding my tank. It has been down for 6 months since I moved and did not want to set it up till I found it a permanent spot. I was tired of always tearing down my tank while in college and now that I own a home would like to get things going again. Anyways...

My display tank is 50g 36x18x18, which I already own.
My sump will be a standard 40g breeder 36x18x16.
My future frag tank will be a 40g breeder 36x18x16.

There is a possibility of upgrading the main display in the future to a custom 67g 36x24x18 but that would be a year or two down the line since I have to talk the wife into it first.

My total system volume would be a max of 67+40+40+ tubing... rounding off it should be roughly 150-160 gallons.

Which skimmer and type do you think would be best for my system? Keep in mind that I mainly keep sps and I also use zeovit so I need an agressive skimmer. I currently have a tunze 9010 and it should do for now until I add on a frag tank. I have owned many skimmers in the past but all have been overkill for my tank. I am looking for something that will get the job done but not break the bank. Budget is anywhere from 300-600 depending on price/performance ratio.

Thanks for your help.

Jared

[swcc]

I think an sro3000 will do fine. Another great option is a reef dynamics ins180.

[jerpa]

I think you may need to adjust your water volume a bit. I assume you will have rock and sand in those tanks and the sump will generally be only 2/3rds full at most. IMO you will probably be somewhere around 120 gallons max. I would probably look at one step down in skimmer size. A frag tank shouldn't add much bioload. Even heavily stocked I think the SRO 2000 or INS 135 would be more than adequate.

I have the XP2000 ext, which is a bit larger than the non-cone internal, on the moderately stocked and heavily fed system below. It is SPS dominant and I dose carbon. The skimmer still idles enough that I would feel comfortable using it with a larger system.

[markaren]

I have 76G/40 sump with a XP2000SSS and my load is basically light since the tank is only 8 months old. The Octopus does great but does die off at times. I tend to agree with the above that a 2000 INT would probably work great or Reef Dynamics INS135 or Vertex Omaga

I like my 2000 and it works great but I have a lighter load than you so you would experience a better skim.