any opinions on skilter hob filters

[big train]

Has any mfk's had any experience with the skilter brand hob filters they have a built in protien skimmer that caught my eye.I am considering the 400gph 56.00$ model to use on my 72 bow front sw tank i am currently running a ac500.My main concern is the quality of the equipment being it's only 56 bucks at aquatic eco-systems and does 400gph and has a protien skimmer all that for 56 when the ac500 is 60 bucks at petsmart and only does 110gph and no skimmer so what's up with this u guys let me know your opinions posative or negative all will be appreciated thanks.

 

[Wolf3101]

I've used them before and they have a lot of good features. I had to modify the skimmer on the ones I used. I closed off the air port on the impeller housing and ran an air stone powered by a seperate pump in the skimmer. Other than that I had no problems at all with the filters. The pad frames are nice and the replacable motor is just like the AC's. The skimmer has a nice big collection chamber compared to others in its class.

 

[Nic]

seem them in action at stores and heard good things about them never used one though

 

[jtrotter77]

I have owned tons and liked them all. Petsmart.com used to carry them and they put them on clearance and sold them for $7-14.00 for the various sizes.

 

[ewurm]

I think the skimmer on those is worthless, but the filter has tons of biomaterial room.

 

[big train]

Well it looks like skilter has a good product at a cheap price i am going to give them a try i have no protien skimmer experiance so i am not sure if i will be able to judge it's performace well but i will be shoving as many scrubbies as i can into the filter i will order 1 next week and post a few pics in this thread when i get it up and running.

 

[Tucc185]

I've used them in my store, and agree with ewurm, the skimmer is basically useless. The filter is just ok as well. To be honest, there are much better HOB filters for salt tank for that price range, the AC 110 being one, or the tetratec series being my personal favorite. Tetratecs not only have a built-in alternating wavemaker, but they use the alternately filling/emptying area for biomedia, effectively creating a mini wet/dry. The design is quite brilliant, IMHO. I have used both AC's and Tetratecs on various salt tanks with success, but never as the sole filtration on anything bigger than 20gal. Even the 110 I dont think would really cover anything over 30 gal without a decent skimmer. Just my two cents.

 

[philliptobin]

I have owned 2 Skilter 400's and thought that they were rather noisy. The skimmer always seemed to pull a lot of proteins from the water. I put one on my brother's 29 gallon tank and he really likes it. I really like the Tetratec and Aquaclear, I have one of each on my son's 55 gallon freshwater tank (I have a problem with overfiltration), both of which were on a 125 gallon reef tank before I went with Rena XP3's. I have since gone to a 55 gallon wet/dry refugium with a Seaclone 100 on the 125 reef tank, I really think a refugium is the way to go. That is just my 2 cents on the subject.